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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not understand the outrage over the government’s so-called Christmas party?

778 replies

OneRuleForThem · 07/12/2021 22:33

I feel like this is only an issue if people automatically followed guidelines like robots. We were “told” not to visit our own families over Christmas. Nobody tells me whether I can or can not visit my own family, so I did, and had a lovely and nice normal Christmas last year.

It seems people are up in arms over the fact that Downing Street allegedly (do I have to say allegedly?) had a Christmas party and flounced the “rules” without social distancing. My only reaction is…And? And so? So what? Did anyone expect the government NOT to do something like this? I don’t know why people are up in arms over it tbh. It’s not like this government is brand new to people and they didn’t have prior information that this government backtrack and “do as I say not as i do” ALL THE TIME.

I really don’t get why people are so outraged by this. My main reaction is…why did you listen to them in the first place expecting them to be some kind of moral leaders? AIBU?

OP posts:
BettyBag · 08/12/2021 07:17

@SickAndTiredAgain

We were allowed to spend Christmas with family at gatherings so OP didn't break any rules. We were not allowed to have a Christmas party with colleagues in the run up to Christmas so Dowing Street did.

Depends where OP lives - in the SE, you couldn’t. Given that she said she ignored the rules (she’s positively proud of it) to have a “normal” Christmas, it sounds like she did break the rules for wherever she was.

Ahhh okay that makes sense. I spent Christmas in a family gathering as did my friend who travelled 4 hours. I even remember my friend having a huge wobble because she was torn between spending what would probably be (and indeed was) her last Christmas with her 100 year old Grandad and potentially putting him at risk. She would never have broken the law.

I thought I was having one of those Mandela Effect moments.

Theeyeballsinthesky · 08/12/2021 07:18

YABVU

Iit was the law not “advice” & it was law because it was based on the advice of SAGE ie people who are immunologists, virologists & public health specialists

I don’t obey the law because boris fucking Johnson told me too, I did it because it was the right thing to do to attempt to slow the spread of covid

I’m not remotely surprised that boris Johnson & his team of amoral shitbags ignored their own laws and partied away, I am surprised anyone should think that that is ok

Ariela · 08/12/2021 07:22

I was told (by a friend of a friend who I trust to be in the know due to his position/contacts in life) this apparent 'party' was actually cheese and wine over a working meeting of considerably less than 2 dozen. He says how on earth 50 people and all that food and drink as per a normal party for 50 could have come and gone to No 10/11 without the sheer number/volume being counted by the political reporters around at the time - it would have been absolutely impossible.

TreeLawney · 08/12/2021 07:23

The point is we SHOULD be able to expect better from our leaders.

And people going oh well it’s just Boris, he always lies, everyone else is stupid for expecting different from him only perpetuates the problem.

Or is this the level of our aspirations? It’s so depressing.

Spudlet · 08/12/2021 07:24

YABU and short sighted. Just because you were able to see family over Christmas doesn’t mean everyone could. Some of us live hundreds of miles away and have ECV family members, and weren’t able to just pop over - it would have meant a big journey and an overnight stay. Which would have been illegal and for us doubly so, as DH was also self isolating as a contact, so we’d have had to have broken that too. So yes actually, it is galling to see Downing Street staff laughing about a party on camera FFS, I mean how stupid are they and how stupid do they think we are?

Our family is lucky. We’ve all made it through the year - which when you have very elderly and some potentially very unwell relatives is not guaranteed. At present, we should still be able to see one another this Christmas. But other people won’t have that. I’m pissed off - but if a loved one had died alone because I wasn’t allowed to visit in lockdown, then I saw this, well, I’d be incandescent. And rightly so.

Iwantmyoldnameback · 08/12/2021 07:25

I see one if the apologists mentioned Nightingale Hospitals? There are only so many Health care staff to go round, if they work there then the main hospitals suffer as usual!
Christ what a depressing start to the day reading this is.

jgw1 · 08/12/2021 07:28

@Iwantmyoldnameback

I see one if the apologists mentioned Nightingale Hospitals? There are only so many Health care staff to go round, if they work there then the main hospitals suffer as usual! Christ what a depressing start to the day reading this is.
The outrage on this thread needs to be in the inboxes of all of us who have Tory MPs. That pressure is the only thing that seems to make any difference. Write before PMQs, urge your MP to ask about parties and standards, urge them not to turn up, urge them to stand up and be counted as honest people.
Silverswirl · 08/12/2021 07:30

@BettyBag no, huge parts of the country (including where I live) were put in tier 4 a few days before Xmas - against the law to see any other house holds, only allowed to be inside with members of your own household!
Why do so many people forget that so many people were banned from seeing family on Xmas day!! It wasn’t everyone but it was still millions of people who were banned! (Kent varient so Kent and London!!)

ancientgran · 08/12/2021 07:30

Compare the laughing fools in the video or Boris Johnson lying with the picture of the Queen, sitting alone at the funeral of her husband of more than 70 years. Who was setting an example? Who was willing to follow the rules that applied to them as much as to the poorest of citizens with no influence or privilege?

ancientgran · 08/12/2021 07:32

@Ariela

I was told (by a friend of a friend who I trust to be in the know due to his position/contacts in life) this apparent 'party' was actually cheese and wine over a working meeting of considerably less than 2 dozen. He says how on earth 50 people and all that food and drink as per a normal party for 50 could have come and gone to No 10/11 without the sheer number/volume being counted by the political reporters around at the time - it would have been absolutely impossible.
If all that was true they why are they unwilling to say it?
gogohm · 08/12/2021 07:34

Yabu for the government and yabu for not following the law yourself. Selfish behaviour is why we are still in this mess

LAlady · 08/12/2021 07:34

"We were allowed to spend Christmas with family at gatherings so OP didn't break any rules. We were not allowed to have a Christmas party with colleagues in the run up to Christmas so Dowing Street did".

That's not the case in the South East. Everyone I know did not meet up at Christmas. I had a turkey for 14.
4 people at the table on Christmas Day.

My neighbour, a member of the Conservative Association asked me if I was voting for the Tories when Johnson first stood as PM. As I said then, "absolutely not, I couldn't vote for a liar".

Lies, lies and more lies

1dayatatime · 08/12/2021 07:35

When you have an 80 seat majority, the PM is still ahead in the opinion polls, whether there is outrage or not is irrelevant or whether they broke the rules or not Is irrelevant (without a successful prosecution).

The point is very obvious- they just don't care about the "outrage" - it will blow over or be forgotten about by the next election .

If you want to be angry with someone then look at the voters who voted for a proven serial liar who is clearly out of his depth.

ancientgran · 08/12/2021 07:35

@Neurodiversitydoctor

*My impression was they'd were working there together anyway and just stayed. No different than having your dinner hour*

On the 14th of December last year I ate lunch "with" my colleagues at separate tables 2m apart with the windows open (NHS). Junior doctors in my trust were disciplined for sharing a pizza a kind member of the public had bought them. Our Xmas party was a zoom quiz as it will be this year.

No not like a lunch hour at all.

BBC reporter this morning said people were coming in to attend the party specifically. So not just at work and you are right, not like a lunch hour.
BettyBag · 08/12/2021 07:36

[quote Silverswirl]@BettyBag no, huge parts of the country (including where I live) were put in tier 4 a few days before Xmas - against the law to see any other house holds, only allowed to be inside with members of your own household!
Why do so many people forget that so many people were banned from seeing family on Xmas day!! It wasn’t everyone but it was still millions of people who were banned! (Kent varient so Kent and London!!)[/quote]
Sorry Swirly, that must have been awful. Tbh I still don't remember now although obviously I believe you and others.

changeyourname11111 · 08/12/2021 07:38

All I know is that the leaked video of the aides laughing is dreadful.

southlondoner02 · 08/12/2021 07:39

Just because we know this government is a lying bunch of shits doesn't mean we shouldn't be angry with them for breaking the law. Just like they need to be held to account for giving contracts to their mates, public money to girlfriends etc they should be held to account for this.

