Downing Street - ‘Wine Time Friday’

[AchillesLastStand]

Reported in The Mirror tonight. They even bought a fridge…

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnsons-wine-time-fridays-25951853

I’m surprised it wasn’t leaked earlier with all these deliveries and drivers in the know

We had a wine fridge delivered during lockdown because our communal kitchen was out of bounds due to social distancing. It was for milk.

What other government departments are getting away with internal romantic affairs & widespread drug and alcohol consumption

I included drugs because I think it’s highly likely…

Pisses me right off!!

Of course it goes on , anyone that's worked I the city if London knows this . Its happening in the Labour Party too and probably most governments in the world.
When I was reading about the suitcase and the broken swing I realised they are no better than the so called common people!

I don't much care about a drinking culture at other times. I worked in the City for years and going for drinks after work or on Fridays was common. We worked hard, but we played hard. It's not illegal.

It's the fact that this was taking place during a pandemic when it was against the law that is an issue.

I understand there are different working cultures, but surely it's some sort of toxic environment where you have to drink so heavily to deal with it? And not even to have a big drink when you get home; to actually do the heavy drinking on work time. I'm honestly struggling to understand why it's allowed. Drinking on work time had been a no-no for years now.

Supersange I can only speak for me, but I never 'had' to have a drink. It was enjoyable, socialising after a hard week at work. Lots of people have drinks after work and I think that's ok. It's the fact that it's during the pandemic that's an issue.

We worked hard, but we played hard. It's not illegal.

As long as you separate the two.

The government are defending the drinking by claiming it was at work which is 🤪

Merrymouse I'm absolutely not condoning breaking the law during the pandemic. It shouldn't have happened.

@SuperSange

I understand there are different working cultures, but surely it's some sort of toxic environment where you have to drink so heavily to deal with it? And not even to have a big drink when you get home; to actually do the heavy drinking on work time. I'm honestly struggling to understand why it's allowed. Drinking on work time had been a no-no for years now.

I would be out of a job if I either drank during work hours or drank at work after hours. My MP who suddenly found a great interest in MP standards in November and wrote to me that he thinks MPs should have a similar standard system to other professions. I really don't know why he hasn't replied to my recent letter in which I asked about whether he thought the same standards around alcohol also applied to MPs.

Perhaps he was drunkenly abusing staff again during the working day instead.

I think traditionally alcohol has been built into the working day in Parliament. MPs may be far from families and votes are often late and there are bars in the building.

However that doesn’t excuse any of this.

‘Traditionally’ all our lives were very different to the last 2 years.

@AnotherRandomUsernom

No excuses. Were the ITU nurses off down the social club after 12 hours on a covid ward? No.

this 100%.

' Fun Time Boris ' .
Doesn't really surprise me though.
Probably the reason they put off any covid restrictions or the first lockdown for so long at the start of all this.

@Dontforgetyourbrolly

Of course it goes on , anyone that's worked I the city if London knows this . Its happening in the Labour Party too and probably most governments in the world. When I was reading about the suitcase and the broken swing I realised they are no better than the so called common people!

How do you know it's happening in the Labour Party?

yy skip I think we have a PM with an addiction problem.

Since the switch to hybrid working, hardly anyone is in the office on Fridays, thus the drinks evening has switched to Thursdays. From about 3PM people start drinking - heavily. After a couple of hours it’s off to the pub until closing time. They might then head to a club or back to the office. Is pretty much recognised that Fridays are basically a write-off

And the good old British public are paying for this- a fifth of the working week is a “write off”

It's mad LizzieSiddal.

A drinking culture was common in the private sector where jobs demanded all hours working/working until job was done etc. Beer fridge, open bars, long lunches etc.

However that died out after the 2008 crash - margins reduced and alcohol 'perks' just disappeared - it became widely recognised that alcohol and productivity just don't go together.

The fact that this bunch of alcoholics even claim to be working hard is bad enough - doing it on my taxes in a pandemic is wicked.

@Hortensia16

Supersange I can only speak for me, but I never 'had' to have a drink. It was enjoyable, socialising after a hard week at work. Lots of people have drinks after work and I think that's ok. It's the fact that it's during the pandemic that's an issue.

Exactly-AFTER a hard week at work. This is going on during supposed working hours. What they do after work is quite different. Not the 'during a pandemic' aspect, but from the 'being pissed at work' aspect.

And to be clear it wasn't just the city - canary wharf bars from lunchtime were rammed - post lehmann and since - no.

Working with the unions years ago was an eye opener. They drank at lunchtime, drank before during and after dinner. They'd sit in the bars until the early hours in their hotels. Their conferences were very lucrative for hospitality sector

Surely no one thinks this is acceptable just because “traditional” working culture in 80s/90s city/media etc etc…… this is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom’s office during a prolonged global crisis period, not the Wolf of fucking Wall St!!!

1975 took a job at the council the boss was we thought a miserable spinster virgin type. She managed three young girls it was not a happy office when she was in a mood.

We were stunned when old hands told us that in her youth this woman had a passionate affair with the town clerk which went on for years. They weren't the only ones there who had bonked in the building back in the day all before the pill. The parties were legendary.

It had all stopped by then new heads of departments frugality because of the dire state of the economy.

The tales of the war years and post war shenanigans had disappeared into history

It is all a bit ' wolf of wolf street' isn't it ?
I have only seen half of that film and that was enough to know what the culture was like around those kind of people and seems it still is at times.
I'm sure the parties were bigger and better at number 10 in the 80s and 90s though! I don't think any of this is 'new ' as such. They probably used to go to the local pubs more though.
None of it surprises me, it's just that they carried on during a pandemic and a strict lockdown when others couldn't that is getting to people. People being fined for doing similar things as well. People were frightened of this virus , yet they clearly were not ?
That's what most of the anger is about ( as well as not being able to visit loved ones too etc :(

Friend worked for a national newspaper, they had a budget to get Westminster employees and MPs wasted. So many alkies in fleet Street, working hard to get the gossip.

The Fleet Street booze ups were legendary in the 80s! I have read Anne Robinson's autobiography amongst others.