"The purpose of the legislation was to stop people mixing with strangers" Sorry, no. These people made it a criminal offense for me to visit my elderly parents who live minutes away - not even in their garden. You just can't trivialise this.
We have a moral duty not to comply. No to discriminatory vaccine passports and mandates, it is an utter disgrace. This must not happen England. Will never vote Labour or Tory again. Disgraceful
With the exception of those who could not visit their parents, their relatives who were dying, and attend funerals, I fail to see why everyone else is getting upset. Politicians have always had access to the odd tipple; there are bars in the house of commons. In the scheme of things this is imo, a non-story. We seem to be reverting to the English gentry type of the 17th and 18th centuries; dandies and fops with a reputation for crying at the slightest provocation.
I've enjoyed some of your content but this seems like one of the more blatant attempts to cover up for the government, especially given you were disparaging Starmer for a second time not the other day for a snapshot of him drinking a beer once, meanwhile when serial boozey affairs have come up from the governments side you have journalists bending over backwards to defend them. Criticising journalists for their drinking behaviours is entirely irrelevant to the point at play, and is a prime example of "whataboutism", the issue at hand is whether the government was hosting drinks parties weekly or more, and whether this was illegal. It's quite clear the answer to both these questions is yes, and it's shameful that the government has gone through several stages of lies: 1. Yes, we followed the rules like everyone else 2. Yes, some of our staffers joked about parties, but that's unacceptable, they didn't happen, and they should be sacked 3. Yes, we may have had one party, but it was brief one, and don't worry about it 4. Yes, we may have invited a few extra people to the party but it was outdoors and socially distanced It's quite likely (read: almost certain) that there were many more parties we don't know about, and the fact that the government only apologises after their latest rule breaking emerges is clearly disrespecting our parliamentary standards and indeed mocking the country.
Sue Gray is now going to publish her report this week. So pleased for Carrie & Boris as it will clear him. This will then allow him to get back to business: Levelling up Stopping Russia Saving the planet Trouncing Covid Being a great hubby & dad again. Captain our Captain! #hero
This word salad is a head trip. I don't drink, snort, cuss or chew or go with men that do. And I don't associate with people who alter their state of consciousness whether legal or otherwise. They just aren't there and I'm not going to waste my life with people that aren't there, family or otherwise. I'm not being self-righteous at all. While on my way to somewhere I stopped off at nowhere many, many detours ago and I'm not doing that anymore nor have I for some time now. Those are my standards. No more disappointments that way and others can live anyway they wish as they already are and they are not reliable. My life is more valuable than constant let downs and altered states of consciousness that aren't reality. This world has been geared for dream states for a reason and not a good one either. They can keep their dream states and just because something has been legalized definitely is not an indication that that dream state is reality.
For goodness sake haven’t we got more important stuff to worry about….I don’t care if they had a liquid lunch or party, I expect with the pressures of being in government over the past two years I would probably be on drugs and alcohol, everybody needs to cut loose now and again why should they be any different , get a grip🙄
Er… try telling those who met one other person outside and got arrested and fined under the rules set by these particular partygoers. People had to watch their loved one die by zoom because the rules were so strict and the police were empowered to enforce them. “We are all in in together” - remember? Except they were lying and spitting in our faces.
SAHBfan stop blaming people dying on Boris, it was the virus , Boris and his administration has saved lives ……compared to the rest of Europe look at America, ……so your saying nobody got together over Christmas, or had party’s why are those people different, yes I believe it wasn’t the most brilliant idea he has had, but like I said get a grip!
@@jayneberkley9742 - Don't be so silly. I never said Boris was to blame for people dying. Boris and his government made strict rules and enforced them using the legal system. The direct consequence of this is that people were unable to be with loved ones before they died. For him to oversee a regime of blatantly flouting the rules whilst forcing them on the general public with all the consequences that entailed was disgusting and disgraceful behaviour and people have every right to be angry.
