What kind of fucked-up, dysfunctional workplace is our government operating in?

[noblegiraffe]

Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament? Can't get through the day without a suitcase of wine in Downing Street, drugs everywhere in Parliament? Subsidised bars on work premises?

I guess the fact that they tried to make an exemption for the bars in the Houses of Parliament when introducing a curfew for pubs should have been a warning sign that there's far too much reliance on alcohol in our ruling classes.

There was a lot of talk about standards in public life during the Owen Paterson scandal. Surely not being pissed or high on the job is a basic standard?

Aside from the issue that they couldn't even stop having massive piss-ups during lockdown, AIBU to think that something needs to be done to introduce basic rules like 'If you're not safe to drive, you're not allowed to vote in new laws'?

If you wouldn't be happy with a teacher teaching your kids half-cut and would expect rules to prevent this, why should we tolerate our government ruling the country while making their way through the contents of the wine fridge?

People have been posting 'oh yes, it's always been like this'.

Well it shouldn't be in future.

My job would be a lot less stressful if I could do it half cut every week

Although I imagine my work filter might falter and I'd actually tell my customers and clients what I really think of them and that may well be counter productive.

Does anyone else notice though, mainly in US tv shows of all the lawyers who have decanter of whiskey/scotch in their offices which they pound a glass of during tough work moments. Maybe that explains what the govt is doing

If we are expected to swallow the nonsense that Johnson thought they were work parties, what was Carrie Johnson doing at some of them? As far as I am aware her work was for some sort of charity.

Who on earth voted YABU? They're a disgrace and surely even those people who knew what Johnson was like before must be shocked at how rotten things are?

@Goldenbear
There's a difference between teachers drinking in a pub after work, and MPs drinking in the office. The equivalent would be teachers drinking in the classroom.

I've worked in bars where drinking/using drugs on the job was frowned on!

Er none and not trying to minimise what has happened at all, why would I? I think it is important to question the motivation of the media though as they are mostly run by the same kind of people.

The behaviour in the context of Covid is shitty and illegal but personally I don't think in black and white terms so drinking 'on the job' is not necessarily testament to your poor moral code. As a PP posted upthread I know in my DH's previous architect's practice it was Friday afternoon usually and probably 4.30 5ish and was considered team building. Literally one glass of wine does not equate to 'shitty behaviour'

I work for the NHS and to be honest this is going to be a new era now we know the standards that are being set. Looking forward to cheese and wine fuelled meetings that don’t require minutes, suitcases of wine after work, drugs, and subsidised bar. Brilliant!! Going to be soooo much more fun now.

More seriously though I’ve always thought that MPs should be seen as professionals like doctors etc with a code of conduct and independent monitoring of that. If I behaved like Borris and his cronies I’d be sacked and struck off and quite rightly so.

Imagine if your mates were pissed and high in your garden with a young child/children around, but you were on a council estate at the height of lockdown. You would lose those kids and be arrested and fined. Mumsnet would fucking tear you apart too.

Not Carrie though. She is special.

@Goldenbear

Er none and not trying to minimise what has happened at all, why would I? I think it is important to question the motivation of the media though as they are mostly run by the same kind of people.

The behaviour in the context of Covid is shitty and illegal but personally I don't think in black and white terms so drinking 'on the job' is not necessarily testament to your poor moral code. As a PP posted upthread I know in my DH's previous architect's practice it was Friday afternoon usually and probably 4.30 5ish and was considered team building. Literally one glass of wine does not equate to 'shitty behaviour'

Yes but these are being peddled as actual work meetings where they were discussing important work things. Not team building exercises they could use as an excuse to have a piss up. There were also massive national restrictions on even having actual work meetings in the office at the time aka no one was even allowed to work in their office with other people!!!

I’m trying to imagine this place where the pub is full of teachers downing shots and parents swigging beer after school. I suppose the kids are at home cooking tea before doing their homework?

The booze culture of parliamentarians has a long, long history and involves all parties, irrespective of which party is currently in government.

Besides the recent "parties" furore, examples I recall over recent years:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59243206
1 Labour and 2 SNP MPs drunk on flight to Gibraltar on parliamentary business. Witnesses told newspapers the Labour and SNP trio “made full use of the facilities” in an airport lounge and “it looked like they were going on a stag do." One needed to be taken away from the plane in a wheelchair. Later on the trip 2 Tories were reportedly heavily hungover at a subsequent event.

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/mp-goes-berserk-in-commons-bar-brawl-7446095.html
Labour MP Eric Joyce fighting and assaulting other MPs whilst under the influence in a Parliamentary bar. It took 5 security personnel to drag him out before handing him to police who detained him overnight.

It is time for the Speaker and truly honourable parliamentarians (if there are any) to get a grip on this culture.

Op you are not wrong.
I feel an email to my mp may be in order.

Apparently if enough constituents weigh in in a subject they may take it slightly more seriously.

