Last Christmas my other half and I made the decision not to see each other because we gave a shit about the rules and our families.
I didn't see her for nearly six months because of that.
It boils my piss that the Number 10 staff were breaking the rules I was following and laughinging about it.
Surely you were following the rules because you didn’t want to catch/spread a deadly disease? Obviously the state doesn’t care about any individuals and the restrictions were really about protecting the NHS, but really the joke is on those who were being reckless.
No, I'm with Eagles. My judgement was that the rules were stupid and disproportionate, but I still followed them. I mainly followed the rules because I am, at heart, a rule follower, or at least not a blatant rule breaker. I follow rules grudgingly and bend them, but I do when pushed, believe in rules. And so do most people. That's the reason my daughter was in tears on Christmas Eve because for the first time in her life her grandparents weren't there. So yes, I am a bit grumpy about this. Have Beth Rigby and Kay Burley commented yet?
I was so glad I lived in a multi generational household.
My kids have a strong bond with my parents and not seeing them at Christmas would have damaged them all.
I really did feel so sorry for families in your situation.
It is what boils my piss further.
Thanks, but there are many in worse situations. I'm in the fortunate situation that three out of my kids grandparents are within half an hour. They were denied hugs for a year, but they actually saw their grandparents not too irregularly during 2020. I know plenty of others who didn't see parents and grandparents for well over a year. It is really them for whom your piss and mine should boil.
Last Christmas my other half and I made the decision not to see each other because we gave a shit about the rules and our families.
I didn't see her for nearly six months because of that.
It boils my piss that the Number 10 staff were breaking the rules I was following and laughinging about it.
Surely you were following the rules because you didn’t want to catch/spread a deadly disease? Obviously the state doesn’t care about any individuals and the restrictions were really about protecting the NHS, but really the joke is on those who were being reckless.
No, I'm with Eagles. My judgement was that the rules were stupid and disproportionate, but I still followed them. I mainly followed the rules because I am, at heart, a rule follower, or at least not a blatant rule breaker. I follow rules grudgingly and bend them, but I do when pushed, believe in rules. And so do most people. That's the reason my daughter was in tears on Christmas Eve because for the first time in her life her grandparents weren't there. So yes, I am a bit grumpy about this. Have Beth Rigby and Kay Burley commented yet?
I was so glad I lived in a multi generational household.
My kids have a strong bond with my parents and not seeing them at Christmas would have damaged them all.
I really did feel so sorry for families in your situation.
It is what boils my piss further.
Are you seriously suggesting that number 10, Beth Rigby and others ruined Christmas for us?
Most people like to 'follow the rules'.
So yes, Boris did ruin christmas for loads. The least you can expect from the powers that be is to follow their own rules & guidelines.
Allegra Stratton is married to Spectator editor James Forsyth - the best man at Rishi Sunak's wedding. She worked on Robert Peston's ITV show alongside Cassian Horowitz, who is now special advisor to Sunak. This footage has now been leaked to ITV.
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
My claim to fame is getting detained by the personal protection lot after "assaulting" Denis Thatcher...I accidentally knocked him flying coming around a corner and the plod thought i was attacking him, so I got jumped on. When I was finally released, he was actually very nice about it all.
Good job it was before all the days of camera phones etc as I am sure I would have been all over social media in minutes.
Denis was a good old boy. I'm sure he had a large gin and tonic and took it all his stride
Allegra Stratton is married to Spectator editor James Forsyth - the best man at Rishi Sunak's wedding. She worked on Robert Peston's ITV show alongside Cassian Horowitz, who is now special advisor to Sunak. This footage has now been leaked to ITV.
There are people who know far more about this stuff than me, but I always assumed Allegra would seek revenge after Carrie shunted her sideways.
Here is how Britain’s head of state marked the funeral of the man she had been married to for 73 years. It might not seem immediately obvious in the reaction to news that the Prime Minister was throwing parties at Number 10 during that period, but I have a feeling this matters. https://twitter.com/OzKaterji/status/1468298704197140485/photo/1
Just catching up. Ouch. In normal times someone would be toast, but no doubt the troops will rally round to their ‘winner’.
It depends if the police become involved and if so to what extent.
If they lay charges against Boris I think at that point he'll have to go.
If they do there will be a sizeable number of people who will side with him. Everyone hates the regulations and many will have flouted them. Indeed everyone will have flouted them at some point and to some degree.
So they will applaud Boris Johnson for sticking it to Boris Johnson?
There was a poll on it this morning. From memory, 67% didn't believe there hadn't been a party, some similar figure disapproved, and only 13% approved on the basis that the staff had worked hard and deserved a break.
The disturbing thing is that this is despite their having leaned over backwards to make much more optimistic assumptions than are justified by the facts. For illustration, they suppose the R number of Omicron will be 1.5. Estimates from South Africa suggest something more like 2.5. Even higher figures for its rate of spread relative to Delta in the UK have been reported today.
And they suppose it will be only half as severe as Delta, even though we have no real evidence that it is any less severe. It's continually stated that disease in the current wave in South Africa is typically less severe than in the previous wave. But that's exactly what you would expect in a situation where (1) there was much less immunity in the population in the previous wave and (2) a new variant is escaping immunity so that a higher percentage of infections are in those already infected or vaccinated.
Those numbers (with the caveat that they are "entirely made up") aren't very helpful in understanding how much of a risk there is from omicron because essentially all they are doing is comparing exponential growth with a constant rate of new infections. Obviously the former will produce scarier numbers, but we are no longer in the same position as March 2020.
I am expecting a bit of a shitshow in the hospitals. Depleted staff numbers, people on much overdue leave getting stuck overseas, and the rest of us in isolation. This is what happened after a recent ICU staff Christmas party in Spain. 70 cases and the unit unable to staff.
As you probably remember last week I thought I had Covid, but I got a negative LFT and then a negative PCR. But I've just recalled - I was semi-delirious at the time, so the anomaly has only just struck me -that for 24 hours of my illness I entirely lost my sense of smell. Anosmia. This wasn't the blocked nose diminishment of smell you get with a cold or the flu, it was a total loss of a faculty. I couldn't smell coffee, perfume, strong Cheddar, anything. Zip.
Does that indicate I DID have Covid, and the PCR test was a false negative? Can that happen?