Everyone I know didn't just stay away from family last year because it was the law, but because Covid was rife in London just before Christmas last year, and they didn't want to risk giving it to parents and grandparents. I'm not angry with the government because I think they shouldn't have brought in restrictions, but because they thought the restrictions didn't apply to them.

Shadedog · 08/12/2021 07:40

My impression was they'd were working there together anyway and just stayed.
No different than having your dinner hour

It’s bloody different from my dinner “hour”. We weren’t allowed to sit together or share food. No communal biscuits, no Christmas Eve pot luck dinner. The trust put tents in the grounds because there isn’t space to socially distance in the staff rooms. People were sitting in tents, by themselves, colleagues at a table 2m away, in December. Canteen was closed to be converted into a vaccination centre. People were eating their lunch in their cars, two women were disciplined for sitting in the same car to eat their sandwiches.

Hiw do you know they weren’t 2m apart FFS?

Is that JRM video not the “party”?

SickAndTiredAgain · 08/12/2021 07:41

Is that JRM video not the “party”?

No, I believe that was in the last couple of days. He’s joking about the current speculation around last year’s party.

Silverswirl · 08/12/2021 07:44

Wish you had got caught and fined OP by a jobsworth neighbour and police.
Might have wiped that smug smile off your face
You sound horrible rubbing peoples noses in it when so many had such a shit Christmas away from family and elderly relatives.
It’s got nothing to do with ‘doing what Boris Johnson says’ ffs You sound like a petulant child stamping their foot and shouting no I won’t do it.
It was the law here and most decent people who want to live amongst others want to follow that, even if they don’t agree with it, Because you know, they don’t want to get fined or appear like some sort of complete selfish twat amongst their friends and neighbours.

GivingUpOnSleep · 08/12/2021 07:44

@Rose789

To be honest OP you sound just as much of a twat as the people that attended that party. You broke the law so you could have a merry Christmas cos fuck the government? Everyone could have done that. The vast vast majority of people chose not too because they are not absolute selfish fuckers like you
This nails it
Confrontayshunme · 08/12/2021 07:45

I caught covid at my job (doing it, not at a "business meeting"/party) and lost a coworker to Covid that exact day, so yeah, I am livid. But ultimately, they are held to a different standard and can test their eyes, snog their mistresses and have parties all they want, and people will still vote for them. The truth doesn't matter as much as the perceived awfulness of the other party.

blissfulllife · 08/12/2021 07:46

Aside from not being able to see our family last Christmas,which turned out to be the last Christmas my fil would recognise his grandchildren , there was also the fact that the restrictions caused such massive knock on effects at that time. For us the no face to face appointments and absolute lack of mental health care for our then 12 year old dd resulted in her trying the end her life Christmas week. And there wasn't a bed for her on the mental health unit. We nearly lost her op! A child! I followed the rules, the LAW, and I followed it because if we all had your attitude I'd hate to imagine the mess we'd be in now. If everyone fucked the law up the wall and just did what they wanted what would our world look like!

I'm furious seeing that video of them laughing like this. And more than a bit heart broken.

rwalker · 08/12/2021 07:47

@LizzieSiddal
My impression was they'd were working there together anyway and just stayed.
No different than having your dinner hour.

Does your dinner hour include canapés, wine and a secret Santa?

How is what they had or did relevant if they were all there together anyway .

Heronwatcher · 08/12/2021 07:48

I think people followed the law because they didn’t want to infect and kill vulnerable people and overload the NHS (which everyone was being told was what WOULD happen) not because they were blindly doing as they were told and, no, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect even hardened selfish liars to retain at least a vestige of social conscience and common sense.