Lockdown reads: Great journalism and writing you might have missed, part 5 (April 2020)

As we reach part 5 of my series of lockdown read tips, I'm inclined to paraphrase Bette Davis: Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride...

Needless to say, most of the interesting pieces I've found to read throughout April have been coronavirus related. The global pandemic has seeped into just about every area of journalism you could imagine (and some you perhaps couldn't...), which might have led to a grim reading list were it not for my constant need to find journalism that comes at things from a different, often quirky, frequently whimsical, angle.

In compiling my list of articles for this month, I've tried to include a mix of the serious and the whimsical, the long and the short, the personal and the analytical. I've also tried to find some non Covid content, which has been pretty difficult, but I've found at least one.

It seemed easiest to arrange the stories broadly chronologically rather than thematically this month as that seemed to best show the continuing, evolving debates, plus also give an insight into the prevailing mood in the UK and, on occasion, further afield.

At the beginning of April the BBC ran an unusual human interest take on the pandemic with this tale of junior doctor turned Miss England, Bhasha Mukherjee, who has returned home early from her beauty queen duties to serve the NHS.

Over at The Independent, Annie Lord penned a sweet salute to the film Frances Ha! and it's portrayal of female friendships.

We couldn't get through a discussion of either Covid or current affairs in April 2020 without touching on panic buying. While a lot of the coverage was prurient, voyeuristic and tended to make the situation worse, 1843 flew the flag for grown up journalism with this international take on panic buying, and balanced it with their similarly international take on coronavirus slang. Another take on how coronavirus has impacted the food sector came with this encouraging report about a food union in Bristol over on Wicked Leeks.

In other news, the 375 bus route was finally saved this month.

Not the 375

In common with many news outlets, the Manchester Evening News have been highlighting good coronavirus stories, including this one about a family of five who seem to be looking after a whole street in their area. The Onion Collective has a more in depth take on the extent to which community activism and social enterprise has stepped in to cover gaps during this crisis, while Manchester climate activist Charlotte Lastoweckyi penned a vividly moving blog post about finishing school during a pandemic.

As the UK began to adjust to life under lockdown, social media was saturated with lockdown baking pictures, daytime drinking allusions and loungewear. Meanwhile, Teresa Mistretta was busy creating an art gallery for her guinea pig in her house.

5G and coronavirus conspiracy theories have cropped up a lot this month, to the extent that the UK's independent fact checking site Full Fact felt compelled to do a deep dive on just where the theories had originated from.

Meanwhile, Singapore were getting creative with their coronavirus public health messages.

If, like me, you've had cause to think that your government hasn't been entirely fair in it's handling of the coronavirus induced employment and self employment crisis, you might find this analysis of how different governments around the world are handling the sharp rise in unemployment to be an eye opener.

As societies find themselves increasingly polarised into two groups: Those who are key workers and those who are staying in, spare a thought for these newly elevated key workers both in and beyond the medical professions. It has certainly not been a picnic for them. Buzzfeed ran a sobering piece on what it's like to be a supermarket worker at the moment, and it's a terrifying read.

Some vegetables, in happier times

In a time of self censorship and increased scrutiny of the press and of broadcasters, citizen journalism tends to come into its own, telling the stories that would often be regarded as going against the wider narrative or complicating it. Manchester's The Meteor haven't been the only ones to point out that Manchester's homelessness problem hasn't been solved by the lockdown, with many homeless still on the streets, but this profile of the Street Meet soup kitchen and their work under lockdown reveals the complexities of the wider story. This piece focusing on organisations working with the most vulnerable in Manchester, and the issues they are facing under lockdown, is a good companion piece.

The Meteor also ran a compelling piece showing the human face of those stranded abroad during the lockdown.

The wellness industry has been busy during lockdown but, if you are struggling mentally, this article from the New Scientist, in which seven different mental health experts provide tips on coping with lockdown should cut through the bullshit.

Full Fact did some sterling work untangling allegations that the UK government was running fake NHS Twitter accounts for disinformation purposes, while Jonn Elledge at the New Statesman just wants billionaires to let go of their Batman complexes.

Two excellent long reads on the human face of the coronavirus were published this month. The first, from 1843, is a flawless piece on the Diamond Princess and what it was like to go from a luxury cruise passenger to being at the heart of an epidemic. Much of the reporting of this story in the UK at the time tended to focus a lot on pandering to stereotypes of Brits abroad and, at times, came across like a bad seventies sitcom. This piece cuts through all of that and gives a much more nuanced, slow journalism take from a multi person, international perspective.

The second high quality coronavirus long read is from The New Yorker, and it tells the story of Juan Sanabria, one of the first people to die in New York from Covid-19.

The Committee to Protect Journalists ran an interesting, albeit worrying and sobering, take on what it's like to be a journalist during a time of corona. Journalists are classed as key workers in most countries affected by the coronavirus but many countries are also cracking down (both directly and indirectly) on the media, a state of affairs that is making an already dangerous profession more dangerous.

Amidst a constant barrage of statistics and graphs, the New Scientist asked How many people have really died from Covid-19 so far?

Over at The Guardian, Frances Ryan suggested that, while most people had experienced a loss of liberty due to lockdown, many disabled people were benefitting directly from living in an increasingly digitally orientated world.

The science is inconclusive so far, but the New Scientist asked whether you are more likely to die of covid-19 if you live in a polluted area.

In the spirit of complicating the received narrative, 1843 ran a piece about what it's like to be a 'pin-sharp' pensioner living in lockdown in a UK care home during coronavirus.

But if all of this is too much for you, there's a good deep dive into the causes of the Peasants' Revolt over on History Extra.

Until next time...

Photo one by Masaaki Komori on Unsplash

Photo two by Harrison Qi on Unsplash

Photo three by nrd on Unsplash

Photo four by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash