Why I'm angry about the May parties at Downing Street - share your stories

[ThirdTimeIucky]

No agenda, just a whinge to demonstrate rhe millions of individual reasons people are angry about BYOB parties in Downing Street whilst the rest of us were in Lockdown. I've heard so many stories of loved ones dying alone, loneliness and heartbreak.

For me, when the party took place on the 20th, I had been struggling in a domestic abuse situation for months. In lockdown. I'd been on my own trying to deal with this situation. I felt like I was trapped. It was an incredibly painful and difficult time of my life. Three days later, feeling terribly guilty, and despite the restrictions, if went to my sisters as the situation had become so bad. But because of those restrictions, I stayed in that situation for so much longer than I should have done.

And in the unlikely event that anyone from Conservative HQ is reading this: Fuck you, fuck Boris, fuck your cronies and your opportunism, fuck your corrupt pocket-lining and just fuck off.

And there is always know it all arseholes. 2 years ago it was, how hard is it to jyst stay at home and watch netflix (did anyone actually ever do this?) Now its, I can't believe people were stupid enough to follow the rules, I'm glad I wasn't so gullible. What a load of idiots. Fuck you and your victim blaming bullshit. I'm sure those people would have loved to get into care homes or hospitals to see their loved ones. But they were locked down. That's why it's called bloody lockdown. People who had too many people at wakes were reported to the police, people who went to see relatives in distress were snitched on by their neighbours. So don't stand here not and be pleased with yourself about ignoring the rules, and mocking the rest of us who didn't. It wasn't ever that bloody simple.

My family was grieving the loss of my DF who died in his care home in the April. We had to say goodby through his window which open ended about 6 inches. DM and late DF had been married just a couple of months short of 70 years. It was heartbreaking.

In May 2020 my DH's Gran was in hospital after suffering a major stroke(not Covid related). It soon became clear she was dying. When she was gone, you could only have a very limited number of people attend funerals, no wakes etc. I never, ever want to have to sit and listen to people I love, on the phone trying to decide who gets to go to a funeral when you can only have 12 people attending.

@ThirdTimeIucky

And there is always know it all arseholes. 2 years ago it was, how hard is it to jyst stay at home and watch netflix (did anyone actually ever do this?) Now its, I can't believe people were stupid enough to follow the rules, I'm glad I wasn't so gullible. What a load of idiots. Fuck you and your victim blaming bullshit. I'm sure those people would have loved to get into care homes or hospitals to see their loved ones. But they were locked down. That's why it's called bloody lockdown. People who had too many people at wakes were reported to the police, people who went to see relatives in distress were snitched on by their neighbours. So don't stand here not and be pleased with yourself about ignoring the rules, and mocking the rest of us who didn't. It wasn't ever that bloody simple.

Yes, I don't know what people were supposed to do if they weren't allowed into hospital. Some of the most heartbreaking stories are situations where people simply couldn't break the rules. What were they supposed to do scale the outside and break in through the windows, pushing nurses, doctors and medical equipment out of the way as they went?

And of course many of us who DID obey the rules did so because we knew there were people saying goodbye to loved ones and not being able to see them, and we didn't want to make that situation worse.

I apologise if I have come across as an arrogant arsehole. That was definitely not the intention of my posts.

I am really frustrated the first lockdown lasted so long. It didn’t need to - we had all the data to lift some (but not all) of the restrictions earlier.

Unfortunately, it was not done and that saddens me more than the government party.

Also, if you recall the mood at the time, was very much that of fear. A new strain of disease that was killing people. The progress of the illness wasn't totally understood - treatment options were limited and ppl in hospital had a 50:50 chance of survival.

It was scary. Knowing what I know now, I'd have thought fuck it. And stayed after the funeral, but then, I thought I'd pass an illness to my kids. For me, and most people I onow, may was deepest, darkest lockdown and we were all following the rules ~~except MPs clearly~~

I'm sat here reading this thread with tears in my eyes and a fucking Party Political Broadcast for the Conservatives comes on TV with Johnson telling us how 'they've' saved us all with 'their' vaccination effort.

Cunt.

My son developed Tourette's due to his anxiety over lockdown.

I lost my job.

It was, as it turned out, the last few weeks of my friend's life, he died by suicide as he was facing a life of shielding with no end in sight.

I never saw any of my work friends again, most of whom I'd known for 16 years.

I still haven't been able to see my grandfather in his nursing home - that's 22 months now and counting. He won't know who I, or his great-grandchildren are any more.

I can't say how I feel because when I called Boris Johnson a cunt in a previous thread it was deleted...

@BlameItOnTheBlackStar it’s the only word that fits though isn’t it? And those on this thread like Janie or whatever she’s called, who seem to think it’s all a big fucking joke are equally odious.

Bastards. The whole fucking lot of them.

Rory Kinnear: On the day of No 10’s lockdown party, I buried my sister

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/12/rory-kinnear-no-10-lockdown-party-buried-sister

Pain like ours was tearing through families the world over. It felt like we were all in it together. Not all of us, it turned out

already been shared but well worth a read

On the day Boris was enjoying drinks in his garden I was sat alone in my GP surgery having blood taken to check my cancer tumour markers.
A cancer that was discovered just as we went into lockdown, a diagnosis that I had to face on my own with no one to hold my hand. A diagnosis where I was told they couldn't tell me when I would be able to start my treatment due to the pandemic.
As he sat drinking his wine surrounded by all those people I was alone at the scariest time of my life.

I can't read this thread without tears coming to my eyes and without commenting and sending you all my heartfelt sympathies and compassion

But I echo the sentiments of telling those who are saying people were gullible and they should have not fallen for it to leave the thread. My cousin worked in a care home where covid swept through the place. It was heartbreaking. And I work with someone whose dad died with covid and whose mum caught covid at the funeral and was also seriously ill. Yes many rules didn't make sense and their impact was horrific. But some of them did save lives

@ThirdTimeIucky

And there is always know it all arseholes. 2 years ago it was, how hard is it to jyst stay at home and watch netflix (did anyone actually ever do this?) Now its, I can't believe people were stupid enough to follow the rules, I'm glad I wasn't so gullible. What a load of idiots. Fuck you and your victim blaming bullshit. I'm sure those people would have loved to get into care homes or hospitals to see their loved ones. But they were locked down. That's why it's called bloody lockdown. People who had too many people at wakes were reported to the police, people who went to see relatives in distress were snitched on by their neighbours. So don't stand here not and be pleased with yourself about ignoring the rules, and mocking the rest of us who didn't. It wasn't ever that bloody simple.

If you are referring to my post here, you can do an 'advanced search' on me, which would tell you that I have been posting this since March 2020 (also under a NC). I had some threads zapped by MNHQ because I said I was not following the rules, and that there were things we weren't being told about how dangerous (or not) Covid actually was/is. I complained about the mass sleepwalking towards a society in which people reported on one another and thought it was okay to give up their liberty and choice.

MNHQ deleted several of my posts, and did not come up with any reasonable defence against what I called their "censorship".

It took a critical mass of people to agree to "lockdown'. If a critical mass had said "no bloody way am I not seeing my terminally ill mum/dad/child (ffs, children??? How could anyone go along with not seeing their own child, or with thinking it was okay that other people couldn't see their sick child?? When it has been clear all along that Covid was not going to kill huge numbers of people), what would have happened?

What would have happened without the internet? Schools couldn't just have shut. Without the internet, shops would have to have stayed open, children would have had to have been educated, people would have had to go to work. Some of them would have caught Covid. Some wouldn't.

It was clear all along that the bloody rules were made by and for people who live charmed lives in big houses with nice gardens and lots of room to WFH, and jobs for which they could be furloughed. No wonder people supported it.

I'm not mocking anyone at all. I am, however, astounded that so few people questioned it at the time. No, it's not simple. But it wasn't as bloody simple as "just do as you are told and follow the rules".

May 2020, my school aged kids were increasingly fed up at being close led out of school. Teen increasingly withdrawn. The pointless walks. The lack of normal socialisation and school for them. My youngest hadn’t started school , but his nursery had shut without provision for key workers, We were managing day to day but in a great state of stress, as both needed to work.

While they partied, again and again.

If everyone had just carried on as normal there would have been bodies piling up and the NHS would have collapsed - did you not see the bodies floating down the river in India in the Delta wave? The mass graves in Brazil? There are countries where measures to stop spread didn't happen, and it was horrendous. People not being able to get medical treatment at all.

And you can't just 'demand' to see a relative in hospital when the hospital is overwhelmed. Who would do that to the very nurses and doctors trying to save lives or, at the end, trying to ease suffering?

Everyone just pretending covid isn't happening would not have made things better.

That's not to say the government did the right things. The main thing they got wrong is not funding, and continuing not to fund the NHS properly (plus wasting vast sums of money on mates rates contracts that didn't deliver).

"No wonder people supported it"

No I don't think you get why most people supported it at all. Wasn't the furlough, the govt controlling fear, the big houses at all..... but never mind

Can you let people continue to express their anger and upset without detracting please

Im angry as I was fighting to her my dd seen by a dr after she effectively went on hunger strike. She only got seen when she was admitted to hospital where it was found that it was affecting her heart. Im a lone parent so was juggling going to see her and dealing with my other two one who is autistic and losing the plot at the lack of school. I was reported to the police and social services for leaving my younger two with a neighbour while I went to the hospital.

On the day they had the party I was completely alone begging my dd to eat as once she was discharged there was pretty much no help while dealing with my other child who threw our only laptop against a wall and was trying to attack my youngest. My mental health is still messed up from that time and dd is still fighting her anorexia.

Please can I urge you all to write to your MP and ask them to write to the 1922 committee. If they have enough letters from MPS, they can level a vote of no confidence

Yes I agree with @jellymaker. The way to get this vile man out of the PM job is via pressure from backbench MPs.

When it has been clear all along that Covid was not going to kill huge numbers of people), what would have happened?

Restrictions were instigated to protect the NHS, not to prevent death.

If you think Covid wasn’t a threat, look at the number of Covid deaths that occurred even with unprecedented restrictions.

People obey rules because that is how a civilised society works. That depends on trust. It now appears that
the trust was misplaced, which is why the PM should resign.

But I echo the sentiments of telling those who are saying people were gullible and they should have not fallen for it to leave the thread.

Agree.

Can't fathom how a thread about the blatant illegal behaviours from our Prime Minister has turned into sneering about people who actually obeyed the law, or god forbid, had decent sized houses and gardens.

Anyone complaining about this shit has swallowed the Tory 'divide and rule' strategy hook line and sinker.

Wow. I guess we can't even have one thread to vent without being told we're fools for having followed the rules in the first place. I can't imagine what kind of person feels entitled to gloat and hold themselves up as being more informed and therefore superior, on a thread where posters are literally grieving about the dead friends and family.