O/T. The Government's handling of Covid

[Trickytreesreds]

Actually that was depraved! As was any form of s ex involving David Mellor!

On the subject of expenses though...I think perhaps you should look at the worst culprits, but take cabinet member Brandon Lewis. He was elected on a ‘clean expenses pledge’ and yet...he’s said to have claimed £37k for ‘research briefing and other assistance’ and in August 2015 it was revealed he’d claimed £31,000 of hotel expenses over TWO years in hotel expenses rather than travel home to Es***.

£31k over what...500 nights max? Really? You do the maths...and he ‘got away’ with it!

FGS RA, will you give up just putting this on the Tories. They ALL DO IT.
I find it more reprehensible when so called working class champions do it.
They are supposed to be on our side, but you never acknowledge that.
Look at them all-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...penses_scandal

[ramAnag]

FGS RA, will you give up just putting this on the Tories. They ALL DO IT.
I find it more reprehensible when so called working class champions do it.
They are supposed to be on our side, but you never acknowledge that.
Look at them all-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...penses_scandal

Lol...come out of denial, Tricky. No one has said that every member of every other Party is squeaky clean...of course they aren’t, but we are talking about the people who govern. The Tories have been in ‘Government’ for eleven years...with power comes responsibility...and it’s that abdication of social and moral responsibility that is the issue.

[Trickytreesreds]

Lol...come out of denial, Tricky. No one has said that every member of every other Party is squeaky clean...of course they aren’t, but we are talking about the people who govern. The Tories have been in ‘Government’ for eleven years...with power comes responsibility...and it’s that abdication of social and moral responsibility that is the issue.

Out of denial?

How many times do I have to say, all politicians are scum bags in their own way?
Whether they are in government or not, is irrelevent. They take from the public purse and have obligations.
But only the Tory discretions wind you up.
I'm offended by all of them. From bonking Boris to Justice perverting Fiona.

[ramAnag]

Out of denial?

How many times do I have to say, all politicians are scum bags in their own way?
Whether they are in government or not, is irrelevent. They take from the public purse and have obligations.
But only the Tory discretions wind you up.
I'm offended by all of them. From bonking Boris to Justice perverting Fiona.

Of course ‘all politicians’ aren’t ‘scum bags ‘in their own way’.
There are some thoroughly decent people in politics, although I accept that is becoming increasingly difficult to believe given the behaviour of many of those currently at the top.

How though can ‘whether they are in government or not’ possibly be ‘irrelevant’? These are the people who have been elected to lead and represent us and yet they repeatedly show themselves to be devoid of honesty, scruples, decency and integrity.

A better question for you might be...how can we trust people over their handling of such massively important issues as Brexit and Covid when they can’t be trusted over honestly managing their own emails, relationships, business contracts and expenses etc?
I know you’ll say, yet again, I’m just Tory bashing, but I’m not...it’s just that they happen to have been the Party in power for the last eleven years.

[Andy_Faber]

Of course ‘all politicians’ aren’t ‘scum bags ‘in their own way’.
There are some thoroughly decent people in politics, although I accept that is becoming increasingly difficult to believe given the behaviour of many of those currently at the top.

How though can ‘whether they are in government or not’ possibly be ‘irrelevant’? These are the people who have been elected to lead and represent us and yet they repeatedly show themselves to be devoid of honesty, scruples, decency and integrity.

A better question for you might be...how can we trust people over their handling of such massively important issues as Brexit and Covid when they can’t be trusted over honestly managing their own emails, relationships, business contracts and expenses etc?
I know you’ll say, yet again, I’m just Tory bashing, but I’m not...it’s just that they happen to have been the Party in power for the last eleven years.

Agree with that, there’s a lot of comedy value in the opposition but that and their level of corruption such as it is is irrelevant compared to the party in power, regardless of whether it’s conservative or not

[Andy_Faber]

I'm very surprised the covid-rule-breaking element of this has gained greater scrutiny that the marital-infidelity element. I would hazard a guess that 95% of the population have broken the Covid rules at least once, many by accident and many after a thoughtful analysis of the risks, but to me that's on a different scale (per person) than having an affair (with anyone, let alone a long-standing friend who the wronged party (Hancock's wife) must know). Maybe its just me, seems the focus is wrong. To The Daily Mail's credit they have made the same point

[ramAnag]

I'm very surprised the covid-rule-breaking element of this has gained greater scrutiny that the marital-infidelity element. I would hazard a guess that 95% of the population have broken the Covid rules at least once, many by accident and many after a thoughtful analysis of the risks, but to me that's on a different scale (per person) than having an affair (with anyone, let alone a long-standing friend who the wronged party (Hancock's wife) must know). Maybe its just me, seems the focus is wrong. To The Daily Mail's credit they have made the same point

Take your point, AF...but he isn’t ‘anyone’...he’s a rule maker, or was. That’s the difference.
To me the focus is wrong, but not in the way you suggest. I, for one, wouldn’t get on my high horse about marital infidelity and adultery...it would be hypocritical. I can however, along with many others, occupy the high moral ground where nepotism and cronyism appear to have become the norm.