MP's gravy trains include:

Subsidised Bar
Subsidised Restaurant
(they are both run at a loss, so to all intents and purposes are subsidised by the taxpayer)

Grace and Favour homes such at 10 Downing Street are rent free

If your constituency is outside of London you can claim rental on a London apartment or an hotel. Many MP's rent second homes to each other so you are, in effect, directly paying their mortages for them on a second home in London.

Travel costs - and you know it's first class where available.

An allowance to run their office at home, as well as an office being provided for them in Parliament. This allowance also covers a salary for clerical assistance - and this is very often their partner who does the work so that's another income to that household.

Between May 2016 and June 2018, 340 MPs took 840 foreign trips which were paid for by either foreign governments or other organisations to a grand total of over £2 million. To save your maths, thats over £66,000 per MP. None of this is against parliamentary rules.

Boris Johnson's holiday in 2021 was a week in Spain at Zac Goldsmith's luxury villa. He declared the holiday but not it's value and this was considered totally acceptable. But some research shows that Mr Goldsmith rents the villa out at £25,000 a week. None of this is against the rules remember.

That's just a sample....

There's a long and tragic history of alcoholism amongst MPs. They maybe need protecting from themselves.

I have said quite a bit on this thread that I'm not defending Boris and what happened. I think it is terrible hypocrisy! I was talking more widely about drinking culture in workplaces. My DH's current job he drinks for client meetings over lunch and dinner as he wants to win their business. So very much work. A pp said it was 'shitty' and I was trying to make out everyone does it. Well I some sectors they do and it isn't shitty but obviously public sector are held up as superhuman and should never ever transgress and no I'm not minimising covid parties as transgressions! Context is everything, my DH is not responsible for his colleague or clients' so he can have a drink if he wants to. A teacher can hardly drink on the job as they are responsible for children- not comparable! I do work for a few schools, it wouldn't cross my mind that in the context I could drink.

Across all parties too in a House of Commons. Corruption everywhere, but don’t get why people are surprised. It doesn’t matter who is in charge, they all drink from the same trough.

@Goldenbear

I have said quite a bit on this thread that I'm not defending Boris and what happened. I think it is terrible hypocrisy! I was talking more widely about drinking culture in workplaces. My DH's current job he drinks for client meetings over lunch and dinner as he wants to win their business. So very much work. A pp said it was 'shitty' and I was trying to make out everyone does it. Well I some sectors they do and it isn't shitty but obviously public sector are held up as superhuman and should never ever transgress and no I'm not minimising covid parties as transgressions! Context is everything, my DH is not responsible for his colleague or clients' so he can have a drink if he wants to. A teacher can hardly drink on the job as they are responsible for children- not comparable! I do work for a few schools, it wouldn't cross my mind that in the context I could drink.

Yes - you are right that it IS terrible hypocrisy.

It's terrible hypocrisy on the part of Mr Johnson and his colleagues and cronies.

You seem to forget that, assuming others were doing this - and that's a stretch - they weren't doing it and directly telling everyone else they had to do something else and putting in place measures to fine them large amounts of money if they didn't.

So, please, if you're going to talk about hypocrisy, talk about the hypocrisy which is relevant and matters.

The DC are with us as you can buy homemade pizzas for dinner! It may be hard to imagine where you live but it is quite regular where I live. I don't mean teachers downing shots that was an end of term thing. Why wouldn't teachers down shots? Particularly if they're young and gonout afterwards, it's like smoking i know 5 or 6 that regular smoke around the corner of the secondary schools I some work for. It is not exactly shocking the teachers are real human beings.

That's literally the hypocrisy I'm talking about

Peregrina I too wonder why Carrie is present during “work meetings” whether drink is present or it’s a garden party, she’s unelected and shouldn’t be included.
With regards to the drinking culture at No 10 I think it’s disgraceful that some members of staff used to drink off drunken binges on sofas until the next day. It truly beggars belief.

Thank f the chickens are finally coming home to roost!
This pandemic has been bloody awful for most (maybe not for people who benefitted from PPE contracts, etc).

Alcohol and tobacco are also drugs, but legal.

I thought there was broader question about why should the government drink in the workplace when the rest of us don't! I'm saying that's incorrect.

In the late 1980s when I worked in a large city centre in finance, we would go to the pub at lunchtime and have a couple of drinks. The managers would be in there too, necking at least double what we lowly ones did. We travelled in by public transport and it was "the thing to do".

Having taught for nearly 30 years now, I don't ever drink alcohol at school. At the end of term, once the kids have gone, we used to have a staff meal with wine/beer. However, there is no public transport where I live now so I take my car. Therefore, I don't have any alcohol. Even drinking coffee from a lidded cup during lessons is frowned upon in my secondary school by management.

This government is a complete disgrace. I have never voted Tory and never will. People need to remember how angry they feel now and look at their constituency carefully. I voted for the candidate who had the best chance of beating the incumbent Tory liar.

*This pandemic has been bloody awful for most (maybe not for people who benefitted from PPE contracts, etc), but at least it is exposing the isms and the charlatans.

And who the hell are the 8% of narcissists who have voted YABU so far 🤨

I’m hoping that this absolute shit show of the last two years will eventually revert UK life to how it was before Brexit.