FWIW I have never lost my sense of smell before; it was striking and odd, and actually a bit scary (at the idea it might be long lasting or even permanent)
Foxy will no doubt answer in a more informed way.
I can tell you though that I had a cold a few months ago that totally wiped me out. I'm sure it was a cold - tests like you all negative for CV, and it was all about common cold symptoms. But my word! I really was delerious for about 12h - I have zero memory of that period. I remember waking up and having no idea about anything.
Just a cold though really (almost sure).
I think right at the start of the pandemic I did have covid - unstoppable coughing - nothing like flu or a cold.
We're all getting the after-effects of isolation. What would have been brushed off by our immune systems isn't.
Just as an observation, this is a very similar story to that which did for Matt Hancock - I.e. having a nice time while specifically denying the opportunity for that specific nice time to the rest of us. And yes, both Hancock and Boris could probably, technically, say what they were doing was within the rules. And in neither case would it cut much ice.
I think that's about right.
I don't have the incentive to look up exactly what the rules and guidance where at the time, I suspect that it was just within those rules. and frankly I never supported the lockdowns and other covid rules, I am however frustrated by this.
Allegra Stratton is married to Spectator editor James Forsyth - the best man at Rishi Sunak's wedding. She worked on Robert Peston's ITV show alongside Cassian Horowitz, who is now special advisor to Sunak. This footage has now been leaked to ITV.
Fascinating detail. The Spectator is turning on its erstwhile editor and most famous alumnus?
I'm unconvinced. Boris gave them Brexit.
Also, who the F would want to take over now as PM, if this did somehow bring down Bojo? Absolutely awful timing, with winter ahead and Omicron the Almighty on the horizon. As others have said, it is far better to let Boris absorb all the damage, and THEN heave him overboard some time late next year, or whatever
A constituency MP can overrule the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary.
Downing Street have just responded to top @theousherwood scoop: "This was an operational decision. Neither the PM nor Mrs Johnson were involved. This letter was nothing to do with Ms Harrison’s role as the PM’s PPS, she was acting in her capacity as a constituency MP.
Trudi is my MP. It is rural where the main industries are farming, tourism and Sellafield. The idea that she was so concerned about pets in Afghanistan that she was able to overrule the Defence Secretary is for the birds.
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
My claim to fame is getting detained by the personal protection lot after "assaulting" Denis Thatcher...I accidentally knocked him flying coming around a corner and the plod thought i was attacking him, so I got jumped on. When I was finally released, he was actually very nice about it all.
Good job it was before all the days of camera phones etc as I am sure I would have been all over social media in minutes.
Denis was a good old boy. I'm sure he had a large gin and tonic and took it all his stride
I was only a kid at the time, but if I remember correctly he apologised to my parents for the overzealous reaction of the police and left money for us to have lunch.
To be fair to the plod, I was the size of a fully grown adult even by that age, and all the plod would have seen is the aftermath of Denis getting crunched like Boris crunched that Japanese kid. I was face down on the tarmac of the car park in seconds.
Here is how Britain’s head of state marked the funeral of the man she had been married to for 73 years. It might not seem immediately obvious in the reaction to news that the Prime Minister was throwing parties at Number 10 during that period, but I have a feeling this matters. https://twitter.com/OzKaterji/status/1468298704197140485/photo/1
I was thinking the other day Her Majesty started her reign with Churchill and may (hopefully not, but may) end her reign with Boris Johnson.
Think it's worse tbf, Cummings was trying to do the best for his family even though he was lying his arse off. An after work bash doesn't have the same human element mitigation.
Allegra Stratton is married to Spectator editor James Forsyth - the best man at Rishi Sunak's wedding. She worked on Robert Peston's ITV show alongside Cassian Horowitz, who is now special advisor to Sunak. This footage has now been leaked to ITV.
Fascinating detail. The Spectator is turning on its erstwhile editor and most famous alumnus?
I'm unconvinced. Boris gave them Brexit.
Also, who the F would want to take over now as PM, if this did somehow bring down Bojo? Absolutely awful timing, with winter ahead and Omicron the Almighty on the horizon. As others have said, it is far better to let Boris absorb all the damage, and THEN heave him overboard some time late next year, or whatever
The novelty of Brexit has surely long worn off. In fact elements of the Speccie are now grumbling that Boris's botched version killed the dream.
Worse. During lockdown, few of us were pining for a drive to Barnard Castle, whereas during Christmas 2020 very many would like to have been with friends and family.
The disturbing thing is that this is despite their having leaned over backwards to make much more optimistic assumptions than are justified by the facts. For illustration, they suppose the R number of Omicron will be 1.5. Estimates from South Africa suggest something more like 2.5. Even higher figures for its rate of spread relative to Delta in the UK have been reported today.
And they suppose it will be only half as severe as Delta, even though we have no real evidence that it is any less severe. It's continually stated that disease in the current wave in South Africa is typically less severe than in the previous wave. But that's exactly what you would expect in a situation where (1) there was much less immunity in the population in the previous wave and (2) a new variant is escaping immunity so that a higher percentage of infections are in those already infected or vaccinated.
Those numbers (with the caveat that they are "entirely made up") aren't very helpful in understanding how much of a risk there is from omicron because essentially all they are doing is comparing exponential growth with a constant rate of new infections. Obviously the former will produce scarier numbers, but we are no longer in the same position as March 2020.
I am expecting a bit of a shitshow in the hospitals. Depleted staff numbers, people on much overdue leave getting stuck overseas, and the rest of us in isolation. This is what happened after a recent ICU staff Christmas party in Spain. 70 cases and the unit unable to staff.
As you probably remember last week I thought I had Covid, but I got a negative LFT and then a negative PCR. But I've just recalled - I was semi-delirious at the time, so the anomaly has only just struck me -that for 24 hours of my illness I entirely lost my sense of smell. Anosmia. This wasn't the blocked nose diminishment of smell you get with a cold or the flu, it was a total loss of a faculty. I couldn't smell coffee, perfume, strong Cheddar, anything. Zip.
Does that indicate I DID have Covid, and the PCR test was a false negative? Can that happen?
FWIW I have never lost my sense of smell before; it was striking and odd, and actually a bit scary (at the idea it might be long lasting or even permanent)
How any times during this pandemic now is it that you “thought you had covid”? We lose count.
Time to man up and admit you over-reacted to some minor virus or cold.
