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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

653 replies

AlexaShutUp · 20/12/2021 08:27

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?

OP posts:

OldaRailer · 20/12/2021 10:42

Noone elected Carrie whatsername. Can't believe people defending her seemingly bizarre role in our government.

SueSaid · 20/12/2021 10:43

'think people are forgetting just how restrictive and scary things still were in May 2020'

Nope. But my dh would have been able to sit in a communal area at work with others yet still be able to grasp this did not mean we could have a houseful at home.

I often wondered why restrictions had to be spelt out so very specifically yet this thread demonstrates why.

Workplaces were always different to home/private lives.

noblegiraffe · 20/12/2021 10:43

Carrie does not live at No.10 - the Johnsons live in the large and newly refurbished apartment above No.11

Did they ever clear up the legal status of the gold wallpaper?

OldaRailer · 20/12/2021 10:44

And whose workplace has alcohol these days?
What a strange world the elites inhabit.

Clavinova · 20/12/2021 10:45

Getyourarseofffthequattro
I doubt your DH used to work in downing Street or in fact any industry with any type of regulation

No, he doesn't work in Downing Street but he has a professional job with postgraduate qualifications - and yes, regulation.

Are you a hospital consultant yourself?

Do you think these workplace situations are advisable? March/April 2020:

www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196613/imperial-students-provide-over-350-free/

secretldn.com/yard-sale-free-pizza-nhs-staff/

Cam77 · 20/12/2021 10:45

I don’t even hate Johnson’s that much. He’s a narcissist, a clown, a nasty elitist (see his comments about single mothers etc), but at the end of the day he’s just a symptom of our broken system in much the same way Trump was.

But it still makes me piss myself laughing when a few people deny the facts about him that are staring us in the face. The media tell us what’s he like (compulsive liar, work shy, opportunist, narcissist, nasty streak) - everyone who’s ever worked with him says exactly the same thing (unless doing so would cost them their current position). And yet some still cling desperately to the “I’m BoRiS - just your every day bumbling mumbling Latin clown!”. (TM).

VickyEadieofThigh · 20/12/2021 10:45

@UnaOfStormhold

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

This. I've attended work meetings with coffee/tea and biscuits, but I think that's the norm.

Getyourarseofffthequattro · 20/12/2021 10:45

@JaniieJones

'think people are forgetting just how restrictive and scary things still were in May 2020'

Nope. But my dh would have been able to sit in a communal area at work with others yet still be able to grasp this did not mean we could have a houseful at home.

I often wondered why restrictions had to be spelt out so very specifically yet this thread demonstrates why.

Workplaces were always different to home/private lives.

Ha, so which was this a work place or a home?

Because if it's a work place, they still should have been socially distanced, they shouldn't have been drinking and Carrie shouldn't have been there. Equally there is no work related things actuallt there, laptops, note books etc.

If this was a private home it was illegal at the time.

noblegiraffe · 20/12/2021 10:47

@OldaRailer

And whose workplace has alcohol these days? What a strange world the elites inhabit.

And the taxpayer-subsided bars in the Houses of Parliament that weren't initially subject to covid curfew restrictions because they had been counted as a 'canteen'.

Getyourarseofffthequattro · 20/12/2021 10:47

[quote Clavinova]Getyourarseofffthequattro
I doubt your DH used to work in downing Street or in fact any industry with any type of regulation

No, he doesn't work in Downing Street but he has a professional job with postgraduate qualifications - and yes, regulation.

Are you a hospital consultant yourself?

Do you think these workplace situations are advisable? March/April 2020:

www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196613/imperial-students-provide-over-350-free/

secretldn.com/yard-sale-free-pizza-nhs-staff/[/quote]
No I'm not a hospital consultant just like Carrie isn't a prime minister. Hth.

I don't know why you're sending me other links? Doesn't seem to relate to the people in charge or in fact anything to do with this thread.

SueSaid · 20/12/2021 10:48

@OldaRailer

And whose workplace has alcohol these days? What a strange world the elites inhabit.

Omg a glass of wine outside, in the workplace with everyone they have been working with all day and they are 'elites'

I have always been one for the rules, last year I argued with many a flouter who wanted playdates or a houseful at Christmas because they were special cases however if anyone had said 'can I sit in an outdoor area at work with colleagues' surely everyone would have said yes. Workplaces are different..

Cam77 · 20/12/2021 10:49

According to Raab, “having a drink after a busy set of work meetings”.

Honestly they hold the public in absolute contempt. I suggest we all “have a drink after a busy set of work meetings” whenever we feel like -as their rules are clearly only designed for Other People.

borntobequiet · 20/12/2021 10:49

Do you think these workplace situations are advisable? March/April 2020

Nice bit of whataboutery there.

OldaRailer · 20/12/2021 10:50

It's not the wine Janie, that's just symptomatic!😉

OldaRailer · 20/12/2021 10:50

It's the role.

notimagain · 20/12/2021 10:51

Q: Was it a gathering?

A: No it was a Government related meeting.

Q: ah, OK, then why was Mrs Johnson there if it was a workplace meeting?

A: Oh, it was a collection of people outside at her home…

One for Schrodinger I think……..

OldaRailer · 20/12/2021 10:54

Prime ministers' are fairly high up the tree, though they may think themselves underpaid . All that's solved however when they leave and do a speaking tour. (Though I can't imagine paying to listen to Johnston's piffle-paffle, wiffle-waffle: pity the poor elite audience.😉)

PhilCornwall1 · 20/12/2021 10:54

I’m wondering whether the people who aren’t outraged by this also broke the rules last year and had regular get togethers with their buddies. It’s the only feasible reason not to be enraged with the government really.

Or perhaps the possibility that some of those not angry about it, fully expected them to not do what they were trying to force others to do.

theemmadilemma · 20/12/2021 10:54

To be fair I worked at a software company who served beer every Friday at 3pm. In the UK.

noblegiraffe · 20/12/2021 10:55

If you're on this thread trying to defend the photo, read this twitter thread of how other people experienced the pandemic, then see if you want to come back and continue defending this jolly booze-up.

twitter.com/stevolaughton/status/1472688666350915584?s=21

theemmadilemma · 20/12/2021 10:56

I'm not saying I don't think they're talking a crock of shit.

I'm just answering the question.

But people in positions of power should never be working under the influence.

Clavinova · 20/12/2021 10:56

pastabest
The date of the photo is 10th May 2020
There were still travel restrictions in place and the police were actively stopping cars to ensure that they had a legitimate reason for travel...People were still only being allowed out for an hours exercise a day at that point.

The photo was taken on the 15th May 2020 (according to newspaper reports) - rules were relaxed on the 13th May and you were allowed to travel to beauty spots, beaches etc. and enjoy unlimited exercise.

CounsellorTroi · 20/12/2021 10:57

If it is a workplace Carrie should not have been there. Even if she still worked for the Conservative Party at that time it wouldn’t have been appropriate. Working for the Conservative party is not the same as working for the Government.

cauliflowersqueeze · 20/12/2021 10:57

Either it’s Carrie’s garden OR it’s a meeting area.

Either it’s a meeting area OR a social area.

Either they stick to the rules OR they don’t.

They have mixed private, work and social and sticking to/breaking the rules.

The whole thing is such a mess.

If they can’t differentiate between these basic boundaries do they share wives and have cabinet meetings on holiday on the beach, do they drink alcohol in the House of Commons? They need to clarify the boundaries to themselves and not defend the indefensible.

VikingOnTheFridge · 20/12/2021 10:57

@notimagain