But it’s a place of work, we’re told.
It’s both.
I said before though that these small indiscretions are being blown up by tribalism. Wine in the garden at the back of Downing Street? Who cares? Take-away curry and beer at the end of a campaign meeting? Who cares? Focus should have been on the really egregious misdemeanours. Had that been the case back in January, Starmer wouldn’t be so much under the cosh now.
The most serious one, for me, was the suitcases of booze one on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral. Johnson wasn’t there for that one so it’s hard to see how he could be in breach of any rules for that; but it does suggest a worrying lack of leadership by example that civil servants thought that such behaviour could be excused. That’s leadership from Johnson and from the Cabinet Secretary, and it’s what I believe Sue Gray has referred to in the summary of her findings.
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Correct, I only quoted that as it has been used as an excuse.
For the real issue is the fact that this was an ongoing and regular pattern of behaviour that included those that put in law that we couldn’t meet. They clearly thought they were above everyone else.
So number of parties for me.
Why is everyone even encouraging this discussion? By giving this Tory Story oxygen you are effectively helping the Tory brigade at their game. You are allowing them to draw tenuous comparisons between Starmer eating food and drinking , and what Johnson has (repeatedly) done. I just don’t get it.
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It’s not an excuse, that would be an attempt to justify. One doesn’t need to excuse being in one’s garden.
And this is my house, but I don’t get to join in with the meeting that Ms Mascot is having upstairs right now. And 10 Downing Street is quite a bit bigger than the house I live in.
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Why? I’d love this one explained. Nobody would ever stop you and can’t stop you and can’t legally restrain you from dusting in the corner. As it’s your house. Something to do with confidentiality? Been through this GDPR maze with school zoom calls. Best that could be done was the only sensible outcome. But a gathering in the garden for a drink after work? SACK THE FUCKERS but don’t get holier than though if you call for it then do similar.
Honestly mate, those of us of the right on here lambast and call the Tories the utter cunts that they are. Your defence of Keir is admirable but misplaced IMHO.
Good summary again
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If I was a cunt I could stomp about with an ‘it’s my house’ attitude. Most importantly, I don’t feel I have the right to nose into something that isn’t my job. A sentiment not shared by Carrie.
He don’t think he’s done anything wrong. I think that this is entirely about the Conservatives trying to excuse their own foibles by manufacturing a scandal out of nothing, alongside the likes of the Daily Mail, who first fucking reflex after the Johnson stuff broke was to dig up something on Starmer a year old that the Police had already dismissed as nothing.
I’m confident that Starmer and Labour will be cleared over this. I’m worried that it won’t matter, and the narrative that they are all the same is already set, which has been the aim all along.
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What a Knobead…
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I think this is a really important story that needs to be read. Especially anyone who is concerned about ‘woke-ism’ or that political correctness has gone mad.
Matthew Katzman was a foreign student at Cambridge university, who volunteered to look after his shared common room. One day a petition reached him to remove a tatty old picture of the queen. And then everything went to shit.
Matthew, through no fault of his own, found himself the centre of an increasingly frenzied right wing witch hunt, perpetrated by ignorant social media users, right wing journalists, blowhard TV personalities, and even senior politicians - all of whom didn’t understand the story, or - perhaps more likely - chose not to understand it.
It’s an example and reminder that the idea of a ‘culture war’ is largely a fabrication. A nonsense idea concocted by the right to distract the public from their many indiscretions. People are falling into abject poverty left, the planet is on fire, and democracy in retreat - and people think the biggest threat to them is an invented, progressive bogeyman.
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Only if energy companies do not invest back into the UK economy. Very admirable but kind of missing the point with regard to the cost of living.
Think this largely driven by a general inability to cook.
John Crace in sparkling form:
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Correct because this “expert” knows what he’s talking about
Fucking disgusting country! 
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