Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
Peaseblossum22 · 12/12/2021 09:45

but @lightisnotwhite you miss the important point that this is not just any workplace, or just any team. This is the centre of power, these are the people who make the rules , the people who are meant to be e exemplifiers of the behaviour which they are expecting from the rest of society.If they can't keep to the rules/guidance then arguably they are showing that the no one can except that this was plainly not the case because millions of people put themselves and their own desires second to the needs of society as a whole.

I would never ask my team at work to do something that i would not be prepared to do myself, its called leadership . To have the opportunity to work at the very centre of government is an immense privilege, you have a responsibility towards those people whose lives you have sway over to use that power mindfully.

Original poster
OneRuleForThem · 12/12/2021 09:58

I’m just struggling to understand why people listened to the advice in the first place. It doesn’t make sense to me

OP posts:
Parker231 · 12/12/2021 10:01

@OneRuleForThem

I’m just struggling to understand why people listened to the advice in the first place. It doesn’t make sense to me
They listened because it was legally binding and people were dying. I’m beginning to think you have trouble understanding what was happening in the hospitals?? I’ll pass your messages on to my doctor DH - he could give you the information you are missing
Wonkydonkey44 · 12/12/2021 10:04

@Ifartglitterybaubles

We lost my sister to Covid, she was 47. We couldn't go to the funeral because we were following the rules at that time. My mum watched her daughters funeral on facetime because she couldn't travel the 300 miles as she was shielding. She died of Cancer 6 weeks later. WE followed the rules this Government set whilst they threw parties and laughed about it. If you honestly can't understand why this is an issue or why people are angry then I don't know what else to say.

I can't even... I am beyond angry.

I'm so sorry for your loss Thanks
youvegottenminuteslynn · 12/12/2021 10:05

@OneRuleForThem

I’m just struggling to understand why people listened to the advice in the first place. It doesn’t make sense to me
I can't tell if you're on a wind up at this point. Advice is different to the law. People got fined for breaking the law. Other people obeyed the law so as not to get fined / punished. Other people followed the law because they listened to the scientists whose expertise shaped the law, which was designed to stop the NHS collapsing and the virus spreading even further. You keep saying you don't understand but if you really don't at this point, even after all the posts on this thread, then you're not going to.
Original poster
OneRuleForThem · 12/12/2021 10:09

@youvegottenminuteslynn
But the “law” was: you can’t visit your families at Christmas. That is a crazy law. I don’t understand why people agreed to adhere to it. That is illogical to me. My family is more important to me than obeying that “law”.

OP posts:
Parker231 · 12/12/2021 10:11

[quote OneRuleForThem]@youvegottenminuteslynn
But the “law” was: you can’t visit your families at Christmas. That is a crazy law. I don’t understand why people agreed to adhere to it. That is illogical to me. My family is more important to me than obeying that “law”.[/quote]
So what you want to do is more important than laws to prevent more people dying

Original poster
OneRuleForThem · 12/12/2021 10:11

But perhaps you are right and I just don’t understand and not getting it. As many people seem to have reacted angry but like someone else said, I think they are mostly angry at themselves for doing what was told of them.

OP posts:
Original poster
OneRuleForThem · 12/12/2021 10:13

@Parker231
So what you want to do is more important than laws to prevent more people dying

Me visiting my own family didn’t make people die if that’s what you’re seriously suggesting here??

OP posts:
youvegottenminuteslynn · 12/12/2021 10:18

[quote OneRuleForThem]@Parker231
So what you want to do is more important than laws to prevent more people dying

Me visiting my own family didn’t make people die if that’s what you’re seriously suggesting here??[/quote]
Are you seriously not getting this?

If you had covid and visited them, you would likely have spread it to them. They would then likely have spread it to others. And so on and so on.

And it was the law. If you want to break laws and risk the consequences then that's your prerogative but some people don't do that partly because of the potential punishments but also partly because they understood the law was made for the greater good when it came to the virus spreading.

I think rather than continually making out that you prioritised your family and others didnt, you need to agree to disagree / concede that you for whatever reason don't understand it but the vast majority of people do.

Everyone has to do their bit. If everyone had done what you did, the virus would have spread further, the NHS would have been under more pressure and further laws would have been necessary to curtail the spread. If you genuinely can't understand that then I think the concept of a virus is just beyond you maybe?

Original poster
OneRuleForThem · 12/12/2021 10:23

@youvegottenminuteslynn
you need to agree to disagree / concede that you for whatever reason don't understand it but the vast majority of people do.

I have literally repeated exactly this for my last however many posts.

OP posts:
WhatdoImean · 12/12/2021 10:24

I really do not get this..

If "OneRule" REALLY does not understand, after 30-odd pages of comments explaining WHY, then either a) she is being disingenuous and is just trolling, OR b) she is a thick as pig excrement. Genuinely - after 30 pages of explanation, if you really don't get it, then I suspect you may need some help - probably with pictures in nice primary colours and words of one syllable

As regards the party itself:-

  1. People came from outside to be in the party, so no, not just people who are working together
  2. There was no social distancing
  3. It was illegale, not just "ill advised"
  4. The contempt it displayed for those who WERE following the law, losing loved ones, is beyond measure.