Ignore that Leon. It’s a very good question. Have you seen the pictures of the drunken lab fight where important batches from midlands and southwest being tested.
The seriousness was that people told no, went round to see the elderly family and into work etc.
your reminder that almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted at Westminster magistrates court for ignoring lockdowns, attending parties and breaking quarantine during this pandemic https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1468313462514364422
The disturbing thing is that this is despite their having leaned over backwards to make much more optimistic assumptions than are justified by the facts. For illustration, they suppose the R number of Omicron will be 1.5. Estimates from South Africa suggest something more like 2.5. Even higher figures for its rate of spread relative to Delta in the UK have been reported today.
And they suppose it will be only half as severe as Delta, even though we have no real evidence that it is any less severe. It's continually stated that disease in the current wave in South Africa is typically less severe than in the previous wave. But that's exactly what you would expect in a situation where (1) there was much less immunity in the population in the previous wave and (2) a new variant is escaping immunity so that a higher percentage of infections are in those already infected or vaccinated.
Those numbers (with the caveat that they are "entirely made up") aren't very helpful in understanding how much of a risk there is from omicron because essentially all they are doing is comparing exponential growth with a constant rate of new infections. Obviously the former will produce scarier numbers, but we are no longer in the same position as March 2020.
I am expecting a bit of a shitshow in the hospitals. Depleted staff numbers, people on much overdue leave getting stuck overseas, and the rest of us in isolation. This is what happened after a recent ICU staff Christmas party in Spain. 70 cases and the unit unable to staff.
As you probably remember last week I thought I had Covid, but I got a negative LFT and then a negative PCR. But I've just recalled - I was semi-delirious at the time, so the anomaly has only just struck me -that for 24 hours of my illness I entirely lost my sense of smell. Anosmia. This wasn't the blocked nose diminishment of smell you get with a cold or the flu, it was a total loss of a faculty. I couldn't smell coffee, perfume, strong Cheddar, anything. Zip.
Does that indicate I DID have Covid, and the PCR test was a false negative? Can that happen?
FWIW I have never lost my sense of smell before; it was striking and odd, and actually a bit scary (at the idea it might be long lasting or even permanent)
Foxy will no doubt answer in a more informed way.
I can tell you though that I had a cold a few months ago that totally wiped me out. I'm sure it was a cold - tests like you all negative for CV, and it was all about common cold symptoms. But my word! I really was delerious for about 12h - I have zero memory of that period. I remember waking up and having no idea about anything.
Just a cold though really (almost sure).
I think right at the start of the pandemic I did have covid - unstoppable coughing - nothing like flu or a cold.
We're all getting the after-effects of isolation. What would have been brushed off by our immune systems isn't.
Yes. Looking at my symptoms - and presuming the Covid tests were accurate - I reckon I had some kind of viral bronchitis, perhaps. Dunno
it's just the anosmia which nags. Such an odd symptom
It has also given me tremendous sympathy for a very old friend from my Uni days, who has been anosmic since birth. I've always rather shrugged at his problem - not in a cruel way, it just never seemed that much of a handicap, unlike deafness or blindness
I now realise it is a huge limitation on the joys of life
There's a certain ghoulish satisfaction in observing a PM who is not only spectacularly dishonest but also doesn't even bother to make a token effort to conceal it.
I genuinely think he is disorganised and confused most of the time he thinks it is true.
A variation of Tony Blair means it when he says it.
so you agree that his memory and mental capacity isn't what it used to be. I do seriously think Boris hasn't been 100% since he caught Covid.
Never attribute to long covid what is adequately explained by too much coke and booze.
That's just a general principle, obv doesn't apply in this instance.
The other thing that has happened is that his job has got more complicated.
Summer 2019-March 2020: Talk about Brexit, because that was the only story.
March 2020-November 2020: Talk about Covid, because that was the only story.
December 2020: Talk about Brexit, because that was the only story.
January 2021-May 2021: Talk about vaccines, because... you get the idea.
A reasonably well-coached eight year old could have done it.
Now we're heading back to politics as normal, with a dozen different things in the intray every day. Even if you're not probe to fibbing, it's hard to keep track. If you also have to remember what you said to who (and hope reality doesn't show you up), even more so.
As people pointed out beforehand, he's just not up to the job.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
I’m still not willing to go there.
I think Boris v Corbyn is pretty much on par, but the people behind Corbyn scared me more than the people behind Boris.
If Johnson as PM is the equivalent of being garrotted, Corbyn would have been the equivalent of being slow sliced while at the same time being buggered with a red hot poker.
They were both awful as a choice. But there is no doubt, even now, that Corbyn would have been the worse option.
Corbyn minority vs Johnson landslide though?
All right, being buggered with a poker that's not red hot.
Corbyn propped up by Sturgeon - whose interest in leaving the UK as a functioning state long-term is nil - would have been even worse than pure Corbyn.
There's a certain ghoulish satisfaction in observing a PM who is not only spectacularly dishonest but also doesn't even bother to make a token effort to conceal it.
I genuinely think he is disorganised and confused most of the time he thinks it is true.
A variation of Tony Blair means it when he says it.
so you agree that his memory and mental capacity isn't what it used to be. I do seriously think Boris hasn't been 100% since he caught Covid.
Never attribute to long covid what is adequately explained by too much coke and booze.
That's just a general principle, obv doesn't apply in this instance.
The other thing that has happened is that his job has got more complicated.
Summer 2019-March 2020: Talk about Brexit, because that was the only story.
March 2020-November 2020: Talk about Covid, because that was the only story.
December 2020: Talk about Brexit, because that was the only story.
January 2021-May 2021: Talk about vaccines, because... you get the idea.
A reasonably well-coached eight year old could have done it.
Now we're heading back to politics as normal, with a dozen different things in the intray every day. Even if you're not probe to fibbing, it's hard to keep track. If you also have to remember what you said to who (and hope reality doesn't show you up), even more so.
As people pointed out beforehand, he's just not up to the job.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
I’m still not willing to go there.
I think Boris v Corbyn is pretty much on par, but the people behind Corbyn scared me more than the people behind Boris.
If Johnson as PM is the equivalent of being garrotted, Corbyn would have been the equivalent of being slow sliced while at the same time being buggered with a red hot poker.
