Backlash at London website’s ridiculous headline about a Welsh town
London news website My London has run a story with a headline that has caused an angry reaction from people in Wales.
The website caused a backlash after titling a travel story with the following headline: ‘The underrated seaside town that’s almost impossible to spell correctly but named one of UK’s best and worth the long drive from London.’
The seaside town in question is Aberystwyth and as many people have been quick to point out about the ridiculous and ignorant headline, it’s not that difficult to spell.
The article then continues to whinge about the distance from London to the west Wales coastal town, as if it’s a journey to Australia.
My London writes: ‘It seems the only catch for Londoners is that of the lengthy journey to one of the best seaside towns in the UK. To access Aberystwyth by car, Londoners can expect a journey time of around five hours, while train services from Euston via Avanti West Coast services can take around four hours and 40 minutes.’
God forbid you poor entitled Londoners should have to spend time travelling anywhere.
To add insult to injury an image in the story captioned as the town centre is actually a picture from Aberaeron.
Understandably the story from the website which is owned by Reach plc, who publish WalesOnline, has gone down like a lead balloon with many Welsh people on social media quick to pick up on the patronising nature of the story and headline.
How pathetic is this headline? Would these ignorant idiots say the same about a European resort? 😤https://t.co/CQUWW8E502
— Paul Godding (@7puzzle) April 13, 2023
These were some of the reactions to the story on Twitter:
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It must be such a pain for Londoners to have to travel for such a long time to get to Aber perhaps the Westminster government would be so kind as to move it closer to the centre of their universe
Didn’t you know that the universe and everything in it revolves around Llundain and all who dwell within it?
4 hr 40 minutes from London! It can take 6.5 hours by train from Swansea!!!
It would take 6.5 Hours From Swansea to Paddington if you go via Birmingham New Street.
The Road Journey takes the time you mentioned thanks Mr Drakeford not wanting The M4 relief around Newport.
If they wrote that about a town in Africa or India or Pakistan (for example) they would be quite rightly subjected to a pile of anti-racist, anti-imperialist invective and told to go and shove their bigotry where the sun don’t shine. Which is one reason why they don’t, and why they persist in doing this sort of thing when it comes to Wales. Because, when they ARE challenged, they come back with the ‘it’s only banter’ non-argument, and **a fair number of Welsh people back them up**. Stockholm Syndrome is alive and well in this regard. Before we can expect… Read more »
the Welsh are fair game now, why? because they haven’t the Irish to bully or make fun of.
If it is such a pain to travel here from London, how about putting some of HS2 track here, we are paying for it after all.
The London media is these days full of adverticles of this kind, in which the very purpose of Wales seems to be to provide succour for Londoners wanting to “get away from it all”. Devon seems to get the same kind of treatment.
Will possibly take even longer to travel there once the 20mph speed limits are introduced….
I live in London and whenever some people ask where I am from, usually because they are so shocked to hear someone in London with a Welsh accent, and I reply Aberystwyth I am told ”ho that remote, far away cut-off place” which is ridiculous and says more about them than anything else. They can’t have travelled much in the world and think London is the centre of everything. I also live in India, where five hours would be seen as nothing. Some of my friend in Bangalore can take four days and nights by train to reach their villages… Read more »
It should say ‘… my friends in Bangalore …’
Being well over sensitive here.
So what if Londoners find Aberystwyth difficult to spell? Not like they are saying how run down the town appears to be.
Just that it is a long drive, and that it is worth it. London has remained the region with both the largest proportion of people born outside the UK and the largest proportion of people with non-UK passports. In 2021, more than 4 in 10 (40.6%) usual residents in London were non-UK born, and more than 1 in 5 (23.3%) had a non-UK passport. So one needs to bear that in mind.
To the London media, we are just a Celtic theme park, they won’t be happy, unless we all spoke English, and sing God save the Queen, (sorry King)
This derision is par for the course to us Welsh folk. The people who should be most offended are those at whom it is aimed. They are being designated thick by this publication. Hopefully, THEY will stage a backlash starting with ‘how dare you’?