Partygate a new low.

[An Ankoù]

Remember the coal shovel (always put in backwards) and the sheet of newspaper to increase the draft?
If it wasn’t watched, the paper used to turn brown and then burst into in an instant!
I often wonder how we ever survived our childhood!

You're telling me! We used to melt bits of roofing lead in a tin on the flames and then pour it to make fishing weights. I remember the lead used to spit as it was being poured. Holes were drilled by repeatedly heating a poker to red hot and then boring through the wood with that. Charcoal was made from twigs heated in a tin with hole drilled in the lid.
We learnt a lot from open coal fires.
I don't thing we'd evolved much beyond the cave in the 60s and 70s.

 

[Dutto]

In Derbyshire we used to have “Winter Warmers”.

These were lidless tin cans, punctured in the sides and bottom with a 6” nail, and with a loop of wire attached to the rim.

To get the winter warmer working involved some newspaper, wood kindling and a few lumps of coal placed inside the tin.

After lighting the paper there then followed a homicidal/suicidal moment where, the owner of the tin, used the loop of wire to swing the Winter Warmer around to get the fire going!

Homicidal/suicidal because the wire (*) often came unravelled, the tin could then go anywhere, showering all and sundry with burning paper, wood or coal!

(*) Our village idiot once used ordinary string and when this failed he moved on the copper wire; but had to let go of the wire when conducted heat burned his hand!

Really, how did we survive?

 

[Brianbrewed]

Hypocrites alive and well in house of commons

Hypocrites are alive and well everywhere.
Pretty common human failing.

Unlike breaking laws your own government brought in.
That's pretty unique.

 

[An Ankoù]

Really, how did we survive?

Like your village idiot, we were allowed to learn by our mistakes. After tea we were sent out to play in the streets and be back before dark. At the age of 8 or so, I was the oldest. Can't see that happening now.

Edit:
Nothing to do with the curfew order and electronic tag, by the way.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Remember the coal shovel (always put in backwards) and the sheet of newspaper to increase the draft?
If it wasn’t watched, the paper used to turn brown and then burst into in an instant!
I often wonder how we ever survived our childhood!

I still do that today, smokeless coal may be better for the environment than the old stuff we used to burn but its hard to light if you don't use a multifuel stove where you can control the airflow, a bit of help with the shovel and newspaper does the job.

We don't use the big coal shovel just the one from the companion set.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Sir Keir was filmed drinking a bottle of beer in the constituency office of Durham MP Mary Foy in April last year, in the run-up to a by-election in nearby Hartlepool.
Under rules in place at the time, it was illegal for people in England to socialise indoors with people from outside their household or support bubble.

I don't see how being caught drinking beer in your break with people outside of your bubble can be brushed under the carpet, he gave Boris hell at every opportunity for breaking the rule (rightly so) but if it turns out he was throwing stones in his own glass house he will have to go.


Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott says Sir Keir Starmer should consider his position as Labour leader if he is fined for breaking Covid laws.
Durham police are investigating whether rules were broken at an event in the city last year where he was pictured drinking beer in an MP's office.
Labour MP Ms Abbott insisted she didn't think he would be fined, and criticised "hype built up by the Tory press".
Sir Keir said he was confident he had not broken any rules.
Asked whether he would resign if fined, he told reporters on Saturday: "I was working in the office. We stopped for something to eat. There was no party".
He added he would lead Labour into the next general election.
But Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi accused Sir Keir of hypocrisy, given his previous calls for Boris Johnson to resign over lockdown parties in No 10.

Sir Keir was filmed drinking a bottle of beer in the constituency office of Durham MP Mary Foy in April last year, in the run-up to a by-election in nearby Hartlepool.
Under rules in place at the time, it was illegal for people in England to socialise indoors with people from outside their household or support bubble.
Durham police initially decided no offence had occurred after reviewing footage from the gathering earlier this year.
But after Thursday's local elections concluded, the force announced it would launch an investigation after receiving "significant new information".
The force had been coming under pressure to revisit the matter after Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined for attending a birthday party for the prime minister in Downing Street in June 2020.
Conservative MPs and cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan had also been calling for the force to launch a formal probe in recent days.

'Working incredibly hard'
Labour said last week Angela Rayner was at the event, having previously denying she was there and blaming a "mistake" in communication.
Questioned about the prospect of Sir Keir being fined on LBC radio, Ms Abbott said: "I don't think he will - I think this is a lot of hype built up by the Tory press.
"But if he were to get a fixed penalty notice, he would have to consider his position," added the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP, who served as shadow home secretary under former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
"I'm a loyal supporter of Keir Starmer. I'm just making the common-sense point that if he gets a fixed penalty notice he should consider his position."
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC he would not "entertain" the prospect of Sir Keir resigning, adding: "I have absolute faith and confidence that Keir Starmer did the right thing all the way along".
He said police had found "no case to answer" for Sir Keir previously, and "we expect that to be the outcome now".
Labour mayor of London Sadiq Khan said Sir Keir had been eating after "working incredibly hard all day" - and this was "a million miles away from what Boris Johnson was found to have done".

'Hypocrisy'
Sir Keir has called on Mr Johnson to resign since January, when the prime minister became embroiled in accusations Covid rules were broken during gatherings held in Whitehall during lockdown.
Metropolitan Police are continuing their investigation into 12 gatherings held in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office during 2020 and 2021.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the Labour leader said he had "stopped for something to eat" during work meetings in Durham, and that there was no party - adding he was "confident" he had broken no rules.
Asked what Sir Keir should do if he is fined, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told Times Radio: "We've got to let the police carry out their investigation and that's only right and responsible.
"I do think, though, that the public will be uncomfortable with the hypocrisy.
"He has tweeted himself saying that if you're under investigation, a criminal investigation, then you should resign."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61362474

 

[Dutto]

I take it that if Mr Starmer isn’t found to have broken the law of the land I will see an apology from the media and everyone else who has accused him of malfeasance?