They were both awful as a choice. But there is no doubt, even now, that Corbyn would have been the worse option.
Corbyn minority vs Johnson landslide though?
All right, being buggered with a poker that's not red hot.
Corbyn propped up by Sturgeon - whose interest in leaving the UK as a functioning state long-term is nil - would have been even worse than pure Corbyn.
Leaving the UK yes; not wrecking it all. You're just projectring current Conservative policy.
Tory politicians must be incredibly frustrated by how they built a new alignment that gave them a sustainable majority of the electorate, and it is being thrown away not for any policy goal or philosophy, but entirely because of irresponsible choices for personal benefit.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
Yawn. From memory Corbo himself broke lockdown rules at a posh N1 dinner party - too many people during the dark (hopefully never to be repeated) days of the Rule of Six.
Is there anyone on here who would defend this? I would guess a few would give it a go…
Not me! I think it's absolutely terrible and if the the police lay charges I think he'll have to go.
It's as bad as what Hanky Panky did (minus the hanky panky... though we still don't know what actually went on at the party so there's still time for that angle...)
Worse. During lockdown, few of us were pining for a drive to Barnard Castle, whereas during Christmas 2020 very many would like to have been with friends and family.
Speak for yourself, I'm always happy to drive to Barnard Castle.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
Yawn. From memory Corbo himself broke lockdown rules at a posh N1 dinner party - too many people during the dark (hopefully never to be repeated) days of the Rule of Six.
Corbyn has been caught repeatedly breaking the rules.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
Yawn. From memory Corbo himself broke lockdown rules at a posh N1 dinner party - too many people during the dark (hopefully never to be repeated) days of the Rule of Six.
Corbyn has been caught repeatedly breaking the rules.
But he wasn't PM, enunciating and enforcing [sic] them.
The prospect of relief through vaccination was the only thing that made that massive lockdown that started about a year ago bearable. If there's another one, the only conclusion is that lockdowns will go on in cycles forever. At which point, why bother to comply? Far better to roll the dice than to live like that.
Tory politicians must be incredibly frustrated by how they built a new alignment that gave them a sustainable majority of the electorate, and it is being thrown away not for any policy goal or philosophy, but entirely because of irresponsible choices for personal benefit.
If they have to push him and Carrie under the proverbial bus to keep the show on the road... they will!
your reminder that almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted at Westminster magistrates court for ignoring lockdowns, attending parties and breaking quarantine during this pandemic https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1468313462514364422
Nothing more to say.
I remember Greater Manchester Police gleefully tweeting about their success in breaking up children's birthday parties.
I think it’s clear that almost nobody strictly adhered to lockdown rules. No surprise there. What does stick in the craw is Boris and his hectoring buddies lecturing the public while enjoying a good old screw themselves.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
Yawn. From memory Corbo himself broke lockdown rules at a posh N1 dinner party - too many people during the dark (hopefully never to be repeated) days of the Rule of Six.
Corbyn has been caught repeatedly breaking the rules.
But he wasn't PM, enunciating and enforcing [sic] them.
Oh I am not equivocating with what Cumming, Hannock etc have done. But Nick trying to say no no no, he would never do such a thing is demonstrable bullshit. Corbyn has treated COVID restrictions as optional repeatedly.
I can usually rely on people complaining that the BBC are ‘ignoring’ a story, only for them to report it shortly after. Unless it’s their own scoop, they are cautious about posting news precipitately.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
Yawn. From memory Corbo himself broke lockdown rules at a posh N1 dinner party - too many people during the dark (hopefully never to be repeated) days of the Rule of Six.
Corbyn has been caught repeatedly breaking the rules.
But he wasn't PM, enunciating and enforcing [sic] them.
Oh I am not equivocating with what Cumming, Hannock etc have done. But Nick trying to say no no no, he would never do such a thing is demonstrable bullshit.
NP? Oh, you mean Mr Corbyn. But did he have mass parties at the seat of government at a critical time?
The significance of the leaked Stratton video is little to do with covid regulations, but a further sign that even within number ten there are those whose patience with the clown-in-charge has run out.
Surely this all pivots on whether Boris was there?
Do we know? (honest question, I've been driving all day)
If he was present then yes it is very bad. If he wasn't he will escape again. If Carrie was there - but not the PM - he will survive, but will take on yet more damage
At least today we have learnt that the next time there is an international humanitarian crisis that needs action by civil servants and ministers, we can tempt them into staying beyond 5pm by offering cheese, wine and party games.
The disturbing thing is that this is despite their having leaned over backwards to make much more optimistic assumptions than are justified by the facts. For illustration, they suppose the R number of Omicron will be 1.5. Estimates from South Africa suggest something more like 2.5. Even higher figures for its rate of spread relative to Delta in the UK have been reported today.
And they suppose it will be only half as severe as Delta, even though we have no real evidence that it is any less severe. It's continually stated that disease in the current wave in South Africa is typically less severe than in the previous wave. But that's exactly what you would expect in a situation where (1) there was much less immunity in the population in the previous wave and (2) a new variant is escaping immunity so that a higher percentage of infections are in those already infected or vaccinated.
Those numbers (with the caveat that they are "entirely made up") aren't very helpful in understanding how much of a risk there is from omicron because essentially all they are doing is comparing exponential growth with a constant rate of new infections. Obviously the former will produce scarier numbers, but we are no longer in the same position as March 2020.
I am expecting a bit of a shitshow in the hospitals. Depleted staff numbers, people on much overdue leave getting stuck overseas, and the rest of us in isolation. This is what happened after a recent ICU staff Christmas party in Spain. 70 cases and the unit unable to staff.
As you probably remember last week I thought I had Covid, but I got a negative LFT and then a negative PCR. But I've just recalled - I was semi-delirious at the time, so the anomaly has only just struck me -that for 24 hours of my illness I entirely lost my sense of smell. Anosmia. This wasn't the blocked nose diminishment of smell you get with a cold or the flu, it was a total loss of a faculty. I couldn't smell coffee, perfume, strong Cheddar, anything. Zip.
Does that indicate I DID have Covid, and the PCR test was a false negative? Can that happen?
FWIW I have never lost my sense of smell before; it was striking and odd, and actually a bit scary (at the idea it might be long lasting or even permanent)
Foxy will no doubt answer in a more informed way.
