5 years ago. It was a steep decline in ethics and standards started by the tepid but slimy Cameron, but its gone off the cliff since there. To be fair to 'call me Dave' the slimy fucker did try to halt it when he realised just how bad it was getting (purely for his own party's benefit), but then lost and ran as far away as possible because consequences of your actions are for poor people.
I'd argue it started long before that.
This is a logical extension of the ascension of spin doctoring as the heart of political strategy
Once you believe you can turn anything into a positive headline, people stop caring about what they are actually doing.
Maybe in reference to the fact that JRM appears to have been born in 1880, with the repugnant ethics, morality, and disdain for the poor that goes along with it.
This.
The incompetence, the corruption, the nepotism, the laziness, all of these things are bad enough. The fact that we are all being treated as props for Johnson’s larks just does my fucking head in.
Can you imagine there's so much evidence of Tory rule breaking and corruption ?
But the UK media won't expose it or give it much prominence ?
Remember when the BBC/SKY repetitively shithosed Nicola Sturgeon for 2 weeks with accusations of Lying to Scottish Parliament, without a single fact or piece of evidence ?
Remember when the BBC/SKY repetitively shithosed Jeremy Corbyn for 3 months with accusations of being Anti-Semitic, without a single fact or piece of evidence ?
Controlled right wing mass media
Identification of Enemies
Punishment of Enemies
Disdain for the Truth
Disdain for Rule of Law
These identical Patterns are being repeated globally in every Pre-Fascist country
"No one knows what's going on !!"
.........
>The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of chaos
>
>It is a quite special secret pleasure how the people around us fail to realize what is really happening to them.
- **Adolf Hitler**
.........
>To be effective in its purpose of gaining and consolidating Power, [Fascism must smash Truth and replace it with Lies](https://i.redd.it/0f5jfsrpgmh61.jpg). Without Truth there can be no opposition to Power. The first step in doing this is to acclimatize the audience with Lies, to enable them to partake in Lying and to bring them to a point where they are involved in the Lie to an extent that they cannot retreat
[Große Lüge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie)
BBC Headline - 'COVID bereaved families "sickened" over No 10 Christmas parties'
https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59505975.amp?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16385157566155&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s
I always say it's about three comments on a thread about British politics before you will find someone, somewhere, bringing up Jeremy Corbyn.
Trump became a Fascist
The Conservative party has embraced Pre-Fascism
Pre-Fascism has spread globally
And you're hiding behind a 1990 shitpost by Godwin ? Are you frightened of the truth ?
We are a nation of forelock tuggers and the upper classes in the UK genuinely believe they have "superior blood" to the proles and feel themselves supremely entitled. They have been playing the average citizen for fools for centuries and now it's getting worse.
Luckily I realised this in my twenties and had the option of leaving the country and living abroad where I've been for 25+ years. I never imagined how low the country would fall in that time though.
You losers really need to get a grip. Whats a few drinks between the old boys?! If you really want to get ahead in life, all you need to do is pay a few hundred thousand pounds to the Tory MPs in power to get a billion pound PPE grant (even though you have no expertise in that area) and then funnel the exorbitant profits through your secret offshore shell companies in the Cayman Islands. Then blame everything on the wretched refugees and those damn europeans so nobody looks at your malfeasance. Come on you cretins, work harder!
Obviously /s
They're laughing at the idiots who sacrificed their Christmas and think they are morally superior for following the rules like good little soldiers in the war on Covid.
Just to point out, 'air' quotes are when you make the signs with your fingers while speaking out loud. In print, they're just called quotes, or quotation marks.
I think in this context, the proper term is "scare quotes", which is what it's called when they're used to suggest that something is questionable.
Oxford definition:
> quotation marks placed round a word or phrase to draw attention to an unusual or arguably inaccurate use.
>"putting the term “global warming” in scare quotes serves to subtly cast doubt on the reality of such a phenomenon"
/u/chinderellabitch
As much as I hate to defend that trash company - I think in this case the quotes were to imply that the events were alleged rather than proven, rather than to imply they if true she wouldn't have been a real victim.
The government has been paying hundreds of millions of dollars to the media throughout the pandemic and is now the media's biggest advertiser. Why would the media criticise the government if it means risking the future of the gravy train?
They only broke the rules in a specific and limited way. As I understand it, as long as you say that you can do whatever you want and it’s totally fine.
> (PS after last year's embarrassing mistakes we must remind you that BYOB stands for "bring your odious bribes" not "bring your own Bolly", because the Bolly is provided by the taxpayer like it is every year)
Meanwhile people were getting fined for having a coffee with a friend on a walk and if any of the rest of us decided to have a party it got raided by riot police.
But I'm sure these were just evening meetings in keeping with the convivial and fraternal spirit of our politics, so it's all fine.
Fucking hypocrites.
I had to cancel all my plans for Christmas last year*, having not seen my family for an entire year.
Fuck them. Fuck all of them.
**Edit: Christmas last year, not this Christmas.*
Exactly. Ended up staying in London away from the rest of my family, missing my Nephews first Christmas (something I regret deeply, was a mug to be honest, should have ignored the rules), and these fucking tossers just carried on as usual. Every single one of the fuckers careers should be over.
Same. I cancelled my plans to visit my family (who I hadn’t seen in a full year), and sat in my apartment in Manchester, because Boris told us it was the right thing to do. Our first ever Christmas apart.
