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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
starfro · 20/12/2021 12:06

If you've all had Covid already and you all work in a tiny building for 12hrs+ a day, you won't spread Covid by then having a drink in the Garden after work.

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

noblegiraffe · 20/12/2021 12:08

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

What's her job title and security clearance?

VikingOnTheFridge · 20/12/2021 12:09

@starfro

If you've all had Covid already and you all work in a tiny building for 12hrs+ a day, you won't spread Covid by then having a drink in the Garden after work.

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

Again though, if she's a part of the team she should have an official role and be subject to the same rules and scrutiny as anyone else. That isn't currently the case.

And if you were actually pro-woman, you'd want her to get a proper salary and recognition for her work...

Abraxan · 20/12/2021 12:10

@Clavinova

Abraxan

Some teachers have very active social lives, despite claiming the opposite on here (within the rules or not). I do recognise name changers by the way.

So those teachers were breaking all the guidelines were they? Following rules was allowed. Why are you trying to knock the thread of course with totally unrelated events which occur outside of lockdowns where no restrictions or rules were broken?

This thread is about rules being broken during a very strict lockdown period.

If this 'work meeting' happened throughout the periods where there were no lockdown and followed all the guidelines in place at that time, this wouldn't be an issue,

Oh, and name changing due to bullying often occurs sadly on MN.

I know what you are referring to. You are entirely inaccurate in what you said then and now. But hey, you can continue to post inaccuracies and find fault when no rules were broken, nor what happened afterward was related to events which occurred outside of the time frames referred to. The people that matter know the truth. If it makes you feel better to try and knock a thread of course, go ahead. I'm out.

Alarmset · 20/12/2021 12:10

It's not that Carrie is "just a wife" but that she has no role in government.

I'm a school leader. DH may well have interesting things to contribute, but that doesn't give him a place in our SLT meetings, Covid or not.

Getyourarseofffthequattro · 20/12/2021 12:10

@Clavinova

Getyourarseofffthequattro Eh, so it's okay for Boris to do it but nobody else? Is that what you're saying?

No - you said you previously worked in a hospital - I think the hospital gatherings are more concerning from a health point of view than the meeting in the Number 10 garden - apparently you do not.

No I don't, because the hospital workers didn't make the rules.

You only think this because you clearly think the government can do no wrong.

Was it you or someone else who said oh it's not a risk they've all had COVID? Well surely that applies to hospital workers too.

It's one rule for them and another for everyone else.

The rules were fucking stupid, and not only stupid but damaging. The thing is these morons made those rules. If they didn't even think they were necessary, why enforce them at all?

I think either you genuinely don't understand, or you're willfully misinterpreting why people are angry.

Peaseblossum22 · 20/12/2021 12:10

@starfro

If you've all had Covid already and you all work in a tiny building for 12hrs+ a day, you won't spread Covid by then having a drink in the Garden after work.

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

Carrie is not an government employee and at the time held no official role . It’s nothing to do with her sex , I would say just the same if the times were reversed. My dh doesn’t sit in on my business meeting or me his .
Peaseblossum22 · 20/12/2021 12:11

Roles not times

Getyourarseofffthequattro · 20/12/2021 12:11

@starfro

If you've all had Covid already and you all work in a tiny building for 12hrs+ a day, you won't spread Covid by then having a drink in the Garden after work.

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

She. Doesn't. Work. In. Government.

If she did, that would be fine. In fact I would love to see more women in government, but the fact is she doesn't work there. She shouldn't be involved.

shouldistop · 20/12/2021 12:11

I'd be sacked if I drank alcoholic whilst working.

starfro · 20/12/2021 12:16

@shouldistop

I'd be sacked if I drank alcoholic whilst working.
So when you see meetings of the G20 and they're all having dinner and drinks after a day of meetings, they should all be sacked??
SickAndTiredAgain · 20/12/2021 12:16

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

They should value her properly and pay her then. Is she on the government payroll, or the conservative one?
Why are you expecting women to work for free? Shame on you!

You are being completely disingenuous and you know it. No one has said women shouldn’t be in politics. If Priti Patel was in the picture, no one would be saying “why was she there, shouldn’t she be leaving the serious business to the men?”