I don't quite know why the Spectator is taking this weird approach. I don't believe anyone cares about politicians drinking alcohol; what they care about is the ban on people seeing dying relatives, or people literally dying of loneliness and depression -- contrasted with Boris having a lovely time, socialising and chatting away with multiple people and groups of people in his garden. I don't care whether he was drinking wine, Ribena or liquid heroin; it's not what was in his glass that is the issue
I couldn't give a toss if the parties took place. The rules were Draconian. But everyone should be equal under the law. Parties shouldn't be going on in one location, whilst sons are barked at to retreat from their crying mothers at funerals at another. That riles me greatly.
Did anyone analyse this man's verbal fancy footwork? It would take 2-3k words to explain how seriously wrong and offensive he was. His deflecting and misrepresenting was simply egregious. And 'deontology'? WOW. What patronising ducking and diving. Ought implies can. Everyone at no.10 ought to have followed the rules. It was course of action which they absolutely could have followed and expected the whole nation to follow. They chose to flout the rules because....why? The answer to that question is at issue here and will determine this PM's period of tenure at no.10. PS. Please don't have this guy on again. We get enough BS from the Westminster Dissemblers and Exceptionalists Club as it is.
The vast majority of working people do not drink during their working day!!!!! We would be sacked. Politicians and journalists would do well to leave their drinking to after work. 😡 we might get better governance and better journalism. Wouldn’t that be nice.
You really believe that, most of the solicitors ,members of the Barr, judges, top law enforcement, are in the pubs at lunch time and after work, get real 🙄
How many people work in a job where you can brink a suitcase of booze in? Most of us would be sacked for gross misconduct. As for the photo in the garden, has this chap forgotten just how strict the rules were? People were stopped by the police for sitting outside on a park bench BY THEMSELVES. Elderly ladies meeting up in pairs outside were fined. And I am sick snd tired of hearing that those in number 10 work really, really hard… presumably everyone else in the country doesn’t, then?
@@jayneberkley9742 - You would trust a lying, bumbling hypocrite to sort out a problem like Russia's aggression against the Ukraine? He can't even control the staff in his own administration. The clown is a liability and a disgrace. If he had any decency or integrity he would have resigned long ago. He has to go, he is the one dragging this out and diverting everyone's attention from the other problems that need to be addressed.
Christ, what a lot of bollocks. The question isn’t “Are parties really all that bad?” It’s “Was this a gathering that was prohibited by law?” If so, we should apply the law accordingly or prove that it’s “one rule for the people; one rule for the politicians”.
"The purpose of the legislation was to stop people mixing with strangers" In Wales, at one point, pubs were banned from serving alcohol on the grounds that it would make people lose their inhibitions and ignore the rules. I realise England didn't have an alcohol ban but according to Rory's arguments, it should have had. Just a thought
Boris and his team clearly have one of the hardest and most stressful jobs in the UK, so if this is what it took to unwind, so be it. Seems pointless spending so much time and effort on a crime which at most will be addressed with a £50 fine.
Do you think there aren't people who really suffered under the rules imposed by Boris and his government? You really think it is about a 50 quid fine? I'm guessing you didn't watch your mother die via zoom, then?
"Fines of more than £10,000 were issued for birthday parties in Covid lockdown - Enfield resident Torino Reid is one of those who was handed a huge fine: People who held birthday parties in breach of Covid lockdown laws have faced fines of more than £10,000." Independent, 26Jan2022.
Utter rubbish Rory, would you feel the same way if a close family member passed away without you being able to see or say goodbye to them. This is typical of people who have not faced that loss. So there is also another matter regarding the rule of law, people who were fined for breaking covid rules are they going to get there money back ? and is Boris going to pay the £ 30,000 fine as he attended three parties in his own flat. May I suggest if he had not tried to lie and paid small fines this would have gone away quickly. But this is on the back of numerous scandals ( i.e. wallpaper ).If you asked what most upsets me the most £ 100 billion wasted ( test and trace 40 billion, PPE 4.7 billion , fraud 7 billion ,nightingale hospitals , giving money to shops that stayed open ) allowing QE to go on so long as to cause inflation( 900 billion ), then the disgrace of putting up NI because he has managed the economy so badly. Conservatives better wake up and smell the coffee he is no longer able to win a election as the public see him as a habitual liar and unable to trust him ever again( everything that comes out of his mouth needs to the fact checked). Things can only get worst as nobody will be prepared to work for him as he throws them under a bus , to save himself. He alone ruined a 80 seat majority
@@julianshepherd2038 no, we just had tables out and booze and food. It was brilliant. Besides I really don't care what they did. There are diplomats who run people off a bike and kill them, get away with mirder and there is less press coverage. Maybe you have a different priority.