I can tell you though that I had a cold a few months ago that totally wiped me out. I'm sure it was a cold - tests like you all negative for CV, and it was all about common cold symptoms. But my word! I really was delerious for about 12h - I have zero memory of that period. I remember waking up and having no idea about anything.
Just a cold though really (almost sure).
I think right at the start of the pandemic I did have covid - unstoppable coughing - nothing like flu or a cold.
We're all getting the after-effects of isolation. What would have been brushed off by our immune systems isn't.
Yes. Looking at my symptoms - and presuming the Covid tests were accurate - I reckon I had some kind of viral bronchitis, perhaps. Dunno
it's just the anosmia which nags. Such an odd symptom
It has also given me tremendous sympathy for a very old friend from my Uni days, who has been anosmic since birth. I've always rather shrugged at his problem - not in a cruel way, it just never seemed that much of a handicap, unlike deafness or blindness
I now realise it is a huge limitation on the joys of life
I'm sure you're not the sort of chap to be blindsided by this anyway. Forwards
Just as an observation, this is a very similar story to that which did for Matt Hancock - I.e. having a nice time while specifically denying the opportunity for that specific nice time to the rest of us. And yes, both Hancock and Boris could probably, technically, say what they were doing was within the rules. And in neither case would it cut much ice.
Correct, it’s the hypocrisy, not the act. In fact, resorting to the minutiae of the technicalities makes it worse. And keeps it in the news too!
At least today we have learnt that the next time there is an international humanitarian crisis that needs action by civil servants and ministers, we can tempt them into staying beyond 5pm by offering cheese, wine and party games.
D'you think they need, er, stimulants to keep up their energy levels? There are those glucose tablets one can buy.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
Yawn. From memory Corbo himself broke lockdown rules at a posh N1 dinner party - too many people during the dark (hopefully never to be repeated) days of the Rule of Six.
Corbyn has been caught repeatedly breaking the rules.
Surely this all pivots on whether Boris was there?
Do we know? (honest question, I've been driving all day)
If he was present then yes it is very bad. If he wasn't he will escape again. If Carrie was there - but not the PM - he will survive, but will take on yet more damage
The claim in the Mirror stories are that no he didn't attend what appears to have been regular knees up. There was some drinks for a senior civil servant leaving, where he came in, gave a short speech and left.
The problem is a) did he know / encourage them and b) he has clearly lied about them.
Everything we know about Boris, you can see him egging them on....oh yeahhh well you know nudge nudge, wink wink, you lot are working jolly hard, if I was to leave at 4pm on Friday and you know somebody tripped and fell and a load of bottles of plonk came out the back of the ruck, well it would be a waste not to drink them....vroom vroom.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
Yawn. From memory Corbo himself broke lockdown rules at a posh N1 dinner party - too many people during the dark (hopefully never to be repeated) days of the Rule of Six.
Corbyn has been caught repeatedly breaking the rules.
At least today we have learnt that the next time there is an international humanitarian crisis that needs action by civil servants and ministers, we can tempt them into staying beyond 5pm by offering cheese, wine and party games.
In times of austerity, perhaps we could double up by suggesting Sardines for both aspects?
Surely this all pivots on whether Boris was there?
Do we know? (honest question, I've been driving all day)
If he was present then yes it is very bad. If he wasn't he will escape again. If Carrie was there - but not the PM - he will survive, but will take on yet more damage
The claim in the Mirror stories are that no he didn't attend what appears to have been regular knees up. There was some drinks for a senior civil servant leaving, where he came in, gave a short speech and left.
The problem is a) did he know / encourage them and b) he has clearly lied about them.
Quiz? Secret Santa? I used to work in the civil service (or more precisely in a quango still very much marked by the CS ethos) and I can never remember those in a leaving do.
I can usually rely on people complaining that the BBC are ‘ignoring’ a story, only for them to report it shortly after. Unless it’s their own scoop, they are cautious about posting news precipitately.
“has Nigel complained about it yet?” is a question often asked around editorial tables at BBC HQ, while the grunts are keeping half an eye trained on live-streamed PB discussions on one of their many tv screens…
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
I lived 2 doors down from Dennis Nielsen in Cranley Gardens when he was arrested for multiple murders.
The party is featuring prominently on BBC and Sky and the video has put the cat amongst the pigeons
I have no idea how this ends, but the public seem to accept it was a party irrespective of any denials by Boris and this must be very unsettling to conservative mps
Watching Rees Mogg was sickening and he is one of several conservative mps I would really like to see unseated at the next GE
On the subject of public opinion, North Staffordshire is perfectly timed to give Boris and his party a huge wake up call
I would also comment that if the police investigate and find it was a party then Boris is indeed trouble
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
I lived 2 doors down from Dennis Nielsen in Cranley Gardens when he was arrested for multiple murders.
My Vicar buried Fred West.
Yeah, that's a rubbish one but it's the best I can do.
Allegra Stratton is married to Spectator editor James Forsyth - the best man at Rishi Sunak's wedding. She worked on Robert Peston's ITV show alongside Cassian Horowitz, who is now special advisor to Sunak. This footage has now been leaked to ITV.
She also worked on BBC Newsnight before heading to No. 10.
I don’t think I am nearly smart enough to second guess a select committee report. But.
What I saw of the committee, I think they say yes we got 15K out, but was it the right 15K, or a shambles operation didn’t get enough of the right people out? the operation too easily pulled this way that way by various partial lobbying, like news organisations, and making different types of lists confusing the effort.
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
I lived 2 doors down from Dennis Nielsen in Cranley Gardens when he was arrested for multiple murders.
Wow! Did you notice anything funny about the drains?
The party is featuring prominently on BBC and Sky and the video has put the cat amongst the pigeons
I have no idea how this ends, but the public seem to accept it was a party irrespective of any denials by Boris and this must be very unsettling to conservative mps
Watching Rees Mogg was sickening and he is one of several conservative mps I would really like to see unseated at the next GE
On the subject of public opinion, North Staffordshire is perfectly timed to give Boris and his party a huge wake up call
I would also comment that if the police investigate and find it was a party then Boris is indeed trouble
Zero chance the police and CPS can't find a reason to avoid doing their job here.