 

[Robin54]

I take it that if Mr Starmer isn’t found to have broken the law of the land I will see an apology from the media and everyone else who has accused him of malfeasance?

I cant see the point in getting all worked up about "party gate" or even "panty gate" - the House is full of wasters from all sides, all colours , and all pursuations.
Expect the same for the next 50 years, not that you will be around to know.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I cant see the point in getting all worked up about "party gate" or even "panty gate" - the House is full of wasters from all sides, all colours , and all pursuations.
Expect the same for the next 50 years, not that you will be around to know.

While i agree there are people in there who's moral compasses are so broken they are unrepairable the number found breaking the rules was very small and i imagine like the rest of us the majority followed the rules, if Starmer broke the rules he has to go if he doesn't he is no better than Johnson and he will open the party up to criticism just when they have had a brilliant result in the local elections.

 

[moto748]

if Starmer broke the rules he has to go if he doesn't he is no better than Johnson

Only if you believe there us some reasonably fair comparison between Partygate and what Starmer is alleged to have done.

I don't believe that and I doubt you do either. So unless your position is that ministers and shadow ministers should resign over the smallest infraction, well ministers have presided over bungling and out-and-out corruption in recent years, but I don't recall any resignations.

 

[lancon]

The rules at time allowed for meals at work events.
Mrs Johnson and decorator friend were at the birthday party therefore not work event.
Until Williamson resigned there were two cabinet ministers that had in previous cabinet resigned due to national security issues, that would in the past have barred them from cabinet, but not with this crew.

 

[Dutto]

Just read the “leaked memo” in the Mail on Sunday (compliments of the BBC ‘cos I would never buy one) that has “blown apart” the so called (by the Daily Wail) “Beergate” story.

It is so littered with words like “appears”and “doubt” that even the publisher isn’t convinced; especially it was apparently marked “Private and Confidential”, which it obviously wasn’t!

“Storm in a tea-cup!” I hope.
:hat:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

So unless your position is that ministers and shadow ministers should resign over the smallest infraction,

They either broke the rules or didn't there is no grey area so i will repeat my earlier comment -

if Starmer broke the rules he has to go if he doesn't he is no better than Johnson and he will open the party up to criticism just when they have had a brilliant result in the local elections.

 

[starseeker]

Quite agree,
It seems that some people seem to think that if it is a conservative who broke the rules than the crime is heinous ,if it is the Labour party, obviously it is not even worth bringing up and does not count.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

A Durham Constabulary spokesperson said an "assessment" of whether lockdown rule breach had happened was carried out earlier this year.
They added: "At that time, it was concluded that no offence had been established and therefore no further action would be taken.
"Following the receipt of significant new information over recent days, Durham Constabulary has reviewed that position and now, following the conclusion of the pre-election period, we can confirm that an investigation into potential breaches of Covid-19 regulations relating to this gathering is now being conducted."

BBC News.
(Saturday 7)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Dominic Raab has accused Sir Keir Starmer of "hypocrisy" after police launched an investigation into whether he breached Covid rules in 2021.
The deputy PM stopped short of calling for the Labour leader to quit over what he called "rank double standards".
But he said Sir Keir had "a bunch of questions to answer" about the event.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61369911

 

[An Ankoù]

It's a dirty tricks campaign, pure and simple, by the Tory party and their lapdogs in the press. Unless Starmer is as blatant a liar as your average Scum, then all he's done is circulated a memo for the day's work along the lines of " am- morning business. Lunch, pm- afternoon business". Of course circulating a memo with lunch on it is tantamount to inviting people to a party, isn't it!
The real filth in this strategy is that the media have picked up the ball and run with it to such an extent that even if Starmer is shown to be whiter than white, there'll be a significant number who'll say it was a whitewash and a cover up.
Unless Starmer turns out to be as blatant a liar as your average Scum, of course.
Furthermore. There is nobody, nobody at all in the Tory party who has the right to suggest that Starmer quit unless he or she has demanded that their own leader quit. Raab isn't among them, as far as I've seen.

 

[lancon]

Quite agree,
It seems that some people seem to think that if it is a conservative who broke the rules than the crime is heinous ,if it is the Labour party, obviously it is not even worth bringing up and does not count.

I think that you are not reading the situation here, this is the government, the law makers, on one side, and not the government on the other. Remember this has little to do with whether there was a party but whether Johnson stood up and denied that there had been any rule breaking, which there obviously had. (His birthday party was not a work event but a mixing of social and work, definitely not allowed)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I think that you are not reading the situation here, this is the government, the law makers, on one side, and not the government on the other.

Johnson broke the rules and apologised his party didnt have the balls to get rid of him because they don't have a better option so we have a bare faced lier running the country, if it turns out Starmer also broke them will he do what he asked Jonson to do several times and quit or will he follow him him and be two faced.

 

[lancon]

I was replying to the post that was using the terms conservative and labour, however,

Rules are rules it makes no odds which side made them they both should not have broken them, Johnson did and apologised his party didnt have the balls to get rid of him because they don't have a better option so we have a bare faced lier running the country, if it turns out Starmer also broke them will he do what he quit as he called Jonson to or will he follow him him and be two faced.

Johnson stood up in the house and time and time again denied rule breaking. That is the main problem of the whole affair.
For him to plead ignorance either is a lie or he is stupid. It is disingenuous of him to try and put even the remotest of notion of ignorance, his wife and friend were there, in the cabinet room, therefore not a work event.

And remember what Johnson says, wait for the police to do their investigating. (remember too that this is the police force that don't do retrospective investigations in COVID rule breaking cf Cummings)