Fraser Nelson of the Speccy wrote, about the Boris trial:
But then again, there is one way the public is certainly served by this spectacle. He did draw up these laws; he did needlessly send the police after tens of thousands of people. So it’s not just right but important that politicians end up ensnared in the traps they set for others. So next time a Prime Minister intends to abridge the liberty of millions, they may remember the scenes of the Boris trial and pause.
Listening to the ridiculous wrangling over the minutiae of the rules almost provokes sympathy for Boris Johnson – until you remember those caught up in just-as-ridiculous laws which he imposed and decided to criminalise.
- The woman handcuffed for queuing for a coffee shop.
- The young woman from Pontypool fined £2,000 after visiting a home to support a friend who had fled an abusive relationship.
- The man fined for having driven too far to go fishing.
- Parents in Broxborne fined for letting their child have a sleepover with a friend.
- The Horncastle pensioners fined for eating a bag of chips in a laundrette.
The Spectator was arguing for some time that the Covid rules should be decriminalised and reduced to guidance. No. 10 had very little to lose by calling off the cops. I wonder if, by now, Johnson is starting to wish that he had done so.
I could personally add scenes of hysteria at ASDA and Morrisons … the former where I’d taken three loo roll packs of nine when there was no sign saying I could not (they put the sign up during this dispute and a customer defended me, I gave her one of the packs, they said that that was illegal and I was acting criminally, colluding with my “accomplice” I’d never met before) … the latter where staff management were called because I’d stood 5’6” away from the person ahead in the checkout queue and had given management a piece of my mind as standing at 6 feet would have put my trolley halfway across the walkway, blocking other customers.
Look, I’d said … I’d had a personal discussion with the virus itself which had agreed to waive the 6 inches just this once, as long as I’d not do it again.
“No,” they’d wailed, “that’s the rule!”
“And rulez iss rulez, ja, und vill be obeyed at all times!”
Or more vitally … May and Boris both colluding to not bring in Brexit at all but instead this criminal Withdrawal “Agreement” connivance with the EU who should no longer have had any say in UK matters.
I'd hope that Boris and his co-workers were classed as essential workers and therefore had to work together though the pandemic. I know I had to, no paid holiday for me. In that case he was at No. 10, his place of work, with his co-workers. They were essential workers, entitled under the rules to work together during the pandemic. They could even have wine and nibbles to celebrate the leaving of one of those co-workers. Again the professionally offended wade in and compare apples with eggs. Boris was all legal and above board, end of. All this emotive language around hospitals and funerals is irrelevant. It's not comparable. Had one of my co-workers left during the pandemic and had we cared enough, we would probably have brought beers in to toast the worker on their way too.
ReplyDeleteThe professionally offenced are cynical opportunists.
DeleteFair comment Mark. This has all the hallmarks of a witch hunt, perhaps to prevent his second coming (or is that third?). His dramatic change of course after coming out of hospital seemed very suspicious to me. It looked like he'd been 'got at'. Gone was his herd immunity and in came the totalitarian restrictions. Having said that, I despise the bloody lot of them.
ReplyDelete