In my opinion, the truth is that they were so arrogant, they never even THOUGHT that the law applied to them, and thus saw nothing wrong with what they did - and still don't.

WhatdoImean · 12/12/2021 10:24

Illegal*

Wonkydonkey44 · 12/12/2021 10:25

I followed the rules last year at Christmas, my daughter is clinically vulnerable ( Down syndrome ) and my parents are in their 70's.
I saw my parents for 3 hours on Christmas Day , the family Christmas we'd organised with my sister and all the kids , grandparents was cancelled.
The reason I didn't break the rules was I couldn't bare the long term guilt i would feel if id given one of them covid and then they'd died .
I'm sorry for everyone on this thread who missed out on previous time elderly family member or sick relatives whilst out leaders felt it was ok for them to do as they please.

youvegottenminuteslynn · 12/12/2021 10:26

[quote OneRuleForThem]@youvegottenminuteslynn
you need to agree to disagree / concede that you for whatever reason don't understand it but the vast majority of people do.

I have literally repeated exactly this for my last however many posts.[/quote]
Yes - you keep repeating it which means people keep replying. If you know you're not going to understand (or don't want to) then it would make more sense to me to leave the thread instead of continuing to reiterate that you put your family first, insinuating those who followed the rules didn't do so. Which tbh considering people have shared stories of losing loved ones, is insensitive as fuck.

youvegottenminuteslynn · 12/12/2021 10:30

And OP, you also don't seem to comprehend that it's people like you (who didn't obey the law) who contributed to the crisis and meant the restrictions were in place longer than they would have been had you and others all obeyed the law. You're contributing to the need for the law you refuse to adhere to.

It's selfish and you seem to think you have the moral highground for seeing your family when everyone would have loved to do so but made a decision for the greater good / because they couldn't risk the potential punishment.

Cornettoninja · 12/12/2021 12:16

@OneRuleForThem I’m surprised you keep coming back to this thread with this particular username tbh. The problem is you and people exactly like you being in government. Our government are a mirror of people like you.

There were rules in place for a reason. You and others decided you knew better and that doing what you wanted was justified so went ahead and did it. Now you can’t understand the anger and condemnation of your choices - because you’ve thoroughly justified it to yourself. You’re never going to understand it because your head just doesn’t work that way, you can’t see beyond the immediate consequences to your own personal circle. Fine whatever, but that’s who you are whether you understand it or not, you’re no different to those who keep this country in a state of ‘ one rule for them and a different one to the rest of us’ and we deserve better.

The January lockdown was largely due to the attitude of the government that it wasn’t going to happen. Then it did.

Nowayoutonlydown · 12/12/2021 12:33

[quote OneRuleForThem]@youvegottenminuteslynn
But the “law” was: you can’t visit your families at Christmas. That is a crazy law. I don’t understand why people agreed to adhere to it. That is illogical to me. My family is more important to me than obeying that “law”.[/quote]
I think your line of thought is vastly different to many others.
When that law was put in place, it was told to us as a society this was to keep people safe.
Having a high proportion of family members who were high risk and no vaccines being given at that point to any of us, it felt like the logical and caring thing to do for our family members was to follow the letter of the law.

If it was unsafe for us, and our concern for putting additional pressure on the NHS, why was it safe for the MPs to have parties? How was it safe for them?

Parker231 · 12/12/2021 13:00

[quote OneRuleForThem]@Parker231
So what you want to do is more important than laws to prevent more people dying

Me visiting my own family didn’t make people die if that’s what you’re seriously suggesting here??[/quote]
Why is it all about you?

Cornettoninja · 12/12/2021 13:05

@Parker231 because an awful lot of people think they’re the leading star in their own personal show. There’s an awful lot of protagonists about these days.

jgw1 · 12/12/2021 13:19

Why is it all about you?

Because I am far more important than you. you can tell this because I drive an unnecessarily large and polluting SUV.

Livingtothefull · 12/12/2021 13:39

'My family is more important to me than obeying that “law”.'

My own family is more important to me than anything...that is why my desire to not put them (as well as others) at risk by seeing them was stronger than my desire to see them.

And you don't need the inverted commas for the word "law". A law is a law, this applies even to laws you don't personally like.

'As many people seem to have reacted angry but like someone else said, I think they are mostly angry at themselves for doing what was told of them'.

Untrue. Personally speaking I am not at all angry with myself about this, I am glad I did the right thing when it mattered at this time. The anger is directed at you and those like you whose personal wants put others at risk. It is very apparent on this thread where the anger lies.

RedHot22 · 12/12/2021 14:08

I wanted to see my family as they’re the most important thing to me. Protecting them was more important than seeing them though. How would I have ever lived with myself knowing that I had passed on Covid to an elderly or sick relative and they had died. Some people are very short sighted and don’t think through the consequences of their actions.

Also, the NHS was overwhelmed.
What if a family member was in an accident or suffered a cardiac arrest and there were no ICU beds available?

nanbread · 12/12/2021 14:54

@OneRuleForThem

I’m just struggling to understand why people listened to the advice in the first place. It doesn’t make sense to me
Are you hard of thinking? People have explained repeatedly why on here.
oklets · 12/12/2021 15:03

OP you seem very pleased with yourself for being so clever to ignore the guidelines/break the law. Except it's not actually clever, it's just not giving a shit about other people.