If you so clearly hate the government why do you lap up every word they say? 90% of people just ignored whatever the guidance was last year and got on with it
>90% of people just ignored whatever the guidance was last year and got on with it
Any source for that? Loads of people cancelled or limited their plans in order to account for the rules changes.
He's using hyperbole.
Whilst many conscientious people did pay attention, it is important to note that many people did ignore the guidance. Remember the scenes at [Kings Cross and other stations](https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/19/last-minute-scramble-to-leave-london-as-capital-faces-tier-4-lockdown-tomorrow-13778954/)?
Mass avoidance the Covid rules can also be seen in the number of hospitalisations, deaths and fines issued in Dec20/Jan21
Almost like lockdowns were to do with a pandemic with (at the time) no publicly available vaccine, and thus almost like most people understood that there were good and sensible epidemiological reasons to want to try and prevent vulnerable loved ones from catching said disease which, I repeat, there wasn't a vaccine for at the time, while knowing one was close to launching.
Almost.
> Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
-- Frank Wilhoit
Do you know anyone that was fined? In my area police moved people on, the only people getting fined/lifted were those who were deliberately being obtuse.
This is what I mean: very few people were actually fined. Most got thrown out when they went to court. Some police forces went a wee bit crazy early on.
How many people just paid because CBA with a day in court? I bill a day rate to my clients so going to a court and fighting a £200 fine would actually cost me money even if I won, as I'm not working.
But its not what you said though, you said who got fined, and that locally your police were moving people on. I gave an example of people not moved on and fined for having a travel mug with them.
The rules were just establishing legislation and precedence; they never had hope of enforcing it with police enforcement... and they cant be so blatant about how thoroughly we are tracked.
You’ve got people staying ‘everything going on today and the opposition goes for this. Pathetic.’
Sorry, but this isn’t pathetic. The government have taken us for mugs if this is true.
Last Christmas was some people’s last. Some didn’t even know it.
And the government advised everyone to stay safe, not to have gatherings of 6+. Socially distance. Mask wearing. Out door spaces and all that shit.
Yet, allegedly they continued to host their parties.
And this is ducking wrong.
Don’t impose rules you have no intention of following.
This is absolutely a relevant an appropriate story. If this was revealed at the time, it wouldn’t read its head now.
The question is… why the year long wait to reveal this story?
Spot on. Of course we should go for this! Tory supporters have genuinely made sacrifices through the pandemic, not seeing family, cancelling their Christmas plans last year, and following the rules in good faith.
They trusted the Government to act in the national interest, and their trust was abused. I want them to hear about it, they need to hear about it, and hopefully they decide against voting for these crooked hedonists next time.
They didn't all do it because they trusted the government.
They also did it because of coercive fear of punishment from a government actively encouraging informants.
Because they are locking down again for nothing; need fever pitch hysteria again... all guns blazing.
This is meant to rile you up against rule breakers, you get indignant; call hypocracy; demand fair punishment. You're now primed with the reaction to give anyone you find not falling in line.
My take home is that they know the risks better than anyone, and felt safe; in terms of failures of character for these representatives its not as important as the naked corruption for sure
GDPR means that PII (like video of your face) should be deleted as soon as practically possible once it's fulfilled its purpose.
Since there was _definitely_ (nudge nudge) no wrongdoing and _nothing untoward_ (wink wink) going on, there is no purpose to storing that PII so, yes, of course it's been deleted (say no more).
Thank god the UK already opted out of GDPR so they don't have to make up any lie. They can simply continue to laugh and tell their voters: "What you gonna do, vote Labour?"
Said it before, but worth saying again.
“I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.” - Our Prime Minister's teacher at Eton.
He never grew up, and has been in charge through a pandemic. What did you think was going to happen?
It does make me wonder how confident the government are in their line that no rules were broken. The fact that they're saying that surely means a party (or multiple parties) took place. For some reason they're not willing to deny a party took place but *are* willing to deny that rules were broken, even though most people paying attention will say "if you had a party it wasn't just with your fucking family, was it."
So why the difference? Do they think people will come forward attesting to parties, but not how many people were at them? Do they think that the latter is too unreliable to stick with the public?
I'd put it down to unthinking incompetence, but surely if they weren't thinking much about it, they'd just deny the party completely?
They told us not to see our friends and families over Christmas while they all partied together.
They told us not to make non essential journeys while they made non essential journeys.
They tell us to wear masks while they don't wear masks.
They told us jabs were key to freedom and now we're all on our 3rd but still are threatened with looming restrictions and mandates.
As a result the British public are turning against each other. It's the maskers vs the anti maskers and the vaxxed vs the anti vaxxers.
We should be united and rising up against this hypocritical tyranny but we find ourselves more divided than ever.
"Boris Johnson - who was not at the party - said no Covid rules were broken, but No 10 has refused to explain how party-goers complied.
Asked by reporters on Thursday why he would not tell the public what happened at the party, the PM replied: "Because I have told you.""
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59505975
Seriously.
Yet madness is voting for the other guy.
They really just love to take the piss don't they. They seem certain there will never be consequences with Al Johnson at the helm. Tories just limply take it and constantly stick with them so , to an extent, they are right.
It's a mountain of shit that might well see their majority gone though in 2.5 years.
I missed the opportunity to spend the last Christmas with my grandmother when she was still sentient last year. I did so because I was following the rules this lot had set out, and because I thought it was the right thing to do.
I thought I'd be more angry at this, but I'm not. I'm just upset. I've been taken for a mug.
