Talk:Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (July–December 2020)

September 27: Military supporting Birmingham's Covid-19 testing

I noticed a news item in the early hours of Sunday 27 September on the enlisting of 100 military personnel to support the "drop and collect" Covid-19 testing programme in the Birmingham area. I never added it to the main page because the first few news outlets were only deprecated sources WP:DEPS. I later noticed a BBC article, which could be helpful to support an entry. I was also unsure whether this item was significant enough, especially taking into consideration the issue of the rapidly expanding word count. Should it be added to 27 September? SpookiePuppy (talk) 04:05, 28 September 2020 (UTC)

Yes go ahead and add it, either to here or to Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Hopefully the size won't be such a problem now now the timeline is split in half. My guess is this will end up being around 220–230K long. This is Paul (talk) 08:38, 28 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. The entry has been made for 27 September on the Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. SpookiePuppy (talk) 18:37, 28 September 2020 (UTC)

2 October - 1 in 4 of the UK now under local lockdown measures

I made a new entry for 2 October 2020 for this topic, but afterwards noticed that the BBC article was dated 1 October 2020. The reason I put it under 2 October was that the Google search for the title of the article Covid rules: How much of the UK is now under some sort of lockdown? gave the age as only 3 hours old (this was a 4 AM (UTC), 5 AM UK time). However, the date on the article clearly states 1 October 2020, so perhaps the entry needs to be moved up to the previous day? On the other hand, this story on the extent of the UK local lockdowns seems to be emerging more as news today, 2 October. Apologies if I have made more work. SpookiePuppy (talk) 04:30, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Over reliance on BBC as a source

This article has over 300 uses of the BBC as a sole source for the information in this article. That surely must be over-reliance on the BBC as a source here and is in danger of this article simply becoming a reposting of BBC news. There must be a diversification of sources otherwise there is also a danger of this article being the BBCs POV and not NPOV. Sparkle1 (talk) 16:47, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

I think there is a tendency to rely on BBC articles quite a lot, particularly in the years articles (check out 2020 in the United Kingdom for example, where there are around 296), but I don't think there's a POV issue here. This is a list article showing events, rather than one summarising people's opinions. But if you're concerned, the events are covered in other media, so feel free to find some replacements. This is Paul (talk) 17:24, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

I tend to agree with This is Paul. The article entries are kept factual and are not editorials, so I don't think POV comes into it. Citing BBC is just for verification, not opinion, on each 'news' item. I am sure you can find alternate sources for the same facts if you are worried. Many thanks for your observation though. Crep171166 (talk) 07:17, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

The way forward

Sometimes I think I'm guilty of adding too much information to these articles, but it's a case of trying to guess what's important and what isn't. It's possible at some point we'll need to consolidate the information in this timeline and others, so if that needs to happen the hope is that an experienced copyeditor may come along and help. I had a small spat yesterday with someone who removed an entry about UK unemployment, which on the surface may not seem to be related to this topic, but of course is a knock on effect of the COVID crisis, and whether or not it needs to be in here is something that may need consideration. There may also be scope for spinning off some of the information into other timelines, such as a Timeline of local lockdown restrictions in England or a Timeline of British COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. I'd be interested in any thoughts on this, so please feel free to comment below. Cheers, This is Paul (talk) 23:19, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

It's not always easy to know. Sometimes issues take a day or so to ripen, or to emerge with the true level of importance that you can only really judge looking back. Then there's the issue of how much the news item is part of the UK as a whole or is it more specific to one of the home nations. Some duplication is bound to happen. Also there is an issue with how the news emerges from about 10 pm UK time, where most of the papers are still dating news items according to the previous day, but the news headline will actually gather momentum after midnight. This makes it difficult to know how to utilise some of the articles and I believe this is one of the reasons the BBC has become so dominant as a source; in that they actually date the article, not "4 hours ago" or "15 hours ago", etc. There are issues with subscription with a number of the papers where they cover alternative angles. Also, when there's an obvious major development, such as the Tier 2 moves of 15 October, some of the smaller news items can be lost in the furore, for example, the Lancet article of 15 October Scientific consensus on the COVID-19 pandemic or the possibility that Welsh police could use ANPR to identify people crossing the border! I just don't know whether to include everything that could be included. Oh, and we could do with more hands on the pump as well. SpookiePuppy (talk) 23:41, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Potential for article on the vaccination programme?

Hi, I have posed a question at Talk:COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom#Potential for article on the vaccination programme? if anyone has any comments on this. This may even fit in with the concerns raised in the preceding section, if splitting-off vaccination programme events into its own article is better? Many thanks. -- Crep1711 (talk) 09:24, 16 December 2020 (UTC)