Dressing up

[ethariel]

It's not really that it's taken a year for the story to break it's the fact that its being used as a political bashing stick instead of a news story.

How many other Xmas parties took place last year - probably in the 10's of thousands.

Unfortunately in the UK a 'News Story' has to involve one of the following to get any traction in the media at all - Death(s), tragedy or political intrigue. Nothing else seems to get print space or air time any more.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by ethariel

How many other Xmas parties took place last year - probably in the 10's of thousands.

but those people weren't the ones setting the rules for us to follow.

Originally Posted by ethariel

It's not really that it's taken a year for the story to break it's the fact that its being used as a political bashing stick instead of a news story.

as it should. It's bad enough that they had the parties in the first place but then the (ongoing) lying to try and cover it up.

Had they just stopped and said: "you caught us, we shouldn't have had a party, we're deeply sorry". It would have blown over by now. Instead they take us for idiots: "it was only cheese and wine" or "it wasn't a party there was no alcohol". Just cocaine perhaps?

[ethariel]

I still have to disagree in a way.

The Government did not hold a party, the Civil Service did.

I agree the head of the Civil Service should step forward and take it on the chin but that's more unlikely than Boris sprouting a halo and wings and proclaiming himself the second coming.

If it was a room full of MP's then I'd 100% be in agreement that heads should roll BUT it wasn't.

[embee]

It seems it's not just me who thinks Johnson's "national emergency" broadcast last night was an attempt at a smokescreen, a dead cat on the table.
If it's that urgent and desperate then other actions are needed beyond boosters. It's the tactic of setting a target which will appear to be a success if achieved, just like the targets set by Hancock at the beginning of the test roll-out.
Bring in the Army and loads of volunteers, then congratulate and thank them and the wonderful NHS for the sterling efforts and magnificent achievements, haven't we all done a brilliant job, .............. now what was all that nonsense about proberty and honesty??

(PS - talking about Johnson and the second coming in the same sentence is a bit ironic ...... must be at least 7 by now.)

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by ethariel

I still have to disagree in a way.

The Government did not hold a party, the Civil Service did.

I agree the head of the Civil Service should step forward and take it on the chin.

so why lie about it, then? Explain it was civil servants and that there'll be an inquiry and we'll all nod and smile and forget it knowing that nothing will get done. The continuing lies about something that obviously did occur means we smell blood.

Originally Posted by embee

It seems it's not just me who thinks Johnson's "national emergency" broadcast last night was an attempt at a smokescreen, a dead cat on the table.

it's not just you and therein lies the problem. This taped broadcast coming so quickly after talks of MP's rebellion and the still-lingering party debacle induces a sense of cynicism. The last thing this government needs now is for the public's trust to collapse completely. Unfortunately, with the circulating lies and now 70+ MPs promising to rebel against their own government - if they don't trust the government's advice then why should we?

I suspect most people will now be making their own decisions instead of trusting Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Seeker

I suspect most people will now be making their own decisions instead of trusting Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

This.

After toeing the line and following all the guidance, given the lies over lockdown breaking by No. 10 (not forgetting the Cummings fiasco) people will (rightly) say Foxtrot Oscar to any restrictions limiting plans for Christmas.

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by Seeker

I suspect most people will now be making their own decisions instead of trusting Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

I'm already well past the point where I trust one iota the people giving the instructions.

Thankfully, I think I still have enough moral compass, reasearch capability and critical reasoning capacity left so that I do still generally obey the rules set.

For the time being ... (I do wonder if we're not far now from mass disagreement that will take us beyond the tipping point.)

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by ethariel

I still have to disagree in a way.

The Government did not hold a party, the Civil Service did.

I agree the head of the Civil Service should step forward and take it on the chin but that's more unlikely than Boris sprouting a halo and wings and proclaiming himself the second coming.

If it was a room full of MP's then I'd 100% be in agreement that heads should roll BUT it wasn't.

As I posted previously, my view is that Ministers (and thus the MPs that selected them) cannot shirk blame, because they are put in place to direct the Civil Service through setting vision and policy for running the country.

IMHO they are accountable for the performance of the administration even if most of the day to day management is dealt with elsewhere. (I agree some Civil Servants also need to be appropriately put to disciplinary procedure but just finding a scapegoat does not cut it.)

If the Civil Service in Downing Street is so dysfunctional that it is not able to comply with the highest profile of Government diktat then I suggest we really are in a very bad place! Would you not agree?

[Bibio]

i've said all along that its not so much the politicians that are the problem its the advisers and civil servants. you know the people you dont get to vote for. political parties come and go the background people stay the same.

every single political party that has ever got in power in the UK has been corrupt and law breaking... its not news.

the public have a choice when it comes to voting time but morons keep voting for the same big two and then complain when all the corruption starts.. people dont learn...

[Seeker]

The news may have moved on by the omicron panic (to BoZo's delight) but "Led by Donkeys" want to help the police with their (none) investigation. To this end, they produced a video which is displayed on the side of a truck, it's implied that it's parked outside Scotland Yard but I'm unsure this is the case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y18CrgFdh4