To Mask or Not to Mask: Guardian’s Boris Theatre Report Was a Comedy of Errors

November 24, 2021

To Mask or Not to Mask: Guardian’s Boris Theatre Report Was a Comedy of Errors

During PMQs The Guardian published another tedious mask gotcha aimed at Boris, reporting an audience member at the Almeida theatre in Islington had told them he was not wearing a mask during the performance of Macbeth. Two problems with the ‘Exclusive’…

Firstly, the paper reports Boris was spotted there maskless on Monday night, however he was actually there on Tuesday night. Guido could otherwise overlook this comedy of errors…

However, there’s the problem that a quick bit of digging by Guido reveals a photo of the PM at the theatre – with a mask.

Despite splashing with the headline, “Boris Johnson accused of flouting request to wear mask at theatre”, readers aren’t told until eight paragraphs down that “It is believed he had his mask round his chin during the first half, and off completely during the second half”, a move that would be so pointless Guido suspects it is as reliable as the rest of the nonsense briefing from the nameless hostile North London arts-loving, leftie.

The Guardian writes that the PM’s (easily debunkable) decision not to wear a mask followed an equally boring splash on the last Sunday’s Mirror, which pictured the PM not wearing a mask on a train carriage, surrounded by other passengers also not wearing a mask given the law no longer requires it. While Boris was watching Macbeth, it seems it was all much ado about nothing…

UPDATE: Guido spots some sneaky changes have been made to The Guardian’s original story, without alerting readers to the update, after also finding the above photo. The original text stated:

“A fellow audience member said Johnson was not wearing a face covering during the performance, despite the theatre’s requests for visitors to wear one at all times when not eating or drinking. He was also photographed inside a public area of the theatre without a mask on, alongside someone believed to be a member of his family.”

However the article now reads:

“Three fellow audience members said Johnson was not wearing a face covering during the performance, despite the theatre’s requests for visitors to wear one at all times when not eating or drinking. He was photographed in the auditorium with a mask around his chin and again inside a public area of the theatre without a mask on at all, alongside someone believed to be a member of his family.”

Sneaky, sneaky…