To ask if your essential meetings involve sitting around in the garden with wine and cheese, with your spouse in attendance?

[AlexaShutUp]

So the justification for the pictures of Boris in lockdown is that they were essential work meetings and therefore allowed. The wine and cheese was apparently because people were working long hours. I have seen no explanation of why Carrie was present.

Do you have essential work meetings of this nature? I don't.

AIBU to think that, in the midst of a pandemic, I'd rather that our decision makers stayed off the booze while carrying out their essential functions? And that unelected individuals who are not employed by the government in an official capacity have no business sitting in on such meetings?

Unsurprisingly, I have never attended a work meeting that involved drinking alcohol.

It would be a disciplinary matter if I worked after having a drink.

I would add without a pen , paper, lap top or files or anything even vaguely work related. Also who paid for the wine , strict rules in public sector about payment for alcohol.

But anyway it’s not about the event per se it’s about the message and what it shows about where their headspace was at the time . We would not have even considered doing this at my job because it would have been disrespectful to all the people keeping to the rules. This was in may 2020 only about 10 weeks in , when people were still struggling with home schooling and no visiting in care homes, cancelled weddings and funerals etc.

My 3:30pm meeting on Friday may have been done with a beer or two. Didn't have cheese though.

They do now!

Yes, but I’m self employed

We think it's a treat if one of us brings in a box of malteasers to go with our cup of tea. No chessboards, wine or picnic blankets for us. DH has been known to attend my work meetings, but in a professional capacity as he was a subject advisor for the area I in which I teach.

I'm a civil servant. We're told that alcohol must never be consumed on the premises, even in social occasions. Fair enough.

In the days gone by it was acceptable to have the odd glass during a Christmas lunch or if a longstanding team member was retiring, but that's been banned for about 10 years now.

I have a long list of things we aren't allowed to do, that Ministers do daily. It's infuriating that they don't adhere to the standards that are imposed on the ordinary workers.

I am so disgusted about this, and even more so that there is no way to show it either. Maybe there should be a petition about this somewhere. Can't believe there hasn't been more uproar about this. I don't think it has quite sunk in yet about just how wrong this was. They aren't 2 metres apart, and are just trying to bend the rules. How can they live with themselves??
If ever there is a time for the NHS or even private Dr's and nurses to refuse to treat that man and his family and employees involved if they get sick, then now is that time!

What does it really matter?

Boris, and the Tories in general, are untouchable.

They will be voted in again, without a shadow of a doubt. So they know full well that they can do whatever the hell they like.

So 🤷🏻‍♀️

cheeseboards, not chessboards. My laptop thinks I am far more highbrow that I actually am.

I would not be able to bring my husband to a work meeting for reasons of confidentiality, let alone professionalism.

Isn't it something of a concern if the government are drinking on the job?

I'm going to suggest it for our next school SLT meeting.

Cheese, wine and your spouse.

Doesn't really sound like any staff meeting I've ever attended in my decades of working in education 🤣

And cheese and wine will not help decision making in a pandemic.

If they need to eat water and healthy food would be far better.

I had an essential meeting on zoom around that time, I'm deaf and struggled through for 2 hours only catching every other word, when it finished I broke down in sobs I was so exhausted and had to go for a nap.

But those were the rules, in person wasn't allowed.

And before anyone asks, no you can't lipreading on zoom, only about 30percent of the English language is lipreadable anyway.

Glass of wine would probably have got me through it to be honest!!

The explanation for Carrie being there is its her garden but they can't justify her being in on government meetings.

My backside it's z meeting. Not a pad of paper to take notes in sight or a laptop or tablet.

The fact that they don't even bother and make up any old half arsed shit shows how much they hold us in contempt.

I assume the minutes of this official government meeting are available?

Apparently Carrie was there because "number 10 is her home" and she "legitimately" uses the garden. Give me strength.

@Alarmset

Isn't it something of a concern if the government are drinking on the job?

I'm going to suggest it for our next school SLT meeting.

It might make the meetings more bearable. 😂😂

Dominic Taab has just said as Carrie loves there it's totally understandable for her to chock on how Boris is.

Is she his mum 🤦‍♀️🤣🤣🤣

We actually did have a meeting on the roof space above our office, with prosecco and pizza during the wfh mandate. My boss didn’t like the wfh thing and made us come in every Weds and as we had a lot less work to do due to the nature of our work, if it were good weather we sat up there from 4-5.30 coming up with ideas for online seminars, marketing ideas. It was better than the screens and visors and one way system inside.

What does it really matter?

It may not bother you but this matters to lots of people. Nobody is above the law. I think this lying, minimising and gaslighting when everyone else remembers how their days back then were about working and ‘just about’ coping, will damage the party hugely.

Yes, I saw the bit about it being Carrie's home. However, if she wanted to use that part of the garden, surely they should have moved "the meeting" to another location instead?

And yy to the absence of pens, paper, laptops etc.

During lockdown last year, I had a team meeting in my garden. The office was being deep cleaned. I don't have a partner but my ds was there. It was hot, certainly people had drinks although not alcohol.

Much less smart, no suits, no chess board.

The only thing that makes me think this might have been work, was on a hot summer evening, what sane person wants to sit around in a sweaty uncomfortable suit, when instead they could go home, have a shower, relax and be with their family?

@itsgettingwierd

Cheese, wine and your spouse.

Doesn't really sound like any staff meeting I've ever attended in my decades of working in education 🤣

And cheese and wine will not help decision making in a pandemic.

If they need to eat water and healthy food would be far better.

Oh yes, at one point we were only allowed wholemeal sandwiches, salad, fruit and water as catering for meetings involving external stakeholders. Nothing unhealthy. That was stuck for a few months then quietly dropped.

We also aren't allowed to have children on the premises, even though the office parts are perfectly safe. So you can't pop in when on Mat leave to say hello and let everyone meet your baby, although people do, it's not supposed to happen.