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

[OneRuleForThem]

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?

[quote rwalker]@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 .[/quote]
It is relevant to the law.

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

OIC. I was assuming it was a party due to the context and decorations and balloons. Tbh I’m sort or surprised that the Downing Street briefing room has balloons in it in early December. Or at all.
They were probably definitely 2m apart at the party because that was a rule and they been brilliant at distancing and masks the rest of the time. A fine example to us all.

If the employees were all in the same building working anyway I agree that there isn't much difference between that and a 'party' - if it was people attending who don't normally work in the building then that is different. I am far more concerned about the fact we left people to face their death in Afgahanstan than whether there was a party in Downing Street

@OneRuleForThem I don’t understand how you’re not getting this - I didn’t ‘follow what they said’ because I felt like they were a good example. It was the LAW. I had to follow it whether I wanted to or not. If I had travelled to see my family I could have been arrested for breaking the law

OP so is it just covid laws we can ignore or does this extend to all laws? I can murder someone because who cares if the government say it is wrong I should just do what I want anyway.

We obeyed the LAWS because it was the responsible and morally right thing to do.

I feel for people who have lost loved ones, people who died alone, people who were grieving for their loved ones having to do it alone due to following the laws and the government stick 2 fingers up again to the public and do what the fuck they want. You should be fuming at them.

I agree with the point that if they were all working together there is very little difference between this and a party - very different if it was inviting people in who didn't work in the building. I am far more concerned that people were left to die in Afghanistan than a party in Downing Street

If a member of the public breaks the rules by having a party that is bad enough.
But the government breaking their own rules when they are meant to be setting an example to millions of people is outrageous.
People weren't allowed to go to funerals or get married, yet the government were having cheese and wine having a good old time. They are taking the absolute p**s out of us. How can anyone be ok with that?!!!

We all know this government doesn't like lockdowns. And during this the many businesses were having "working lunch meetings" as the law allowed it www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2020/10/20/Can-working-lunches-happen-under-Tier-2-Coronavirus-lockdown-restrictions and there is little definition about what those business needs happen to be. Now I am a mask/vaccine mandate lockdown supporter who thinks the government have been late and behind the curve on restrictions so far but I see this as just a selfish selection of the population that have just put themselves first under poorly written rules designed for ambiguity. There should have been no business lunches at all and this should have been in the rules.

What do you think would have happened if everyone had ignored the law, OP?

The NHS was overwhelmed already. One of my close family members was admitted to hospital on New year's Day with Covid. Personally I am quite grateful that the majority of people followed the rules, as otherwise 1) my family member would have spread Covid to the rest of the family and 2) he may not have survived due to increased admissions in hospital.

@BeaMends

Forgive me if I missed it, but all these people at this party - were they all staff who were normally all working in the building together, and they just all had a bit of a piss-up when they finished work? Or were there separately invited guests?

It's irrelevant as the government themselves said any work parties were illegal.

YABVU

I’m not British, but my time living in the UK I noticed that your government seems to hold the general public with great disdain. They lie and don’t even feel bad about it. They have so little respect for the people who vote for them and who they work for that it was quite obvious to me. I don’t understand why you would tolerate such behaviour. They work for you and the public should vote Boris and his cronies out. Anyone who dares act in such a way should be gotten rid of.

I find your dismissal of what your fellow countrymen and women have sacrificed to be callous. No doubt you probably behave in this way in your day to day life as well, but for your countrymen and women who did in fact follow the rules imagine how they feel.

Some had relatives pass away alone, unable
To see and hug and touch loved ones. Women giving birth afraid and alone. Children unable to see grandparents and unable to hug.

Your cavalier, dismissive attitude I find distasteful and uncaring. So because you personally flouted the rules it’s all ok. People should not be upset because you in your selfishness didn’t follow the rules. Good for you… you’re just as low as your scumbag politicians.

You’re exactly the sort of constituent that reflects why you even have such a person as Boris Johnson in power.

I’m not even British and I feel angry and sorry that people suffered over Xmas while this Buffon and his cronies toasted and partied while your nation had to sacrifice.

Again. You are exactly representative of the sort of person who your government is and the sort of people who are happy to be represented by such amoral politicians. Cold, callous, unkind, no empathy for your fellow citizens and selfish.

I weep for your nation.

@twelly

I am of the opinion that this was last year and we need to move on - yes it was hypocritical and shows a contempt for the public, I disagreed with the lockdowns and believed at the time we were storing up issues for the young and for all those who missed diagnoses of preventable disease. The country was locked down for the vulnerable and elderly, and locking those of them who were able mobile and active. So Downing Street had a party and should be honest but I don't think we should focusing on this - lets move on and ensure we return to normal life and get rid of constant restrictions

Because it's not possible to do both? No wonder this shower of shit does what it likes when people like you are happy to brush it under the carpet.

I didn't see my family last year because I was scared. (I imagine people on this thread will now call me a fool for 'listening to all the scaremongering.)

The truth was, it wasn't scaremongering - facts told us that people were dying. Honestly, I didn't want to be one of those people/have anyone I cared about be added to those statistics.

I was told to shield (and there was a reason for that); my mum works in a care home, with many extremely vulnerable in her care. I had had no vaccines at that point.

So no - I didn't not see my family because Boris told me not to. I did it, as I didn't want to get ill, and put extra strain on an NHS that saves my life daily. I didn't because I didn't want my mum have to call the family of her residents with the most awful news.

Is it sad that I didn't see my family last year? Yes, I would have liked to.
Do I regret it? No. Thankfully, they're all still here, and I have been able to see them loads of times since.

