I never read news papers, I know they are trash at best, but the Mirror is now in a league of its own.
There is a story about keeping high viz in your car and wearing light clothing when you are driving.
The rag infers that if you don’t adhere to this you can be fined.
Let’s be clear, this is tosh!
When reading any official document the wording is everything.
The key is the difference between suggestion and direction. In other words must and should.
When a document has the word “must” it means you have to. If it says “should” it simply offers it as advice.
You would think any first year press student would understand this.
Its the same as “power” and “duty”. A power means that for instance in family law,or more particularly The Children Act 1989, a social car department has a power to provide a service, in other words they can if they wish… however if there is a “duty” to provide a service, they must, they have to by law do it.
Thats the difference between a ‘Child in Need’ and a child under a ‘Child Protection Plan’.
So called journalists do this all the time, they manipulate and ignore language. They either do not understand the basics or use it to fuel division, upset, hate and aggrieve folk.
So please whenever you read anything a professional hack has written, re-read it, look for the subtlety in how they phrase things. Remember all news sources have a bias, its not always the one you assume, its all too often based upon the direction instructed by the billionaire owner or majority shareholder.
And its important to realise that the traditional bias of the past is no longer truly the current position. The Mirror, and The Guardian are no longer stalwarts of the ‘left’, and there is no ‘centerist’ news outlet beyond maybe the independent at times and for most of their reporting the ‘Canary’.
If you want the real news look further than any British News organisation.
Jonesy, simply a human 