May 25th, 2022.
The Sue Gray report into the shenanigans in Downing Street during the early days of Covid was presented to Boris Johnson today and was released to the public this morning, and the Prime Minister made a statement to the House at 12:30, after Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQ).
He certainly lived up to his nickname of the greasy pig when he gave a speech dripping with insincerity, false apologies and a promise to behave better in the future, but he still denied any knowledge of what went on saying that it was all other people’s fault (par for the course) and he didn’t realise that the raucous behaviour went on into the early hours. Apart from the die-hards on the government benches, this was all met with disbelief and incredulity.
Civil servant Ms Gray listed a catalogue of debauchery whilst the country was under severe lockdown, the “gatherings” including drunken parties that degenerated into vomiting and fighting inside 10 Downing Street. There was even a leaving “party” on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral that lasted until 4:20am.
The litany of arrogance and misbehaviour runs to 37 pages in the report and whilst Boris has now lost support throughout the country, there is not enough support within the conservative party to mount a successful challenge to his continuation as premier. Talkback radio and social media are swamped with comments about the corruption of the government (by that they mean Johnson; there are still some decent people in the Conservative Party). People are openly calling him a liar on talk shows and the radio lawyers are not reining them in. There are two by-elections within the next month in relatively safe Conservative seats and they are forecast to be lost with big swings to the LibDems and Labour.
A very good friend of mine says that the major issues don’t really cause upsets, as people tend to work their way through them. So major foreign policy issues are discussed, and life goes on. As she says, “It’s the little things that get you.” The British are very good at petty. They have become specialists in bureaucracy and annoying implementation of nit-picking laws and by-laws.
This is typified by the actions since devolution where the local governments have to be seen to be justifying their existence. In Wales, a local school changed to using the Welsh language as its primary teaching medium. Any families who wanted to have their children taught with English as the teaching medium (but still offering Welsh as a subject) must drive them 5 miles to the nearest school offering this. The council refused applications for assistance with the increased costs of driving their children to the new school. There is no public transport available. Now here’s the kicker – a family whose children attend a school with English as the primary teaching medium, but who want to transfer them to a predominantly Welsh language school will get travel assistance! As my friend said – it’s the little things. This of course is stirring up animosity and does nothing for harmonious integration, just accentuates division.
One of my children was offered Maori (Te Reo) as an option at primary school in Auckland and she jumped at the chance and learned it. Fast forward to when they lived in England on the Welsh border. The nearest secondary school was 4 miles away in Wales and the other choice was in England, 6 miles away. She opted for the English school as the Welsh school had Welsh as a compulsory subject. If it had been optional, she would have selected it as it’s the element of compulsion that upset her. Her grandmother, who didn’t speak English as a first language until she was 14, fully supported her, saying that persuasion was better than compulsion.
I wonder if there are any lessons for New Zealand here.
As a follow up to my piece on the cost of living in the UK the power regulatory body OFGEN raised the power cap to £2,800 in October. This is not the maximum that the power companies are allowed to charge but what an average user should pay. If one uses way above the average, then the bill will be proportionately higher.