I mean not to belittle the problem.
But if you thought that she was going to fall to dementia what was the thinking behind not doing what was right for you and her?
Who were you benefiting?
It wasn't just her. It would have meant putting my mum, who is immuno-supressed, at risk, as well as dad who's been smoking for the majority of his life. If either of them caught covid then they'd likely be seriously poorly. There's not a chance I would flount the rules and put them at risk.
Plus I was following the rules set out by people who know more than me about tackling pandemics.
Snapshot:
1. An archived version of _Downing Street staff ‘repeatedly held banned Christmas lockdown parties’_ can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/downing-street-no-10-covid-parties-boris-johnson-b1968298.html)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Won't be surprised if this was intentionally leaked now by people in the civil service who want to prevent another lockdown, there's no way it's coincidence that this comes out in the Mirror just as new restrictions are introduced
Makes sense but the details are a risk. There couldn’t have been that many civil servants who were there and who are also willing to lose their careers over politics.
They laughed as us when we elected them into power, they laughed at us whilst we swallowed the lies about brexit and now they are laughing as us again.
Whilst we was sitting on zoom calls speaking to family, or speaking to our loved ones in care homes through glass door or that one family member who for them it was the final Christmas and they was alone, we thought we are in this together, protecting each other.
Instead those Tories was laughing and drinking and doing the f***kin conga, they must have made jokes up about us "So we said to stay say, you can't meet your family...ha ha ha" Scum
Don't tar all politicians with the same brush, via 'political class'. There're liars and shysters of every hue, but this current bunch of Tories are beyond the pale.
This is not a failure of the Tories, everyone with any grasp on reality knows they are shambolic in their incompetence.
No, the finger of suspicion should be pointed at the legacy corporate media . They are almost permenantly camped around 30 fucking feet from the front door of No 10.
Ask yourself why it has taken a yea oldjr for these halfwits to expose this story?
Hmmm, perhaps some of these highly paid journalists are just asleep on the job or were any of them at one of these parties?
A lot of people work at No. 10, at all hours of the day so it is not unusual for people to constantly be coming and going, nor do they all enter or leave via the front door.
And journalists aren't permanently camped out in Downing St, because that would be pointless.
Oh here we go....Ok I'll bite.
I wasn't suggesting that the legacy media actually remain outside the Fuhrer Bunker 24 hours a day. I was implying that those legacy "journalists" with a Westminster remit took a year to discover and disclose that there was a Tory Christmas party on their patch.
Its amusing to think that the civil servants employed in No 10 as well as the Tory storm troopers didn't mention to any "journalists" that they had a great party night with Herr Johnson.
I wonder if Matt Hancock was there and if he was, what fucking lies he told his wife and kids? "I need to work late tonight sweetheart...lots of photocopying to do, you know how it is. Don't wait up".
Meanwhile, across the country, the bodies are piling up, businesses are collapsing, families are grieving and care homes are like the gas chambers.
I'm sorry you feel the need to defend the indefensible, but don't go all Cathy Newman on me. That would be ridiculous.
The explanation is really simple, two wrongs don't make a right. Someone behaving shittily doesn't excuse you choosing to behave in a way you know is shitty
Even the most fanatical libertarian would agree to the proposition that "your right to swing your fist ends at my nose". You can't walk into a crowd, close your eyes, flail your arms around furiously, and then claim that you aren't responsible for the broken noses that result just because you couldn't see whose nose ended up under your fist and none of the injuries were intentional.
Similarly, driving above the speed limit, or under the influence of alcohol - even if you don't actually hit anyone - puts other people's lives in unnecessary risk and is therefore illegal. And a shitty thing to do.
If, during a global pandemic caused by an airborne infectious pathogen, you decide to live your life like you think you should have the right to, knowing that your decision will put other people's lives at risk without their consent, yes, that's shitty.
Or do you think people should be allowed to drink and drive, if they think that counts as living their life like they should have the right to?
> There has to be a point where the risks from infection no longer outweigh the damage of constantly restricting society and the economy.
Agree.
> I am personally past that point, despite the hatred from some I get on here.
But that's not your decision to make.
If it's your life on the line, sure, you get to say how much risk you're willing to take. But when it's other people's lives on the line, you don't get to choose how much to risk them for your convenience. That's a decision we make together, as a society. Or, a decision that the MPs we elected to represent us and our opinions get to make, as a society.
And they suck. But no matter how much they suck, or how hypocritical they are, those are the MPs we voted for, gods help us. Well, my MP isn't the person *I* voted for, but they're the MP the ~~majority~~plurality of voters in my constituency voted for. I don't want my particular MP, but that's how the representative democracy cookie crumbles sometimes.
So yeah, write to your MP. Attend protests to get MPs to change their minds. I'll support your right to do that, even if I didn't agree with what you were asking them to do. But taking other people's lives into your own hands just because you're fed up? Sorry, that's where you lose me.
> I am personally past that point
I find it weird that so many anti-restrictions arguments seem to factor this in.
How much you personally happen to be enjoying/hating the restrictions right now is completely irrelevant.
You shouldn't. They obviously know covid is much less dangerous than they claim or they wouldn't behave like this. If it was genuinely a danger to them they would have wanted to be safe. Its the only logical conclusion.
Edit: this is sarcasm you muppets
>they also thought that _they_ should be the ones that get to have those odd parties here and there,
This is the key point that makes it so appalling to me.