The party is featuring prominently on BBC and Sky and the video has put the cat amongst the pigeons
I have no idea how this ends, but the public seem to accept it was a party irrespective of any denials by Boris and this must be very unsettling to conservative mps
Watching Rees Mogg was sickening and he is one of several conservative mps I would really like to see unseated at the next GE
On the subject of public opinion, North Staffordshire is perfectly timed to give Boris and his party a huge wake up call
I would also comment that if the police investigate and find it was a party then Boris is indeed trouble
“There was food and drink and nibbles and games and it went on until after midnight with lots of people crowded into a small space but, oh no (…your honour…), it certainly wasn’t a party……”
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
I lived 2 doors down from Dennis Nielsen in Cranley Gardens when he was arrested for multiple murders.
My Vicar buried Fred West.
Yeah, that's a rubbish one but it's the best I can do.
Good Christian.
One wonders about the smells in Cranley Gardens.
Forebear of mine lived in the same house as Burke of Burke and Hare. Fortunately before they took an interest in furtheting the advance of medical education.
Surely this all pivots on whether Boris was there?
Do we know? (honest question, I've been driving all day)
If he was present then yes it is very bad. If he wasn't he will escape again. If Carrie was there - but not the PM - he will survive, but will take on yet more damage
The claim in the Mirror stories are that no he didn't attend what appears to have been regular knees up. There was some drinks for a senior civil servant leaving, where he came in, gave a short speech and left.
The problem is a) did he know / encourage them and b) he has clearly lied about them.
Quiz? Secret Santa? I used to work in the civil service (or more precisely in a quango still very much marked by the CS ethos) and I can never remember those in a leaving do.
From the Mirror report....
The Prime Minister gave a speech at a packed leaving do for a top aide last November when the country was in the grip of its second lockdown...Then just days before Christmas, with London in tier 3 restrictions, members of his top team held their own festive bash in Downing Street. Officials knocked back glasses of wine during a Christmas quiz and a Secret Santa while the rest of the country was forced to stay at home....But the leaving do still took place on November 27 while the unofficial Christmas bash, which the PM did not attend, happened on December 18.
The public will just tell the lying git to sod off.
If Omicron really is as transmissible as some are fearing a lockdown will make sod all difference anyway. What was R during the last one? 0.8 or thereabouts?
We're back to the original Plan A (March 2020), whether we like it or not.
Tory politicians must be incredibly frustrated by how they built a new alignment that gave them a sustainable majority of the electorate, and it is being thrown away not for any policy goal or philosophy, but entirely because of irresponsible choices for personal benefit.
Yes. I am a constant critic of Peppa and his idiots when they do wrong and stupid. Not because I am ramping the Labour party, but because we used to have standards. Having a majority of 80 does not mean its ok to run the government to line your supporter's pockets and to lie and cheat and demean the rule of law. Whats more every other Tory leader would have been horrified of such acts.
It’s hard to know who is worse; Boris, his administration or those that continue to support and defend him.
The Tory MPs who enabled him and continue to do so are the worst. Boris has been consistent his whole life. Your average Tory voter does not understand how bad he is. Tory MPs knew it when they put him through to the members.
Just catching up. Ouch. In normal times someone would be toast, but no doubt the troops will rally round to their ‘winner’.
It depends if the police become involved and if so to what extent.
If they lay charges against Boris I think at that point he'll have to go.
If they do there will be a sizeable number of people who will side with him. Everyone hates the regulations and many will have flouted them. Indeed everyone will have flouted them at some point and to some degree.
The prospect of relief through vaccination was the only thing that made that massive lockdown that started about a year ago bearable. If there's another one, the only conclusion is that lockdowns will go on in cycles forever. At which point, why bother to comply? Far better to roll the dice than to live like that.
Sort of relevant but mask compliance on the train today was low - about 50%. I get the feeling that people don't take the threat seriously. Perhaps they are resigned to taking their chances with whatever new Covid strain there is.
If there is a virus that kills children rather than the old / unvaccinated, then maybe people would look at the situation differently.
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
I lived 2 doors down from Dennis Nielsen in Cranley Gardens when he was arrested for multiple murders.
My Vicar buried Fred West.
Yeah, that's a rubbish one but it's the best I can do.
Good Christian.
One wonders about the smells in Cranley Gardens.
Forebear of mine lived in the same house as Burke of Burke and Hare. Fortunately before they took an interest in furtheting the advance of medical education.
He was a very remarkable character one way and another (the Revd Robert Simpson, not Fred West). Couldn't preach a good sermon to save his life and his services were so modern even Graham Kendrick would have blinked, but he was undoubtedly a force.
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
NP - you're just about my favourite poster on PB.
I really think that your loyalty to Corbyn is massively misplaced. He's a bad man, and you certainly aren't.
I'm a Tory, but if there is to be a Labour government again then it'll need people like you, behind the scenes perhaps, making it work. I've no idea what sort of madness causes you, a sensible person, to ally yourself with a nutter, but please, please get out of that.
The disturbing thing is that this is despite their having leaned over backwards to make much more optimistic assumptions than are justified by the facts. For illustration, they suppose the R number of Omicron will be 1.5. Estimates from South Africa suggest something more like 2.5. Even higher figures for its rate of spread relative to Delta in the UK have been reported today.
And they suppose it will be only half as severe as Delta, even though we have no real evidence that it is any less severe. It's continually stated that disease in the current wave in South Africa is typically less severe than in the previous wave. But that's exactly what you would expect in a situation where (1) there was much less immunity in the population in the previous wave and (2) a new variant is escaping immunity so that a higher percentage of infections are in those already infected or vaccinated.
Those numbers (with the caveat that they are "entirely made up") aren't very helpful in understanding how much of a risk there is from omicron because essentially all they are doing is comparing exponential growth with a constant rate of new infections. Obviously the former will produce scarier numbers, but we are no longer in the same position as March 2020.
I think you must have misunderstood.
The calculation is based on the rate of hospitalisation for a given number of cases today. It reflects precisely the position we are in now, not the position we were in at the start.
Except that - as I said - it makes the very optimistic assumption that Omicron will produce only half as many hospitalisations per infection as Delta.
I just realised that I was briefly at school with Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife.
I mean as a claim to fame it's pretty tenuous... but I'll still give a like anyway!
It's certainly a weak claim to fame!
I'm just quite shocked. I remember her very well; all the girls were jealous of her because she was so damn pretty. I knew she'd done some modelling after school and then gone into the movie business but never knew she'd ended up Mrs Weinstein.. I feel rather less jealous of her now.
