The Covid Inquiry (UK)

[Lencoboy]

Has anyone on here been following it?

My dad certainly has and we were both extremely shocked at a lot of the debauchery that reportedly went on in Downing Street behind closed doors during the run-up to the first national lockdown in March 2020; not only the frequent exchanges of F and C-bombs, but also allegations of misogyny.

And this was still several months prior to the whole Partygate debacle later that same year which is bound to open even more floodgates and reveal even more shocking findings when eventually covered within said inquiry.

I'm just so glad that terrible man Boris Johnson is no longer in Number 10 and still fail to comprehend how any sane person would still be prepared to support and stand by him (and the Tory Party in general) no matter what.

A 'cool dude'? My backside!

[spectrum123]

I'm not shocked by much of this, it's par for the course when politicians are involved.

Will things change much when/if Starmer is in charge, I very much doubt it.

[Lencoboy]

I'm not shocked by much of this, it's par for the course when politicians are involved.

Will things change much when/if Starmer is in charge, I very much doubt it.

Your choice obviously, but that seems to be the same old excuse trotted out by many as a means of shying away from voting period and inadvertently causing the current bunch of jokers to stay in power for longer, plus it seems easy to tar all politicians with the same brush.

Of course Starmer will never be absolutely perfect, and he's only a human being after all, but I personally think he and Labour in general should at least be given a chance without being ripped to shreds willy-nilly, especially by the likes of The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express, etc, and the usual egotistical armchair know-it-alls on social media and the like, who of course very likely have similar digs at Sunak and Co too on a regular basis.

The thing is, nearly everyone seems to be some kind of nit-picker these days; not only with politics but the most minute 'imperfections' within virtually every aspect of everyday life, many of which would have probably passed virtually unnoticed by most people pre-21st Century.

Let's face it, a lot of the old favourite TV shows, films, music releases, etc of the mid-late 20th Century that we've all come to know and love so dear probably wouldn't even have got a look in had they came out today instead, and would have no doubt been epically slagged off.

[spectrum123]

We have centrist parties in this country. Labour is left of centre, the conservatives are right of centre, therefore there isn't a huge difference. There are a lot of millionaire MP's both sides of the house.
At the election they will both promise the earth, but will only give us morsels when they achieve power.

For decades the British attitude to political voting has been to vote for the party you least dislike. Hence we don't have the big rallies like the US does, as the parties over here can't drum up the enthusiasm. They are aware that a lot of people who vote for them don't really trust them.

Sure give Labour a chance, but don't expect a huge change. We'll have a honeymoon period, then normal service will resume.

As I said before. Whoever gets in. The poor will remain poor, the rich will remain rich. That's how capitalism works unfortunately.

[Lencoboy]

We have centrist parties in this country. Labour is left of centre, the conservatives are right of centre, therefore there isn't a huge difference. There are a lot of millionaire MP's both sides of the house.
At the election they will both promise the earth, but will only give us morsels when they achieve power.

For decades the British attitude to political voting has been to vote for the party you least dislike. Hence we don't have the big rallies like the US does, as the parties over here can't drum up the enthusiasm. They are aware that a lot of people who vote for them don't really trust them.

Sure give Labour a chance, but don't expect a huge change. We'll have a honeymoon period, then normal service will resume.

As I said before. Whoever gets in. The poor will remain poor, the rich will remain rich. That's how capitalism works unfortunately.

Yes, it won't be long before the media, especially the likes of The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express, etc, epically start having digs at Starmer and Co and of course the usual image macro memes starting to appear on social media blatantly slagging them off, just like what happened with Blair, Brown and Co in the 2000s, though social media didn't really become fully mainstream until approximately 2012 onwards IIRC.

Back to the original topic; I reckon there's probably always been episodes of dubious and unscrupulous goings-on behind the scenes in Downing Street and within Parliament in general under the watch of various past PMs and govts, but many of the respective political correspondents of the time probably just hushed up over them, especially if the issues at hand might have been extremely sensitive and/or taboo, such as politicians swearing and/or instances of misogyny, sexual misconduct, etc, unlike now in these more enlightened times, such misconduct and misdemeanours seem to be scrutinised and inadvertently exposed a lot more than ever before. And not just this current exposé on the antics of Boris and Co amid this current Covid Inquiry but other things such as misconduct, corruption and various other unsavoury antics among certain Police officers, especially within the Met and most certainly in the wake of the Sarah Everard tragedy in March 2021.

In some respects I'm now beginning to perceive the current decade of the 2020s as more enlightened with increased awareness of and also decreasing tolerance of unscrupulous chancers who have seemingly passed for authority figures for far too long now, especially in contrast to the seemingly more blasé and indifferent 'anything goes' 2000s and 2010s when and where the easiest option seemed to be to just shrug off many issues and bury our heads in the sand, especially when and where it suited us personally.

[spectrum123]

For balance, don't forget, the Mirror and Guardian will support the left regardless. Terrestrial TV news like the BBC are also left leaning. TV and Rock and Pop personalities are largely left supporting, so Labour will be able to use them during campaigning, something the conservatives tend to lack.

[Lencoboy]

For balance, don't forget, the Mirror and Guardian will support the left regardless. Terrestrial TV news like the BBC are also left leaning. TV and Rock and Pop personalities are largely left supporting, so Labour will be able to use them during campaigning, something the conservatives tend to lack.

I think political trends and opinion polls tend to be cyclical in many respects and largely a case of 'what goes around comes around'.

I remember during the latter half of the 2000s many of the people and organisations you mentioned above actively shunning and turning their backs on Labour en masse, even before the Global Financial Crisis kicked off.

Also I'm rather surprised that nobody else on here apart from you has as yet responded to this thread, especially being such a pertinent topic right now.

[spectrum123]

I guess everyone else, a bit like me, I don't really care. We all know very little action will come out of this enquiry. They will carry on as the have been doing.
I'm much occupied with work and being with family, and meeting up an socialising with friends, than care what our MPs have been up to.

[Lencoboy]

I see your point there, as becoming invested in this whole sorry situation can no doubt be extremely tedious and fatiguing for many, plus there's inevitably the decreased attention span thing at play too.

Of course it's also being heavily overshadowed by the Israel/Gaza thing right now which is getting the most wall-to-wall coverage on the major news channels similar to Covid in 2020-21 and of course Ukraine, the COL crisis and shortages of things during 2022 and still earlier this year.

This time next year the big 'issue' will probably be something else, and no doubt in November 2025 something else yet again, ad infinitum.

Let's face it, nobody really talks about the Global Financial Crisis, Swine Flu pandemic, etc, any more.

[Lencoboy]

Boris Johnson's remarks during yesterday's leg of the inquiry seriously didn't add up. He was basically saying (in retrospect) that in January 2020 Covid was already something like a 'ticking time bomb', which seemed totally at odds with what he actually seemed to be saying and doing at the time, which was 'Let's Get Brexit Done!' and also wussed out of turning up at COBRA meetings, etc, as if he (Boris) was in total denial about the whole Covid thing.

I'm so glad that man is no longer in Number 10; he was a sheer embarrassment to this country during his tenure as PM.

Cool dude my backside (still)!