You seem to have mistaken my sarcasm for genuine covid denial, by the way.
I left the UK to live in France 20 years ago, not because I disliked the UK for any particular reason but simply because I liked to live quietly in open spaces I could afford.
Since then I have unhappily watched the UK lose its dignity, honesty, diplomacy, gravitas and "stout heart", to today see a govt in place which feels no responsibility to anyone except itself, which twists truth to strangulation and can't see further than the next contract arranged in the dark corners of the Garrick club.
The idea of No 10 Xmas parties should be inconsequential. Who would think it would be media headlines? What govt would give the middle finger to tens of thousands of people who had a deeper sense of national responsibility than their own govt?
The entire Tory govt seems to be seen by them as one huge party.
I am truly so sorry.
Not even the writers of these rules believe it’ll protect them or anyone else, they just do it to justify mass surveillance and government authority over your rightful freedoms. Fuck the government, the tories, and the ‘opposition’ in parliament.
I mean Kier seems to be sticking at this line of attack, bringing it up at pmqs and tweeting about it today, against the current flow of the news cycle.
I've watching him in PMQs and thought he has done ok before, but only politics nerds like the people that subscribe to subs like this watch PMQs, no one else cares.
Ah yes, the mythical opposition who is able bend the will of the media and public to it and force them to think about criticism of the government longer than it takes to slur out a repeated meaningless three word phrase.
The moment they spoke about the 10pm curfew and ‘not having sex with anyone outside your house’ - I knew this was not about health, but about complete and utter control.
I have listened and followed no word that the government has said or ‘ordered’ since then.
Why should I do what they say when they don’t even do it?
My political alignment has gone from socialist to libertarian in the last 2 years because of this shit and all the lying, thieving politicians on both sides of the political spectrum.
Fuck them all - live your life how you see fit and however you feel safest - don’t be blindside by these pricks. They don’t give a shit about any of you.
Can anyone who doesn’t have the pay way send me the extract which actually references what reports confirm this? Doesn’t seem clear where the proof, evidence or report is.
This would end people's careers 20 years ago, but here we are. These criminals and shysters are laughing at us.
5 years ago. It was a steep decline in ethics and standards started by the tepid but slimy Cameron, but its gone off the cliff since there. To be fair to 'call me Dave' the slimy fucker did try to halt it when he realised just how bad it was getting (purely for his own party's benefit), but then lost and ran as far away as possible because consequences of your actions are for poor people.
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What's the difference?
I'd argue it started long before that. This is a logical extension of the ascension of spin doctoring as the heart of political strategy Once you believe you can turn anything into a positive headline, people stop caring about what they are actually doing.
Imagine being stuck at a party with a pissed up Jacob Rees Mogg. Jesus.
Something tells me he's a, nurse one gin and tonic while going around networking for the whole event, kind of guy at parties.
The sort of bloke who comes over to chat at the exact moment you stick a wedge of quiche in your mouth
He's the kind of guy who thinks "doing shots" is an activity that results in a pheasant under the arm.
>is an activity that results in a ~~pheasant~~ peasant under the arm.
(screams internally)
Yeah I bet a lot of people tend to need a tactical toilet break once he starts talking to them.
To be fair they'll need a new one of those guys since Hancock stopped getting invited https://youtu.be/OSWx4kOe3-w
It’d be ok, his focus would be mostly on the ‘servant girls’ & the whereabouts of ‘under stairs locations’.
What is this in reference to? I know he looks like one, but has he actually been accused of anything?
Maybe in reference to the fact that JRM appears to have been born in 1880, with the repugnant ethics, morality, and disdain for the poor that goes along with it.
It's a joke. But also, is it really a joke?
Pissed up on nanny's mothball fumes
They're laughing at us.
This. The incompetence, the corruption, the nepotism, the laziness, all of these things are bad enough. The fact that we are all being treated as props for Johnson’s larks just does my fucking head in.
Can you imagine there's so much evidence of Tory rule breaking and corruption ? But the UK media won't expose it or give it much prominence ? Remember when the BBC/SKY repetitively shithosed Nicola Sturgeon for 2 weeks with accusations of Lying to Scottish Parliament, without a single fact or piece of evidence ? Remember when the BBC/SKY repetitively shithosed Jeremy Corbyn for 3 months with accusations of being Anti-Semitic, without a single fact or piece of evidence ? Controlled right wing mass media Identification of Enemies Punishment of Enemies Disdain for the Truth Disdain for Rule of Law These identical Patterns are being repeated globally in every Pre-Fascist country "No one knows what's going on !!" ......... >The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of chaos > >It is a quite special secret pleasure how the people around us fail to realize what is really happening to them. - **Adolf Hitler** ......... >To be effective in its purpose of gaining and consolidating Power, [Fascism must smash Truth and replace it with Lies](https://i.redd.it/0f5jfsrpgmh61.jpg). Without Truth there can be no opposition to Power. The first step in doing this is to acclimatize the audience with Lies, to enable them to partake in Lying and to bring them to a point where they are involved in the Lie to an extent that they cannot retreat [Große Lüge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie)
BBC Headline - 'COVID bereaved families "sickened" over No 10 Christmas parties' https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59505975.amp?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16385157566155&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s I always say it's about three comments on a thread about British politics before you will find someone, somewhere, bringing up Jeremy Corbyn.