My uncle was in the same class as Harold Shipman. Apparently he was regularly around my uncles house as a kid.
Gosh!
I'm very boring. As far as I know I don't have connections to any convicted criminals or serial killers.
And I've never even met Boris (unlike about 95% of people on here)
I lived 2 doors down from Dennis Nielsen in Cranley Gardens when he was arrested for multiple murders.
Blimey Miss Cycle. That's not someone you want popping round to share a cup of Nescafe with...
I can usually rely on people complaining that the BBC are ‘ignoring’ a story, only for them to report it shortly after. Unless it’s their own scoop, they are cautious about posting news precipitately.
“has Nigel complained about it yet?” is a question often asked around editorial tables at BBC HQ, while the grunts are keeping half an eye trained on live-streamed PB discussions on one of their many tv screens…
Just catching up. Ouch. In normal times someone would be toast, but no doubt the troops will rally round to their ‘winner’.
It depends if the police become involved and if so to what extent.
If they lay charges against Boris I think at that point he'll have to go.
If they do there will be a sizeable number of people who will side with him. Everyone hates the regulations and many will have flouted them. Indeed everyone will have flouted them at some point and to some degree.
Indeed.
No Indeed about it because they are his bloody regulations. Unless you think they were imposed on him against his will by Ther Science or something?
The prospect of relief through vaccination was the only thing that made that massive lockdown that started about a year ago bearable. If there's another one, the only conclusion is that lockdowns will go on in cycles forever. At which point, why bother to comply? Far better to roll the dice than to live like that.
Sort of relevant but mask compliance on the train today was low - about 50%. I get the feeling that people don't take the threat seriously. Perhaps they are resigned to taking their chances with whatever new Covid strain there is.
If there is a virus that kills children rather than the old / unvaccinated, then maybe people would look at the situation differently.
It might also be partly that the the people most worried about getting coved, who are most likely to where masks all the time when out, have decided not to take the train?
Surely this all pivots on whether Boris was there?
Do we know? (honest question, I've been driving all day)
If he was present then yes it is very bad. If he wasn't he will escape again. If Carrie was there - but not the PM - he will survive, but will take on yet more damage
The claim in the Mirror stories are that no he didn't attend what appears to have been regular knees up. There was some drinks for a senior civil servant leaving, where he came in, gave a short speech and left.
The problem is a) did he know / encourage them and b) he has clearly lied about them.
Quiz? Secret Santa? I used to work in the civil service (or more precisely in a quango still very much marked by the CS ethos) and I can never remember those in a leaving do.
From the Mirror report....
The Prime Minister gave a speech at a packed leaving do for a top aide last November when the country was in the grip of its second lockdown...Then just days before Christmas, with London in tier 3 restrictions, members of his top team held their own festive bash in Downing Street. Officials knocked back glasses of wine during a Christmas quiz and a Secret Santa while the rest of the country was forced to stay at home....But the leaving do still took place on November 27 while the unofficial Christmas bash, which the PM did not attend, happened on December 18.
As I say, I can definitely see old Boris saying while I couldn't possibly attend such an event, if one was to happen, I never heard about it....
When did the pubs have to close last year? I would have sworn I was in one in early Dec, as was going to arrange a birthday drink, but they told us lockdown was looming
I am genuinely uncertain that we ended up with the lesser of two evils in Dec 2019. He really is that bad.
Corbyn would have had different problems. He would have depended on people who would have thought he was never being quite left-wing enough - "a disappointment", people like McCluskey would have said soon enough. There would have been an instant selloff of sterling and the financial markets, though they'd have found their level eventually. The alliance with the US would have gone into the deepest of freezes.
On the other hand, he'd have done a free trade deal with the EU and saved endless bickering. He'd have been steady on the pandemic, doing much the same but without constantly trying to make endearing pledges like "saving Christmas". And he's rigidly honest and I doubt if he's thrown a wild party in his life, and certainly not while urging the opposite on other people. Being boringly austere is not usually popular, but there are times when it's a good thing.
NP - you're just about my favourite poster on PB.
I really think that your loyalty to Corbyn is massively misplaced. He's a bad man, and you certainly aren't.
I'm a Tory, but if there is to be a Labour government again then it'll need people like you, behind the scenes perhaps, making it work. I've no idea what sort of madness causes you, a sensible person, to ally yourself with a nutter, but please, please get out of that.
Nick's a good man, but he's a Red and that's tribal.
The Mail includes the telling detail that this fake "press conference" was in the £2.6 million "briefing room, that has now been ditched."
That's the kind of detail that really matters to people, because it feeds the growing sense of arrogance. Decadence.
Actually it’s been converted into some kind of personal cinema for the PM and Carrie.
Although when this news came out were assured by the usual suspects that the red wall did not begrudge the great helmsman a bit of “House of Gucci” on the big screen.
The public will just tell the lying git to sod off.
If Omicron really is as transmissible as some are fearing a lockdown will make sod all difference anyway. What was R during the last one? 0.8 or thereabouts?
We're back to the original Plan A (March 2020), whether we like it or not.
Yep. Irrespective of the balance between wanting an end to Covid crap and the endless impositions upon our liberties, and the concerns that many of us will harbour for the health of others or ourselves, if this disease becomes sufficiently infectious then nothing will stop it - and there may come a point when it begins to dawn on people that there's no point in even trying anymore.
No amount of working from home, doing nose swabs and diddling about with blue paper masks is going to change the fact that many people will have to set foot in hospitals, even more will still be forced to do all those jobs that cannot be done sat in front of a computer, and most of the adult population will have to go out regularly to do essential shopping. If we can't rely on vaccines to finally put an end to all of this, then we're going to end up relying on evolution instead.
Comments
So yes, Boris did ruin christmas for loads. The least you can expect from the powers that be is to follow their own rules & guidelines.
Allegra Stratton is married to Spectator editor James Forsyth - the best man at Rishi Sunak's wedding. She worked on Robert Peston's ITV show alongside Cassian Horowitz, who is now special advisor to Sunak. This footage has now been leaked to ITV.
How much people care, though, I dunno.
I can tell you though that I had a cold a few months ago that totally wiped me out. I'm sure it was a cold - tests like you all negative for CV, and it was all about common cold symptoms. But my word! I really was delerious for about 12h - I have zero memory of that period. I remember waking up and having no idea about anything.