We listened to the govt last Christmas OP, because it was the right thing to do for ourselves and our loved ones and for our front line workers who were on their knees. It was a very grave situation which you ignored and appear to be so flippant and insensitive and ignorant about. How come you are so entitled that the law doesn’t apply to you ?
Your standards are very low if you don’t expect the government to practise what they preach.

Its always one rule for them and another for us.

It is their behaviour that made me question the seriousness of this whole thing. They insist we wear masks etc. Tell us to social distance, yet pose for photos standing next to people, that we must not have more than 5 people and then throw massive parties. All of this we are told is to save lives, which is important, yes...
As the government are the ones issuing these guidelines and laws, you'd think they'd be much more aware of the actual seriousness we face so I'd expect that they would be following their own rules and guidelines constantly without any hesitation through the fear they expect us to have!

The one that really really got me was that summit thing or whatever it was, when the Queen was there. She's vulnerable and... the queen, but she was surrounded by people from all different countries, with masks ONLY for photos. The masks were straight off after photos were taken. Social distancing was non existent.

If it was as serious as they want us to believe, there is no way the queen would have been put in that position. Surely.

Anyway, yabu and nbu.

Following the scientifically derived advice doesn't make you stupid. It makes you the kind of person willing to see you live in a collecting society, and prepared to take collective action for the good of all.

We're not all selfish twats, thank goodness. And just because Boris is a twat (which we can all agree he is, I should think) doesn't mean it's suddenly sensible or cool to be a selfish twat too.

That's you, OP. Being selfish

I have never added a YABU or a YANBU until now, when I want to put it 1000 times - YABU.
Regardless of whether you ignored the law and got away with it, or you were anyway within the rules, those people who actually disregarded the party rules on the same day as the alleged Downing Street party are being prosecuted.
The DofE had something like cheese and wine for folk already in the office and put out a statement both explaining and apologising, so why can’t Johnson if it was this? The Tories either flagrantly ignored their own rules, or abided but refuse to answer as they are so important no one should question them - neither is what I want from my government. It could, I suppose, be another dead cat but even these are embarrassing and again not what I want from government.
Personally, I was debating stretching the rules to see my grandkids on Xmas day, however, my parents needed care so that didn’t happen. Unfortunately the NHS, hospital, carers, medics etc did abide by their rules instead of doing what made patients happy - and my father spent 4/5 weeks at the end of his life alone and distressed being unable to see or even set up a call with my mother. I then had to tell my mum at a distance and even that put her back into isolation. I am not alone in this scenario, so folk find it exceptionally distasteful to joke about it.
Saddest of all is my parents are lifelong Tories and genuinely believe/d that they were doing their best for the country and were a good government. They also got annoyed and upset at those regular infringement folk paraded out over 2020 on the news saying the government is trying so hard but folk can’t behave. I don’t expect the government to care particularly, I understand attrition, but honestly to effectively laugh at the plebs - that’s disgusting.

Ah, so this is the latest party line to try and protect de Spaffle. A new username pops up to minimise it by saying that "nobody was actually following the rules anyway" so the party wasn't actually that bad.

Actually, yes, most of us were following the rules. Because we had enough empathy to realise that we were trying to prevent other people from dying.

Admittedly, there seem to be a lot of people now who have lost whatever rudimentary level of empathy they used to have, but that doesn't change the fact that people were dying alone whilst these ghouls partied away, laughing at them.

They broke the law, the laws they made, while people had to say goodbye to their dying relatives on a fucking iPad - partying while the rest of us obeyed the law, not seeing our loved ones for months on end, homeschooling, trying to keep our heads above water, look after our own health and protect others, while this utter shower of bastards gave us the finger and treated the people they are supposed to serve with utter contempt. That’s why, and I’m astonished you can’t see that.

@twelly

If the employees were all in the same building working anyway I agree that there isn't much difference between that and a 'party' - if it was people attending who don't normally work in the building then that is different. I am far more concerned about the fact we left people to face their death in Afgahanstan than whether there was a party in Downing Street

Definitely agree with you. Working lunches were allowed and this is an example of law with great chunks of loopholes in it. I would rather we had much stricter rules (like proper mask mandates) with no exceptions (it amazing how the Asian states have so few medical conditions preventing mask wearing) but we didn't so we get this poor half arsed covid response where certain aspects were stamped out like home parties yet business just could claim working lunch and schools remaining open with little social distancing both equally likely to spread disease.

I haven’t (can’t rtft). So answering the OP, Is this really where we are that we expect so little from the people chosen and entrusted to lead our country and make the big decisions on our behalf? There is a big problem if our governments leadship is treated as optional, how can a society function like that without descending into chaos and corruption? That’s a big fucking problem if you ask me.

Also on this issue in itself they were in the wrong, not anyone who was following the guidance. It’s not a reason to say ‘why couldn’t we do the same’ it’s a reason to ask why they weren’t doing the right thing.

What an unpleasant OP. Who starts a thread purely to sneer at others?!

Yes, we as a family followed the guidance. Numbers in our area were through the roof and we personally know people who passed away before Christmas after contracting covid.

As for the Christmas party at no 10. Does it bother me? Yes. It would most people who didn’t get to do the same. Hence why it doesn’t bother you.

I agree with you OP. Obviously a very unpopular opinion. No one should be sacrificing their family and loved ones based on the information we have/had about covid.

I do not think its brushing it under the carpet I happen to think there are more far worse mistakes made by the government and the Afgahanastan evacuation is one of those. The fact that we have a huge crisis with the young and those who now have undiagnosed illnesses due to the lockdown is a far more important matter