Tuesday's big news story (prior to the football) was a manufactured storm in a teacup to say the least. The grainy footage of two morons accosting Professor Chris Whitty in a park was denounced by politicians, celebrities and journalists alike. Before we analyse this further, if you haven't seen the footage then please click below.
As to why the footage is so blurry is not clear. One of the men looks and sounds remarkably similar to stand-up comedian and prankster Lee Nelson, a chav caricature whose real name is Simon Brodkin. Perhaps this explains the poor quality and he will let us all in on the 'joke' at a later date?
Of course the video is far from funny, but if anything it is cringeworthy as opposed to something sinister or violent - yet that is how the establishment has portrayed it. Boris Johnson described the men as 'thugs' and called the incident 'despicable harassment'. The vaccines minister Nadhim Zarhawi echoed his description and said: "This is disgusting and these thugs must be found and charged". For what? Getting a bit lairy? As news emerged that the Met's finest were investigating the incident as an 'assault' (yes, seriously), Keir Starmer added: "The police are right to investigate this harassment".
The media whipped up the story further with lurid headlines describing how Whitty was 'put in a headlock' and 'attacked'. One wonders how they would have portrayed it if there wasn't video footage. Some news outlets have even managed to conflate the incident with lockdown scepticism, suggesting that it was somehow related to anger over Whitty's conduct during the pandemic.
It all sounds a bit over the top for what appears to be a couple of possibly inebriated young men looking for a selfie with someone they've seen on TV. That doesn't make it any less unpleasant, but criminal? No, this has been a sinister exercise in protecting the establishment from any form of criticism, despite the horrific reality of what it is they have perpetrated over the last 15 months.