Just a cold though really (almost sure).
I think right at the start of the pandemic I did have covid - unstoppable coughing - nothing like flu or a cold.
We're all getting the after-effects of isolation. What would have been brushed off by our immune systems isn't.
I don't have the incentive to look up exactly what the rules and guidance where at the time, I suspect that it was just within those rules. and frankly I never supported the lockdowns and other covid rules, I am however frustrated by this.
I'm unconvinced. Boris gave them Brexit.
Also, who the F would want to take over now as PM, if this did somehow bring down Bojo? Absolutely awful timing, with winter ahead and Omicron the Almighty on the horizon. As others have said, it is far better to let Boris absorb all the damage, and THEN heave him overboard some time late next year, or whatever
https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1468315695448576008
I hope she puts the boot into Boris.
To be fair to the plod, I was the size of a fully grown adult even by that age, and all the plod would have seen is the aftermath of Denis getting crunched like Boris crunched that Japanese kid. I was face down on the tarmac of the car park in seconds.
What happened in the intervening 70 years?
The seriousness was that people told no, went round to see the elderly family and into work etc.
it's just the anosmia which nags. Such an odd symptom
It has also given me tremendous sympathy for a very old friend from my Uni days, who has been anosmic since birth. I've always rather shrugged at his problem - not in a cruel way, it just never seemed that much of a handicap, unlike deafness or blindness
I now realise it is a huge limitation on the joys of life
https://twitter.com/DavidHerdson/status/1468317198963855360
Meanwhile, the story is conspicuous by its absence on the BBC News front page.Scrub that - they've literally just now put it up.Edit: as ScottXP noted earlier, I see.
https://twitter.com/bbclaurak
It's as bad as what Hanky Panky did (minus the hanky panky... though we still don't know what actually went on at the party
If Rishi is really stirring in the background - Gordon Brown style - does that really bode well were he to take over?
Petty feuding as a replacement for actual government seems to be the problem, not the solution.
The prospect of relief through vaccination was the only thing that made that massive lockdown that started about a year ago bearable. If there's another one, the only conclusion is that lockdowns will go on in cycles forever. At which point, why bother to comply? Far better to roll the dice than to live like that.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59572149
I can usually rely on people complaining that the BBC are ‘ignoring’ a story, only for them to report it shortly after.
Unless it’s their own scoop, they are cautious about posting news precipitately.
Do we know? (honest question, I've been driving all day)
If he was present then yes it is very bad. If he wasn't he will escape again. If Carrie was there - but not the PM - he will survive, but will take on yet more damage
Salah is the GOAT. Discuss.
The problem is a) did he know / encourage them and b) he has clearly lied about them.
Everything we know about Boris, you can see him egging them on....oh yeahhh well you know nudge nudge, wink wink, you lot are working jolly hard, if I was to leave at 4pm on Friday and you know somebody tripped and fell and a load of bottles of plonk came out the back of the ruck, well it would be a waste not to drink them....vroom vroom.
I'd rather talk about the football. Or Cricket. Or just about anything else. 😉
The public will just tell the lying git to sod off.
What’s the point of a spin team if they are always hiding in the kitchen at parties?
I have no idea how this ends, but the public seem to accept it was a party irrespective of any denials by Boris and this must be very unsettling to conservative mps
Watching Rees Mogg was sickening and he is one of several conservative mps I would really like to see unseated at the next GE
On the subject of public opinion, North Staffordshire is perfectly timed to give Boris and his party a huge wake up call
I would also comment that if the police investigate and find it was a party then Boris is indeed trouble
Yeah, that's a rubbish one but it's the best I can do.
What I saw of the committee, I think they say yes we got 15K out, but was it the right 15K, or a shambles operation didn’t get enough of the right people out? the operation too easily pulled this way that way by various partial lobbying, like news organisations, and making different types of lists confusing the effort.
Did you notice anything funny about the drains?
One wonders about the smells in Cranley Gardens.
Forebear of mine lived in the same house as Burke of Burke and Hare. Fortunately before they took an interest in furtheting the advance of medical education.
The Prime Minister gave a speech at a packed leaving do for a top aide last November when the country was in the grip of its second lockdown...Then just days before Christmas, with London in tier 3 restrictions, members of his top team held their own festive bash in Downing Street. Officials knocked back glasses of wine during a Christmas quiz and a Secret Santa while the rest of the country was forced to stay at home....But the leaving do still took place on November 27 while the unofficial Christmas bash, which the PM did not attend, happened on December 18.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-broke-covid-lockdown-25585238
As I say, I can definitely see old Boris saying while I couldn't possibly attend such an event, if one was to happen, I never heard about it....
We're back to the original Plan A (March 2020), whether we like it or not.
That's the kind of detail that really matters to people, because it feeds the growing sense of arrogance. Decadence.
If there is a virus that kills children rather than the old / unvaccinated, then maybe people would look at the situation differently.
I really think that your loyalty to Corbyn is massively misplaced. He's a bad man, and you certainly aren't.
I'm a Tory, but if there is to be a Labour government again then it'll need people like you, behind the scenes perhaps, making it work. I've no idea what sort of madness causes you, a sensible person, to ally yourself with a nutter, but please, please get out of that.
The calculation is based on the rate of hospitalisation for a given number of cases today. It reflects precisely the position we are in now, not the position we were in at the start.
Except that - as I said - it makes the very optimistic assumption that Omicron will produce only half as many hospitalisations per infection as Delta.
https://twitter.com/nigel_farage/status/1468314095720239104?s=21
Although when this news came out were assured by the usual suspects that the red wall did not begrudge the great helmsman a bit of “House of Gucci” on the big screen.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/12813325/corbyn-breaks-rule-of-six-at-dinner-party/
https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1468322196347142144
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10285189/BBC-ITV-Channel-4-vow-stop-using-term-BAME-ignores-complex-lived-experiences.html
No amount of working from home, doing nose swabs and diddling about with blue paper masks is going to change the fact that many people will have to set foot in hospitals, even more will still be forced to do all those jobs that cannot be done sat in front of a computer, and most of the adult population will have to go out regularly to do essential shopping. If we can't rely on vaccines to finally put an end to all of this, then we're going to end up relying on evolution instead.