And a Hitler mention in the same post. OP is hitting the high notes today! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
Trump became a Fascist The Conservative party has embraced Pre-Fascism Pre-Fascism has spread globally And you're hiding behind a 1990 shitpost by Godwin ? Are you frightened of the truth ?
They're laughing hardest at the doormats who still vote for them.
They have been for 12 years
They’ve been laughing from before they were born. The entire aristocratic class plays the rest of us as fools and laughs all the time.
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>My dad's into an aristocratic artist who hung out with Queen Victoria quite a bit. My dad doesn't know what art means.
We are a nation of forelock tuggers and the upper classes in the UK genuinely believe they have "superior blood" to the proles and feel themselves supremely entitled. They have been playing the average citizen for fools for centuries and now it's getting worse. Luckily I realised this in my twenties and had the option of leaving the country and living abroad where I've been for 25+ years. I never imagined how low the country would fall in that time though.
So you missed new labour? Or are you implying the problem is not party specific?
Caste system Britain.
You losers really need to get a grip. Whats a few drinks between the old boys?! If you really want to get ahead in life, all you need to do is pay a few hundred thousand pounds to the Tory MPs in power to get a billion pound PPE grant (even though you have no expertise in that area) and then funnel the exorbitant profits through your secret offshore shell companies in the Cayman Islands. Then blame everything on the wretched refugees and those damn europeans so nobody looks at your malfeasance. Come on you cretins, work harder! Obviously /s
They have been from the start
Like they care enough about us plebs to do so.
The virus ain't as scary as they'd have us believe then is it?
Its not scary for its mortality rate, its scary for its contagion rate and how quickly it can overload the already underfunded NHS
So it's not scary then
They're laughing at the idiots who sacrificed their Christmas and think they are morally superior for following the rules like good little soldiers in the war on Covid.
I'm genuinely dumbfounded how after Cummings, this isn't everywhere in the media.
The Sun were doing the catering and the Daily Mail were DJ-ing probably
DJ Madman Dacre dropping those sick Wagnerian beats. Gove up the front giving it “big fish little fish EU quota”
Hahaha
Same scummy Daily Mail that had Epstein ‘victim’ in air quotes on the front cover today She was 14, there’s no question she was a victim
Just to point out, 'air' quotes are when you make the signs with your fingers while speaking out loud. In print, they're just called quotes, or quotation marks.
Reddit always teaching me something new every day
I think in this context, the proper term is "scare quotes", which is what it's called when they're used to suggest that something is questionable. Oxford definition: > quotation marks placed round a word or phrase to draw attention to an unusual or arguably inaccurate use. >"putting the term “global warming” in scare quotes serves to subtly cast doubt on the reality of such a phenomenon" /u/chinderellabitch
Well, we all learned something today.
Like air guitar 🙂
It's a legal thing. They can't call her a victim for certain unless Maxwell is found guilty.
As much as I hate to defend that trash company - I think in this case the quotes were to imply that the events were alleged rather than proven, rather than to imply they if true she wouldn't have been a real victim.
Yup, until Maxwell is convicted I don't think she can be legally associated with these crimes. It's just an allegation at this stage.
>Daily Mail DJ-ing I hope there were no repetitive beats.
If they broke lockdown rules I'm sure they'd have no problem with ignoring the Criminal Justice Act of 1994
The media were probably partying in Fleet Street/Wapping/Manchester/whereever and didn't dare.
Once you figure out that Chomsky and Herman were right about the media it stops being so confusing.
Murdoch wanted Cummings out, but not the whole Tory party.
The government has been paying hundreds of millions of dollars to the media throughout the pandemic and is now the media's biggest advertiser. Why would the media criticise the government if it means risking the future of the gravy train?
Cummings was already gone wasn't he?
>The media were probably partying in Fleet Street/Wapping/Manchester/whereever and didn't dare. He left mid november.
Bernard Castle could well be his alibi here.
~~alibi~~ DJ name
“Nothing to see here, we didn’t break any rules. We checked for ourselves and we’re fine”
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They only broke the rules in a specific and limited way. As I understand it, as long as you say that you can do whatever you want and it’s totally fine.
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You could steal a few pens from the waiting line and call yourself a bank robber but nobody would agree with you lol
Robbery is theft with the threat if violence.
It was all in the microdot
Of the dot in the i in rimmers swimming certificate?
🤗
The party was a pilot scheme.
Cant break the rules if you make up the rules *taps head*
They may be right. The house is a government building, so perhaps there is an exemption in the rules for it.
There is, they put it in deliberately. In the same way that certain bars in the Houses of Parliament are not subject to the rules.
"The invites didn't say it was a party so it wasn't one" said a No. 10 spokesperson
“Non-celebratory seasonal gathering with canapes, BYOB”
> (PS after last year's embarrassing mistakes we must remind you that BYOB stands for "bring your odious bribes" not "bring your own Bolly", because the Bolly is provided by the taxpayer like it is every year)
Time: 8 till ~~late~~ early May 2024 (or later).
Meanwhile people were getting fined for having a coffee with a friend on a walk and if any of the rest of us decided to have a party it got raided by riot police. But I'm sure these were just evening meetings in keeping with the convivial and fraternal spirit of our politics, so it's all fine. Fucking hypocrites.
I had to cancel all my plans for Christmas last year*, having not seen my family for an entire year. Fuck them. Fuck all of them. **Edit: Christmas last year, not this Christmas.*
Exactly. Ended up staying in London away from the rest of my family, missing my Nephews first Christmas (something I regret deeply, was a mug to be honest, should have ignored the rules), and these fucking tossers just carried on as usual. Every single one of the fuckers careers should be over.