[swaledale]

I'm very surprised the covid-rule-breaking element of this has gained greater scrutiny that the marital-infidelity element. I would hazard a guess that 95% of the population have broken the Covid rules at least once, many by accident and many after a thoughtful analysis of the risks, but to me that's on a different scale (per person) than having an affair (with anyone, let alone a long-standing friend who the wronged party (Hancock's wife) must know). Maybe its just me, seems the focus is wrong. To The Daily Mail's credit they have made the same point

Thankfully social attitudes have moved on a bit since the 1980's people generally are a bit less moralistic and judgemental regarding a persons private life. After all they voted for the party led by the shagger in chief Johnson, who it seems was conducting an affair with his current wife whilst his then wife was undergoing treatment for cancer.

Whatever ones personal judgement on the morality of his actions, (and one needs to know the full facts on these before judging) thats hardly the big issue here. And frankly the Daily Mail making any form of moral criticism is rank hypocrisy in any case!

Not sure why you would put his personal morality and behaviour as a bigger story than his hypocrisy and failing to set an example over not observing social distancing rules, which he implemented and at the same time he was telling citizens on TV that they should not be hugging loved ones and single people should not be starting relationships?

What an individual citizen may choose to do so is not an issue, when a member of the government does exactly the opposite of the advice and law in place then clearly it's a serious matter, do as I say and not as I do is never a good look for someone in authority.

Add to that the rank hypocrisy when he stated that prof Ferguson a member of SAGE had no choice but to resign due to having his a tryst with his lover last March during lockdown and stating the Police should investigate and its a big deal.

Add to that the fact that he appears to have helped his mistress get a paid appointment onto the health board which scrutinises the department he heads up and things look even murkier.

[Andy_Faber]

Thankfully social attitudes have moved on a bit since the 1980's people generally are a bit less moralistic and judgemental regarding a persons private life. After all they voted for the party led by the shagger in chief Johnson, who it seems was conducting an affair with his current wife whilst his then wife was undergoing treatment for cancer.

Whatever ones personal judgement on the morality of his actions, (and one needs to know the full facts on these before judging) thats hardly the big issue here. And frankly the Daily Mail making any form of moral criticism is rank hypocrisy in any case!

Not sure why you would put his personal morality and behaviour as a bigger story than his hypocrisy and failing to set an example over not observing social distancing rules, which he implemented and at the same time he was telling citizens on TV that they should not be hugging loved ones and single people should not be starting relationships?

What an individual citizen may choose to do so is not an issue, when a member of the government does exactly the opposite of the advice and law in place then clearly it's a serious matter, do as I say and not as I do is never a good look for someone in authority.

Add to that the rank hypocrisy when he stated that prof Ferguson a member of SAGE had no choice but to resign due to having his a tryst with his lover last March during lockdown and stating the Police should investigate and its a big deal.

Add to that the fact that he appears to have helped his mistress get a paid appointment onto the health board which scrutinises the department he heads up and things look even murkier.

I’d put his personal morality over any ‘story’ because I clearly have higher morals than you but I agree that the last two paragraphs are the icing on a cake of his own making, or rather the relish in the **** sandwich.

[swaledale]

I’d put his personal morality over any ‘story’ because I clearly have higher morals than you but I agree that the last two paragraphs are the icing on a cake of his own making, or rather the relish in the **** sandwich.

Mm aren't we smug and holier than thou? Not a good look IMO.

Clearly you think you have higher morals than me, which is a dangerous assumption, but then you do tend to make those quite often. It might just be I think that making a judgement on someone's private life based on whats in the media is rather foolish, especially when said media aren't exactly known for truth and a lack of hypocrisy!

Its obviously a personal view as to whether you find his personal morals acceptable or not, but frankly I am only interested in a Politicians actions and behaviour in so far as it impacts on his work. In Hancock's case his behaviour has clearly done that.

I would ahve thought that the basic ask of any politician is that they are competent, truthful act in the best interests of the people/country and not corrupt. Whether one likes them or approves of their moral view point is irrelevant.

Are you really saying that a competent person who is performing well in their job should be condemned or lose that job because of how they conduct their life outside work?