The Daily Mail - the great divide

I have an annual subscription to the online Guardian but I have bought the paper version of the DM from time-to-time because, if you make the effort to shove the politics to one side, you can find some fairly fascinating articles.

Just ignore the (usually) screaming front page headlines and be selective.

I didn't know Volvo drivers were looked down on, what a strsnge comment. I used to envy them with their safe, reliable cars which we could never afford! We are now on our second in the XC series and wouldn't buy any other car ever, after the robustnrss of our first saved me and our grandaughter from a very nasty car accident.

Never heard of volvo drivers being looked down on.
The Daily Mail I think is a vile rag. Have only seen it at a friend's house when it had some really bad photographs of an ageing celebrity going through hard times with the falsely complimentaty captions of how well she looked with her "long locks" and "youthful appearance". Yes I judged my friend as well for her slavering over the pics.
When I look at the newspaper headlines on the BBC news site the Daily Mail stands out for its deliberate goadiness..can't think of a better word..and its disingenuous xenophobia.
To say I hate it is an understatement. Good got that off my chest!

I read news to be better informed. I don't read the DM. My favourite car ever was an automatic Volvo estate which was a reliable and comfortable workhorse.

How interesting to start a thread about something you know absolutely nothing about!
The Daily Mail is a particularly unpleasant tabloid newspaper. However many papers now have goady headlines to generate attention and therefore clicks.
I've never heard of anyone looking down on Volvo drivers. Is this a thing in Australia? My dad had a volvo in the 80s and we were very impressed with the heated seats- a novelty at the time and useful in Scotland!

nanna8

Read all about it online if you’re really that interested:-

www.dailymail.com/home/index.html

Horrid paper and I wouldn’t read it, let alone ever buy it. Most of the British press is very right wing.
How strange that you show interest, all those thousands of miles away, I don’t read any Aussie newspapers, why would I ?

Looking down on Volvo owners says a lot about the people making those assumptions 🤷‍♀️

I had a Volvo 740 estate in the 80s in which I packed the kids, the dogs, the luggage and towed a caravan. I always felt very safe. I then had a red Volvo 440 turbo in the 90s but it had trouble with the gear box. We broke down once with it in France and there was a real hoo-ha to fix it.
Are you sure you don't mean Skodas were looked down on?

The assessed reading age of the Daily Mail is 10 or 11 years, so the vocabulary and text are at that understanding level. Not a very satisfying read for me. The reading age of The Times and Telegraph are around 16 years. Some readability tests stop at around 16 years.
Too much info to explain here, but those interested can find out more at the NFER website.
I don’t think there’s a comparable test for people driving Volvos!

J52

The assessed reading age of the Daily Mail is 10 or 11 years, so the vocabulary and text are at that understanding level. Not a very satisfying read for me. The reading age of The Times and Telegraph are around 16 years. Some readability tests stop at around 16 years.
Too much info to explain here, but those interested can find out more at the NFER website.
I don’t think there’s a comparable test for people driving Volvos!

Those findings are far more nuanced than you want members here to believe.
For those who might be interested this article explains how these ages are calculated.

potentia-insight.co.uk/a-guide-to-transforming-your-survey-writing-with-red-top-newspaper-tactics/

I tend to think that the DM is driven more by opinions than facts. Other papers may have a bias but I think do try to present the facts.
Doesn’t Boris write for them, or did. And I think Katie Hopkins once wrote for them.
That would be a big red flag for me.

Volvos are relatively expensive cars, and Swedish design. Solid. I think years ago they were seen as a car that appealed to a solid middle class person who lived a particular lifestyle - often vegetarian, usually left wing in politics (before - everyoneR was) and a countryside lover - when it was not fashionable. You’d have, had to been here to understand what I am clumsily trying to say.

The DM couldn’t be further from a Volvo driver😄😄. It supported Hitler and Mosley right up t he war, is ertainly still one of the most right wing of our press and would support the politics of AfD, Le Penn etc and of course Farage if we had such awful people in power.

Yes, the Daily Mail was Harry's ATM or rather was. .
I read it most days but mention that on here at your peril. Those GN's who wouldn't wrap their chips in the DM will have you down as contemptable.
I used to drive a Volvo too. No hope for me whatsoever. It bothers me not one jot.

I certainly don't think Daily Mail readers are contemptible, just poorly informed.

I didn’t know the Volvo thingo was just Australian. They were made fun of quite a bit in the past but not now. It was so bad that sales probably dropped then but it has all changed. We just don’t really see them. All Chinese, Japanese and Korean here with the odd German one thrown in.
We don’t have that many daily papers now , just the Sun and the Age in my state. One left and one right but neither as controversial as the Daily Mail seems to be. I read the London Times online everyday.
I suppose it is hard for some to understand that the country you grew up in and still contains family members is still important to you. We are not all migrants and don’t have the insight. Ah well.

Yes Petra strangely enough I have also read that article, but I thought I’d keep things simple.

If you hate the DM and never read it how do you know? Good to read several papers to get a balance. I mostly look at the news pages of DM and compare it. What I find aggravating about DM are its constant articles on H&M - they never seem to give it a rest and it’s mostly trivial.

I don't waste my money on newspapers anyway, apart from buying the local rag every few weeks to see what's going on in my area. As far as I can recall, most newspapers have always been biased one way or another. People love to have their personal views validated and the tabloids tend to do that. The broadsheets used to be more reliable for impartiality but I'm not sure that's still the case. Ultimately, newspapers are there to make money and they do it with celeb news, sport, consumer articles and political commentary aimed at their chosen section of society. Fair dos, but I don't have much confidence in any of them.

I have the Guardian delivered daily and buy the I👀 several times a week. For balance I read the Mail online and am generally appalled. CNN too as well as Fox online. My opinion is that the Daily Mail is the most racist, sexist and judgemental of newspapers.

Volvos - big, steady, tough cars.

The Daily Mail is looked down on because it combines tabloid sensationalism, socially conservative politics, a combative campaigning style, and historical baggage.

There’s a similar cultural shorthand around Volvo, although it is less about the car being bad and more about what people imagined its owner to be like. In Britain, particularly from the 1970s through the 1990s, the Volvo estate became associated with the respectable, sensible, slightly boring middle-class family. It was the car of the school run, the country house, the Labrador, and the person who valued safety and practicality over excitement. Contemporary motoring writing explicitly described Volvos as “boring” and associated them with families, farmers, and antique dealers.

The above with thanks to ChatGPT.

I think the Volvo jibes came about because it was once claimed to be the safest car you could buy, encouraging people to drive like idiots because they felt invincible in their thick metal armour. There was also a myth(?) about Rover drivers, who (the story went) drove like lords of the manor out on their own private roads. Then there were (and still are) "boy racers" who get themselves into hock with hugely expensive cars, only to drive them as though they're worth nothing. I've always owned red cars and it's amazing how many men will try to carve up the auburn-haired bird in the little red car.

Seems to me the DM is read by people who think Farage should run the country.