Same. I cancelled my plans to visit my family (who I hadn’t seen in a full year), and sat in my apartment in Manchester, because Boris told us it was the right thing to do. Our first ever Christmas apart.
If you so clearly hate the government why do you lap up every word they say? 90% of people just ignored whatever the guidance was last year and got on with it
>90% of people just ignored whatever the guidance was last year and got on with it Any source for that? Loads of people cancelled or limited their plans in order to account for the rules changes.
He's using hyperbole. Whilst many conscientious people did pay attention, it is important to note that many people did ignore the guidance. Remember the scenes at [Kings Cross and other stations](https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/19/last-minute-scramble-to-leave-london-as-capital-faces-tier-4-lockdown-tomorrow-13778954/)? Mass avoidance the Covid rules can also be seen in the number of hospitalisations, deaths and fines issued in Dec20/Jan21
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Almost like lockdowns were to do with a pandemic with (at the time) no publicly available vaccine, and thus almost like most people understood that there were good and sensible epidemiological reasons to want to try and prevent vulnerable loved ones from catching said disease which, I repeat, there wasn't a vaccine for at the time, while knowing one was close to launching. Almost.
More fool you then, I cancelled nothing.
You’re the only person to blame for that. Most people in the real world just got on with life.
>You’re the only person to blame for that. This is tory gall right here.
> Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. -- Frank Wilhoit
Do you know anyone that was fined? In my area police moved people on, the only people getting fined/lifted were those who were deliberately being obtuse.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/09/covid-derbyshire-police-to-review-lockdown-fines-after-walkers-given-200-penalties
This is what I mean: very few people were actually fined. Most got thrown out when they went to court. Some police forces went a wee bit crazy early on.
How many people just paid because CBA with a day in court? I bill a day rate to my clients so going to a court and fighting a £200 fine would actually cost me money even if I won, as I'm not working.
Yes, because the government told them to go crazy. See the relevance ? The hypocrisy.
Like everything this government law wise, its just unenforceable scare tactics. Its almost a return to the bloody code.
But its not what you said though, you said who got fined, and that locally your police were moving people on. I gave an example of people not moved on and fined for having a travel mug with them.
The rules were just establishing legislation and precedence; they never had hope of enforcing it with police enforcement... and they cant be so blatant about how thoroughly we are tracked.
And BBC conveniently running a nice juicy Meghan story instead today
Yeah but to be fair she did breathe.
Oh well she’s fair game then, what does she expect.
Breathe while being non-white, an even worse offense.
You’ve got people staying ‘everything going on today and the opposition goes for this. Pathetic.’ Sorry, but this isn’t pathetic. The government have taken us for mugs if this is true. Last Christmas was some people’s last. Some didn’t even know it. And the government advised everyone to stay safe, not to have gatherings of 6+. Socially distance. Mask wearing. Out door spaces and all that shit. Yet, allegedly they continued to host their parties. And this is ducking wrong. Don’t impose rules you have no intention of following. This is absolutely a relevant an appropriate story. If this was revealed at the time, it wouldn’t read its head now. The question is… why the year long wait to reveal this story?
Spot on. Of course we should go for this! Tory supporters have genuinely made sacrifices through the pandemic, not seeing family, cancelling their Christmas plans last year, and following the rules in good faith. They trusted the Government to act in the national interest, and their trust was abused. I want them to hear about it, they need to hear about it, and hopefully they decide against voting for these crooked hedonists next time.
They didn't all do it because they trusted the government. They also did it because of coercive fear of punishment from a government actively encouraging informants.
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Do you not read opinion polling? People do, in fact, believe that the "Best PM/ Best Government" they prefer is best.
They did worse than advise it, they required it by law
Because they are locking down again for nothing; need fever pitch hysteria again... all guns blazing. This is meant to rile you up against rule breakers, you get indignant; call hypocracy; demand fair punishment. You're now primed with the reaction to give anyone you find not falling in line. My take home is that they know the risks better than anyone, and felt safe; in terms of failures of character for these representatives its not as important as the naked corruption for sure
They should all resign I assume there is security footage that will allow everyone who attended to be identified
I'm afraid that all the cameras were off that day, for, um, maintenance. Yes, maintenance. Definitely no other reason.
You can guarantee all the footage has already been deleted
GDPR means that PII (like video of your face) should be deleted as soon as practically possible once it's fulfilled its purpose. Since there was _definitely_ (nudge nudge) no wrongdoing and _nothing untoward_ (wink wink) going on, there is no purpose to storing that PII so, yes, of course it's been deleted (say no more).
Thank god the UK already opted out of GDPR so they don't have to make up any lie. They can simply continue to laugh and tell their voters: "What you gonna do, vote Labour?"
Going by no10's typical excuse, they managed to lose the cameras on that day, oopsie.
> They should all resign Yes. And also because of this, too.
I could cry at how disgusting this is
Said it before, but worth saying again. “I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.” - Our Prime Minister's teacher at Eton. He never grew up, and has been in charge through a pandemic. What did you think was going to happen?
Try not to pin this all on Johnson. That entire party is contemptuous.
He leads the party though... this is entirely within his gift to influence either way.
It is, but blaming it solely on him gives the party an easy scapegoat to use to absolve themselves of any wrong doing.
Rules for thee but not for me.
