There has been something of a moral panic about gatherings of young people in Nottingham parks. Some thoughts @BBCNottingham @bbcemt @NottinghamPost (1/8)
Always mistrust ground level photos and videos of such gatherings - the lenses used tend to foreshorten the images and give a stronger impression of crowding than is actually the case. Only drone footage can give an accurate picture of the density and social groupings (2/8)
Research by sociologists and social psychologists has for more than 100 years shown that crowds are not random aggregates of individuals but collections of small groups - people who came together, will mostly interact with each other, and will leave together (3/8)
If a large number of small groups spontaneously decide to go to the same place at the same time on a sunny day, this does not constitute over-crowding. This was clear last summer when going to beaches did not produce Covid outbreaks (4/8)
If some of the groups seem large, remember the ingenuity of Nottingham landlords in maximizing the number of people in shared housing. With a 2 household rule, a group can legally be as many as 16-20 people (5/8)
No-one should defend the mess left behind - but we can reasonably ask how well @MyNottingham provided bins, etc on the day. The lack of places to put rubbish in Nottingham parks has been evident for a while (6/8)
This should not be used by civic leaders to stoke student/resident conflict. Students live in the city as well and make a crucial contribution to the local economy. The city claims to want more of them to stick around as graduates. Make them feel part of the city (7/8)
Welcome and integration are not best promoted by sanctimony, aggressive policing and an invasion of parks by killjoy marshals. Low-risk groups have gathered in a low-risk environment. It was well-established last autumn that student infections did not spread into cities (8/8)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