@@HatstandEvents absolutely...Russell has far broader n rational take on it. Drinking was definitely NOT the issue! Could have been bloody TSP water, or fresh air!!...they just shouldn't have been mixing!!! It's clear further mixing occured or Mrs Boris wouldn't have been there!!!!!!!
"The purpose of the legislation was to stop people mixing with strangers"
Sorry, no. These people made it a criminal offense for me to visit my elderly parents who live minutes away - not even in their garden. You just can't trivialise this.
Well throughout my working life I would have lost my job instantly if I had alcohol on the premises!!
It was any gathering he banned not a party
What is party-gate deflecting our gaze from.......
We have a moral duty not to comply. No to discriminatory vaccine passports and mandates, it is an utter disgrace. This must not happen England. Will never vote Labour or Tory again. Disgraceful
With the exception of those who could not visit their parents, their relatives who were dying, and attend funerals, I fail to see why everyone else is getting upset. Politicians have always had access to the odd tipple; there are bars in the house of commons. In the scheme of things this is imo, a non-story. We seem to be reverting to the English gentry type of the 17th and 18th centuries; dandies and fops with a reputation for crying at the slightest provocation.
Yes it is.
I've enjoyed some of your content but this seems like one of the more blatant attempts to cover up for the government, especially given you were disparaging Starmer for a second time not the other day for a snapshot of him drinking a beer once, meanwhile when serial boozey affairs have come up from the governments side you have journalists bending over backwards to defend them.
Criticising journalists for their drinking behaviours is entirely irrelevant to the point at play, and is a prime example of "whataboutism", the issue at hand is whether the government was hosting drinks parties weekly or more, and whether this was illegal.
It's quite clear the answer to both these questions is yes, and it's shameful that the government has gone through several stages of lies:
1. Yes, we followed the rules like everyone else
2. Yes, some of our staffers joked about parties, but that's unacceptable, they didn't happen, and they should be sacked
3. Yes, we may have had one party, but it was brief one, and don't worry about it
4. Yes, we may have invited a few extra people to the party but it was outdoors and socially distanced
It's quite likely (read: almost certain) that there were many more parties we don't know about, and the fact that the government only apologises after their latest rule breaking emerges is clearly disrespecting our parliamentary standards and indeed mocking the country.
You keep saying laws, they were not, they were conventions.
Sue Gray is now going to publish her report this week.
So pleased for Carrie & Boris as it will clear him.
This will then allow him to get back to business:
Levelling up
Stopping Russia
Saving the planet
Trouncing Covid
Being a great hubby & dad again.
Captain our Captain!
#hero
Brilliant, love it, I needed a laugh
Anyone who followed these stupid rules only has themselves to blame. You let your relatives die alone for no reason. Next time don’t follow them.
The Spectaor is a joke.
This word salad is a head trip. I don't drink, snort, cuss or chew or go with men that do. And I don't associate with people who alter their state of consciousness whether legal or otherwise. They just aren't there and I'm not going to waste my life with people that aren't there, family or otherwise. I'm not being self-righteous at all. While on my way to somewhere I stopped off at nowhere many, many detours ago and I'm not doing that anymore nor have I for some time now. Those are my standards. No more disappointments that way and others can live anyway they wish as they already are and they are not reliable. My life is more valuable than constant let downs and altered states of consciousness that aren't reality. This world has been geared for dream states for a reason and not a good one either. They can keep their dream states and just because something has been legalized definitely is not an indication that that dream state is reality.