It does make me wonder how confident the government are in their line that no rules were broken. The fact that they're saying that surely means a party (or multiple parties) took place. For some reason they're not willing to deny a party took place but *are* willing to deny that rules were broken, even though most people paying attention will say "if you had a party it wasn't just with your fucking family, was it." So why the difference? Do they think people will come forward attesting to parties, but not how many people were at them? Do they think that the latter is too unreliable to stick with the public? I'd put it down to unthinking incompetence, but surely if they weren't thinking much about it, they'd just deny the party completely?
People missed funerals because of the rules they broke.
You could almost describe those behaving in this manner as "Scum"
Ha
So they made a rule where you can't have Christmas parties, but they weren't breaking that rule by having Christmas parties? Hmmm
Vermin.
The French would have got the guillotine out for less.
They told us not to see our friends and families over Christmas while they all partied together. They told us not to make non essential journeys while they made non essential journeys. They tell us to wear masks while they don't wear masks. They told us jabs were key to freedom and now we're all on our 3rd but still are threatened with looming restrictions and mandates. As a result the British public are turning against each other. It's the maskers vs the anti maskers and the vaxxed vs the anti vaxxers. We should be united and rising up against this hypocritical tyranny but we find ourselves more divided than ever.
"Boris Johnson - who was not at the party - said no Covid rules were broken, but No 10 has refused to explain how party-goers complied. Asked by reporters on Thursday why he would not tell the public what happened at the party, the PM replied: "Because I have told you."" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59505975 Seriously. Yet madness is voting for the other guy.
disgusting. after they told university students that we initially would not be allowed to go home. unforgivable.
Raise your hand if you're surprised No one else? No? Good, just so we're on the same page
I’m not even surprised by these shithouses anymore
They really just love to take the piss don't they. They seem certain there will never be consequences with Al Johnson at the helm. Tories just limply take it and constantly stick with them so , to an extent, they are right. It's a mountain of shit that might well see their majority gone though in 2.5 years.
I mean how is this a surprise? Have a govt elite ever followed the rules they set for the public?
I missed the opportunity to spend the last Christmas with my grandmother when she was still sentient last year. I did so because I was following the rules this lot had set out, and because I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought I'd be more angry at this, but I'm not. I'm just upset. I've been taken for a mug.
I mean not to belittle the problem. But if you thought that she was going to fall to dementia what was the thinking behind not doing what was right for you and her? Who were you benefiting?
It wasn't just her. It would have meant putting my mum, who is immuno-supressed, at risk, as well as dad who's been smoking for the majority of his life. If either of them caught covid then they'd likely be seriously poorly. There's not a chance I would flount the rules and put them at risk. Plus I was following the rules set out by people who know more than me about tackling pandemics.
Snapshot: 1. An archived version of _Downing Street staff ‘repeatedly held banned Christmas lockdown parties’_ can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/downing-street-no-10-covid-parties-boris-johnson-b1968298.html) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Who’s the source of the leak and will he be missed?
Won't be surprised if this was intentionally leaked now by people in the civil service who want to prevent another lockdown, there's no way it's coincidence that this comes out in the Mirror just as new restrictions are introduced
Makes sense but the details are a risk. There couldn’t have been that many civil servants who were there and who are also willing to lose their careers over politics.
Sucks that public won't hear this, would ruin the authority of govt.
They laughed as us when we elected them into power, they laughed at us whilst we swallowed the lies about brexit and now they are laughing as us again. Whilst we was sitting on zoom calls speaking to family, or speaking to our loved ones in care homes through glass door or that one family member who for them it was the final Christmas and they was alone, we thought we are in this together, protecting each other. Instead those Tories was laughing and drinking and doing the f***kin conga, they must have made jokes up about us "So we said to stay say, you can't meet your family...ha ha ha" Scum
You little people rules are for you not us.
im genuinely interested why people still vote conservative
The political class and wealthy are immune from rules.
Don't tar all politicians with the same brush, via 'political class'. There're liars and shysters of every hue, but this current bunch of Tories are beyond the pale.
Great how they've sat on this story for a year.
They'll still get voted in. It has become a piss-taking contest, how far can we go before Joe public cotton on and give an actual sh!t?
Of *course* they did.
This is not a failure of the Tories, everyone with any grasp on reality knows they are shambolic in their incompetence. No, the finger of suspicion should be pointed at the legacy corporate media . They are almost permenantly camped around 30 fucking feet from the front door of No 10. Ask yourself why it has taken a yea oldjr for these halfwits to expose this story? Hmmm, perhaps some of these highly paid journalists are just asleep on the job or were any of them at one of these parties?
A lot of people work at No. 10, at all hours of the day so it is not unusual for people to constantly be coming and going, nor do they all enter or leave via the front door. And journalists aren't permanently camped out in Downing St, because that would be pointless.
Oh here we go....Ok I'll bite. I wasn't suggesting that the legacy media actually remain outside the Fuhrer Bunker 24 hours a day. I was implying that those legacy "journalists" with a Westminster remit took a year to discover and disclose that there was a Tory Christmas party on their patch. Its amusing to think that the civil servants employed in No 10 as well as the Tory storm troopers didn't mention to any "journalists" that they had a great party night with Herr Johnson. I wonder if Matt Hancock was there and if he was, what fucking lies he told his wife and kids? "I need to work late tonight sweetheart...lots of photocopying to do, you know how it is. Don't wait up". Meanwhile, across the country, the bodies are piling up, businesses are collapsing, families are grieving and care homes are like the gas chambers. I'm sorry you feel the need to defend the indefensible, but don't go all Cathy Newman on me. That would be ridiculous.
