A wonderful new craze is sweeping Britain and it involves one of the nation’s most recognisable ‘newspapers’, a supermarket trolley and a quiet determination to make certain headlines slightly harder to find.
It began, as these things often do, with one particularly exasperated shopper standing in an Asda, staring at a Daily Mail front page and wondering whether there was anything they could actually do about it.
The answer, apparently, was to hide them behind the nappies.
After spotting the headline, one shopper reportedly gathered up the remaining copies from the display and relocated them upstairs, where they could contemplate their destiny among the Pampers.
And thus, perhaps, a movement was born.
The idea is simple: whenever you encounter a Daily Mail in a supermarket and find yourself overcome by the urge to make a tiny, harmless protest, don’t start an argument. Don’t shout. Don’t lecture another shopper. Instead, take a breath, remember that you live in Britain, and consider the many legitimate ways of expressing your disagreement. Then put them in the trolley, find an appropriate place and relocate them. Make sure they remain in the supermarket, though. No one wants to appear in front of a magistrate on a charge of stealing the Daily Mail, do they? Not if they have an ounce of sanity.
Because the bigger question behind this protest is a serious one.
Why does so much power sit in the hands of people with extraordinary wealth? Why are environmental concerns so often treated as obstacles to profit? And why does modern politics sometimes leave ordinary people feeling as though decisions affecting the planet are being made somewhere far above their heads by media moguls acting on behalf of their shareholders…?
The billionaires may not be literally plotting to kill us all; at least, there is no evidence for some grand coordinated plan of that sort… yet. But it is entirely reasonable to worry about concentrated wealth, political influence, environmental damage and the power of huge media organisations to shape public debate. Sadly many fall for it, which is why they do it.
So if you want to join the rebellion, perhaps start somewhere that doesn’t involve taking someone else’s property and getting a criminal record.
Why not participate in the Great Daily Mail Hide It Away?
The revolution may not be televised.
But it might be found somewhere behind the nappies.