For goodness sake haven’t we got more important stuff to worry about….I don’t care if they had a liquid lunch or party, I expect with the pressures of being in government over the past two years I would probably be on drugs and alcohol, everybody needs to cut loose now and again why should they be any different , get a grip🙄
Er… try telling those who met one other person outside and got arrested and fined under the rules set by these particular partygoers. People had to watch their loved one die by zoom because the rules were so strict and the police were empowered to enforce them. “We are all in in together” - remember? Except they were lying and spitting in our faces.
Those that set the rules and fine others up to £10000 ought to obey those rules
SAHBfan stop blaming people dying on Boris, it was the virus , Boris and his administration has saved lives ……compared to the rest of Europe look at America, ……so your saying nobody got together over Christmas, or had party’s why are those people different, yes I believe it wasn’t the most brilliant idea he has had, but like I said get a grip!
When you think about it Churchill was pissed during most of world war 2, 😳
@@jayneberkley9742 - Don't be so silly. I never said Boris was to blame for people dying. Boris and his government made strict rules and enforced them using the legal system. The direct consequence of this is that people were unable to be with loved ones before they died. For him to oversee a regime of blatantly flouting the rules whilst forcing them on the general public with all the consequences that entailed was disgusting and disgraceful behaviour and people have every right to be angry.
I don't quite know why the Spectator is taking this weird approach. I don't believe anyone cares about politicians drinking alcohol; what they care about is the ban on people seeing dying relatives, or people literally dying of loneliness and depression -- contrasted with Boris having a lovely time, socialising and chatting away with multiple people and groups of people in his garden. I don't care whether he was drinking wine, Ribena or liquid heroin; it's not what was in his glass that is the issue
I couldn't give a toss if the parties took place. The rules were Draconian. But everyone should be equal under the law. Parties shouldn't be going on in one location, whilst sons are barked at to retreat from their crying mothers at funerals at another. That riles me greatly.
Did anyone analyse this man's verbal fancy footwork? It would take 2-3k words to explain how seriously wrong and offensive he was. His deflecting and misrepresenting was simply egregious. And 'deontology'? WOW. What patronising ducking and diving. Ought implies can. Everyone at no.10 ought to have followed the rules. It was course of action which they absolutely could have followed and expected the whole nation to follow. They chose to flout the rules because....why? The answer to that question is at issue here and will determine this PM's period of tenure at no.10.
PS. Please don't have this guy on again. We get enough BS from the Westminster Dissemblers and Exceptionalists Club as it is.
I had to switch off at 1.50 min or lose my stomach contents
The vast majority of working people do not drink during their working day!!!!! We would be sacked. Politicians and journalists would do well to leave their drinking to after work. 😡 we might get better governance and better journalism. Wouldn’t that be nice.
You really believe that, most of the solicitors ,members of the Barr, judges, top law enforcement, are in the pubs at lunch time and after work, get real 🙄
@@jayneberkley9742Careful reading of my comment makes mention of two professions. You mention the Legal profession et al. not me.
Drinking isn’t the issue, its drinking during a pandemic when social gatherings were forbidden.
@@HatstandEvents why?
@@adamgrimsley2900 he might be crazy but he makes more sense that this geezer
I would think drinking while in the middle of a pandemic ,makes sense 😁
@@jayneberkley9742 well it's the social gathering part
@@julianshepherd2038 like what?
How many people work in a job where you can brink a suitcase of booze in? Most of us would be sacked for gross misconduct.
As for the photo in the garden, has this chap forgotten just how strict the rules were? People were stopped by the police for sitting outside on a park bench BY THEMSELVES. Elderly ladies meeting up in pairs outside were fined. And I am sick snd tired of hearing that those in number 10 work really, really hard… presumably everyone else in the country doesn’t, then?
But you go home after you leave work……just remember Boris is on call 24 7 days a week,
@@jayneberkley9742 - so are lots of people - and your point is? The rules only apply to the general public, not to the 'important people'?
SAHBfan ok fine him 50 quid ……now can we think about the poor people in the Ukraine…..
@@jayneberkley9742 - You would trust a lying, bumbling hypocrite to sort out a problem like Russia's aggression against the Ukraine? He can't even control the staff in his own administration. The clown is a liability and a disgrace. If he had any decency or integrity he would have resigned long ago. He has to go, he is the one dragging this out and diverting everyone's attention from the other problems that need to be addressed.