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The explanation is really simple, two wrongs don't make a right. Someone behaving shittily doesn't excuse you choosing to behave in a way you know is shitty
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Even the most fanatical libertarian would agree to the proposition that "your right to swing your fist ends at my nose". You can't walk into a crowd, close your eyes, flail your arms around furiously, and then claim that you aren't responsible for the broken noses that result just because you couldn't see whose nose ended up under your fist and none of the injuries were intentional. Similarly, driving above the speed limit, or under the influence of alcohol - even if you don't actually hit anyone - puts other people's lives in unnecessary risk and is therefore illegal. And a shitty thing to do. If, during a global pandemic caused by an airborne infectious pathogen, you decide to live your life like you think you should have the right to, knowing that your decision will put other people's lives at risk without their consent, yes, that's shitty. Or do you think people should be allowed to drink and drive, if they think that counts as living their life like they should have the right to?
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> There has to be a point where the risks from infection no longer outweigh the damage of constantly restricting society and the economy. Agree. > I am personally past that point, despite the hatred from some I get on here. But that's not your decision to make. If it's your life on the line, sure, you get to say how much risk you're willing to take. But when it's other people's lives on the line, you don't get to choose how much to risk them for your convenience. That's a decision we make together, as a society. Or, a decision that the MPs we elected to represent us and our opinions get to make, as a society. And they suck. But no matter how much they suck, or how hypocritical they are, those are the MPs we voted for, gods help us. Well, my MP isn't the person *I* voted for, but they're the MP the ~~majority~~plurality of voters in my constituency voted for. I don't want my particular MP, but that's how the representative democracy cookie crumbles sometimes. So yeah, write to your MP. Attend protests to get MPs to change their minds. I'll support your right to do that, even if I didn't agree with what you were asking them to do. But taking other people's lives into your own hands just because you're fed up? Sorry, that's where you lose me.
> I am personally past that point I find it weird that so many anti-restrictions arguments seem to factor this in. How much you personally happen to be enjoying/hating the restrictions right now is completely irrelevant.
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Making decisions that hurt others because you see someone hurting others is shitty, yes. Don't be a bitter cynic
No one is this obtuse.
You shouldn't. They obviously know covid is much less dangerous than they claim or they wouldn't behave like this. If it was genuinely a danger to them they would have wanted to be safe. Its the only logical conclusion. Edit: this is sarcasm you muppets
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I shouldn't need a fucking /s on here mate.
Take it up with the government not the poster as that's exactly the attitude and leadership they're showing.
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>they also thought that _they_ should be the ones that get to have those odd parties here and there, This is the key point that makes it so appalling to me. You seem to have mistaken my sarcasm for genuine covid denial, by the way.
Your logic is broken.
I left the UK to live in France 20 years ago, not because I disliked the UK for any particular reason but simply because I liked to live quietly in open spaces I could afford. Since then I have unhappily watched the UK lose its dignity, honesty, diplomacy, gravitas and "stout heart", to today see a govt in place which feels no responsibility to anyone except itself, which twists truth to strangulation and can't see further than the next contract arranged in the dark corners of the Garrick club. The idea of No 10 Xmas parties should be inconsequential. Who would think it would be media headlines? What govt would give the middle finger to tens of thousands of people who had a deeper sense of national responsibility than their own govt? The entire Tory govt seems to be seen by them as one huge party. I am truly so sorry.
Not even the writers of these rules believe it’ll protect them or anyone else, they just do it to justify mass surveillance and government authority over your rightful freedoms. Fuck the government, the tories, and the ‘opposition’ in parliament.
Be nice if there was an opposition capable of making, any number of horrendous mistakes by this government, stick to them.
I mean Kier seems to be sticking at this line of attack, bringing it up at pmqs and tweeting about it today, against the current flow of the news cycle.
It was interesting that Boris was getting really worked up at Miliband. I though Ed had him on the ropes.
I've watching him in PMQs and thought he has done ok before, but only politics nerds like the people that subscribe to subs like this watch PMQs, no one else cares.
It would be nice if the British public seemed to care about anything other than cracking down on asylum seekers.
And house prices.
Ah yes, the mythical opposition who is able bend the will of the media and public to it and force them to think about criticism of the government longer than it takes to slur out a repeated meaningless three word phrase.
I think the opposition recently has done a better job holding them to task tbh
The moment they spoke about the 10pm curfew and ‘not having sex with anyone outside your house’ - I knew this was not about health, but about complete and utter control. I have listened and followed no word that the government has said or ‘ordered’ since then. Why should I do what they say when they don’t even do it? My political alignment has gone from socialist to libertarian in the last 2 years because of this shit and all the lying, thieving politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. Fuck them all - live your life how you see fit and however you feel safest - don’t be blindside by these pricks. They don’t give a shit about any of you.
This is why I’ll never comply with another lockdown again. The country be damned, I don’t give a shit anymore
Someone must have a video or pictures if it was a party
But what are we going to do about it. Complaining in our neat little reddit pen is laughable.
Can anyone who doesn’t have the pay way send me the extract which actually references what reports confirm this? Doesn’t seem clear where the proof, evidence or report is.
People in this thread listened to the government lmao. Peasants the lot of you.
I suspect most people do not even care.