Perime · 20/12/2021 12:16

@AlternativePerspective

As much as this was a bloody disgrace I don’t like the way these pictures are being wheeled out years after the event. Same with the Christmas parties. Clearly the pictures were available, so why wait until we’re at a crucial point to bring them out? It’s pure manipulation on the part of the press, at about the time they’re shouting for the government to not introduce restrictions.

Interesting isn’t it that last year the media were clammering for Boris to cancel Christmas, and meanwhile they had these pictures of Christmas parties at Downing Street which they chose not to publish presumably because they knew that if they did, people would be less likely to comply.

Now they’re shouting to the government to not cancel Christmas, and they’re releasing these pictures that a lot of people won’t comply again.

I despise this government and all that it stands for. But the press have been despicable.

Did the media have them then? I think it's someone inside Downing Street that waited to use them at the optimum moment - not the media. Somebody wants Boris out. And his actions are making it easy because it was always about being Prime Minister not about doing the actual job
DdraigGoch · 20/12/2021 12:17

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.
Oxfordshire County Council have just banned all meat and dairy at council events.

VikingOnTheFridge · 20/12/2021 12:18

@SickAndTiredAgain

For those that say Carrie is just a wife so should stay away and let the men do the Politics, shame on you! She's a hugely influential part of the Conservative team.

They should value her properly and pay her then. Is she on the government payroll, or the conservative one?
Why are you expecting women to work for free? Shame on you!

You are being completely disingenuous and you know it. No one has said women shouldn’t be in politics. If Priti Patel was in the picture, no one would be saying “why was she there, shouldn’t she be leaving the serious business to the men?”

Exactly! It's disgustingly misogynistic to trumpet a woman working for free when the men around her are given the recognition of a job title, a good salary and presumably a pension as some are CS.
Original poster
AlexaShutUp · 20/12/2021 12:21

Of course Carrie is just a wife. She hasn't been elected to public office and she isn't employed by the government either. It has nothing to do with misogyny and everything to do with accountability. There are no structures in place to hold her accountable. She should keep her beak out.

OP posts:
shouldistop · 20/12/2021 12:22

@starfro erm no, I was answering the question that op asked.

Do you have essential work meetings of this nature?

My answer was that I'd be sacked if I drank alcohol whilst working.

countrygirl99 · 20/12/2021 12:23

Funny how, when parties inside no 10 were being discussed, it was "but Boris lives in a flat at no 11". Now it's why is Carrie there if it's a meeting it's "she lives at no 10, she's entitled to use the garden". 🤔 Do they live in separate buildings?

KrispyKale · 20/12/2021 12:23

Bl@BogRollBOGOF very serious points about the fomites and curtailment of outdoor activities.
Absolute slow as treacle responses to the growth in scientific knowledge have marked this entire debacle imo.

antisocialsocialclub · 20/12/2021 12:24

Dominic Raab just said on the news it was a post meeting get together and that people were ‘having a get together with a few drinks after a meeting’ so… definitely not a meeting then. A social occasion. facepalm

KrispyKale · 20/12/2021 12:24

Just look at the official Covid symptoms. Incompetent.

KrispyKale · 20/12/2021 12:27

They think they are "big picture" libertarians but this refusal to do the dull old work meant they have managed to act like tyrants.

Clavinova · 20/12/2021 12:30

Getyourarseofffthequattro
Was it you or someone else who said oh it's not a risk they've all had COVID?

Not me.

hospital workers didn't make the rules
The rules were ... stupid

I don't think rules trying to prevent the spread of Covid amongst staff and patients in a hospital environment are 'stupid rules'.

antisocialsocialclub · 20/12/2021 12:31

@KrispyKale

They think they are "big picture" libertarians but this refusal to do the dull old work meant they have managed to act like tyrants.
🤣 They may think so but at no point during this pandemic have any of them considered the big picture. Constant firefighting is what they’ve done.
Roussette · 20/12/2021 12:32

Re comparing to funeral behaviour - I’m sorry but only an idiot doesn’t comfort a family member at a funeral - rule or no rule. I never understood how people could be so calllus as to watch someone upset and stay 2m away because Boris said. Have some bloody compassion and common sense

You obviously didn't look at my link. When the funeral directors made two sons move 2 metres away from their Mother at their father's funeral.