SAHBfan so that’s what you want…..his head on the block.
Christ, what a lot of bollocks. The question isn’t “Are parties really all that bad?” It’s “Was this a gathering that was prohibited by law?” If so, we should apply the law accordingly or prove that it’s “one rule for the people; one rule for the politicians”.
"The purpose of the legislation was to stop people mixing with strangers" In Wales, at one point, pubs were banned from serving alcohol on the grounds that it would make people lose their inhibitions and ignore the rules. I realise England didn't have an alcohol ban but according to Rory's arguments, it should have had. Just a thought
Boris and his team clearly have one of the hardest and most stressful jobs in the UK, so if this is what it took to unwind, so be it. Seems pointless spending so much time and effort on a crime which at most will be addressed with a £50 fine.
Do you think there aren't people who really suffered under the rules imposed by Boris and his government? You really think it is about a 50 quid fine? I'm guessing you didn't watch your mother die via zoom, then?
"Fines of more than £10,000 were issued for birthday parties in Covid lockdown - Enfield resident Torino Reid is one of those who was handed a huge fine: People who held birthday parties in breach of Covid lockdown laws have faced fines of more than £10,000." Independent, 26Jan2022.
I heard Boris had a drink on his birthday in #10 and that in so doing he was THE ONLY person who broke lockdown a ha ha ha ha
Utter rubbish Rory, would you feel the same way if a close family member passed away without you being able to see or say goodbye to them. This is typical of people who have not faced that loss. So there is also another matter regarding the rule of law, people who were fined for breaking covid rules are they going to get there money back ? and is Boris going to pay the £ 30,000 fine as he attended three parties in his own flat. May I suggest if he had not tried to lie and paid small fines this would have gone away quickly. But this is on the back of numerous scandals ( i.e. wallpaper ).If you asked what most upsets me the most £ 100 billion wasted ( test and trace 40 billion, PPE 4.7 billion , fraud 7 billion ,nightingale hospitals , giving money to shops that stayed open ) allowing QE to go on so long as to cause inflation( 900 billion ), then the disgrace of putting up NI because he has managed the economy so badly. Conservatives better wake up and smell the coffee he is no longer able to win a election as the public see him as a habitual liar and unable to trust him ever again( everything that comes out of his mouth needs to the fact checked). Things can only get worst as nobody will be prepared to work for him as he throws them under a bus , to save himself. He alone ruined a 80 seat majority
Nothing can stop you! Do not waste your time = P-R-O-M-O-S-M!!
Wow talk about trying to stay neutral. That's why this country is going backwards.
What is this lame moralism from the host?
The whole issue has been high-backed by remainers woke bbc etc
If he believed this himself the number of "ok" mentioned would be a lot less
So good to be airing somebody questioning the accepted narrative.
Nobody cares!
To prevent mixing with strangers???? Tell that to families who could not visit relatives.
Don't play dumb, he meant other households or workplaces.
40 years a doctor and never one 'drinks after work', I always envied my journalist friends!!
Couldn't care less, we had street parties!
You rich enough so the police leave you alone ?
And the rest of us should like that ?
@@julianshepherd2038 no, we just had tables out and booze and food. It was brilliant.
Besides I really don't care what they did. There are diplomats who run people off a bike and kill them, get away with mirder and there is less press coverage. Maybe you have a different priority.
I agree with this guest about that photo out in the garden sitting at table with those workmates one has been around all day.
@@HatstandEvents absolutely...Russell has far broader n rational take on it. Drinking was definitely NOT the issue! Could have been bloody TSP water, or fresh air!!...they just shouldn't have been mixing!!! It's clear further mixing occured or Mrs Boris wouldn't have been there!!!!!!!
Makes some excellent points 👍
I dont think this lady should be presenting the spectator..
No sense of humour and all the wrong ideas.
There's time and a place for everything
Boris should go now
Many of the times we’ve met, Kate, we’ve each had a glass of red in our hands! Never hurt anyone, but it wasn’t banned!
At last someone puts a proper perspective on this matter…….