Readers are sharing their thoughts on the newly surfaced video showing Conservative Party staff drinking and dancing during a lockdown-breaking Christmas party.
One says he remains haunted by a memory from the Covid ICU ward and that he can never forgive those who failed to follow their own rules:
'They told him he had only a 30 per cent chance of coming through...'
■ In July 2021, I was admitted to James Cook hospital ICU with Covid. I have no recollection as to what was happening for the first few days until I was eventually moved to a recovery ward.
With one exception each day was the same: saline IV and oxygen-enriched air supply. The exception was that early one morning I was woken by someone moving the curtains that surrounded my neighbour’s bed. What I heard next still haunts me at times.
There were two doctors and they proceeded to tell my neighbour, who was about the same age as myself, in his seventies, he would be moving to the ICU.
They told him he had only a 30 per cent chance of coming through and, as this was the case, did he want to be resuscitated or heart massaged.
Thankfully, I didn’t hear his answer. Shortly afterwards, he was moved out and I never saw him again.
Obviously, if this man had family, they were not going to be able to say goodbye – and I’m sure there would have been words he would have liked to say to them.
I can only hope that karma is waiting in the wings with a vengeance to give Boris Johnson and his cronies what they deserve and that this country is never shamed by forgiving or forgetting the actions of these self-serving lowlifes.
Frank C, South Shields
Elsewhere, we have the question of whether Labour (or indeed, anyone) can have any impact on public services, while another reader details why he decided against becoming a have-a-go hero when he saw a moped phone-snatch robbery.
What do you think?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
■ Yet more video showing what the Conservatives thought of coronavirus and the public (Metro, Mon). If anyone voted for these lying, rule-breaking idiots, you’re as bad as them.
Think of all the families who lost loved ones throughout the pandemic, who couldn’t be close to them before – or during – their death, then couldn’t attend the funeral of the deceased.
Think of them and the pain and suffering they went through.
Think of the suffering we all went through over two years of misery. The mental health and financial crisis all this lockdown has caused. Then watch the tape of these people having the time of their lives, drunk and dancing while mocking the coronavirus rules, and the public.
Greig, Edinburgh
■ Now anyone that’s interested has seen the video of the lockdown-breaking Christmas party at the Conservative Party’s London HQ, the question arising in my mind is why a Conservative would have been stupid enough to video and photograph Conservatives partying during a socially restricted period.
If Conservatives are really that dense, then it explains why the current Conservative government is making such a hash of running the country.
Mike, Surrey
■ The video showing Conservative party officials partying, while social distancing rules were in place during lockdown, is repulsive! The most worrying aspect is the fact that the population may be unwilling to follow government advice if there is a further pandemic.
We lost thousands of lives to Covid – many more might die if the same thing happens again!
Scott, West London
■ In his infamous ‘You must stay at home’ speech of March 2020, Boris Johnson said, ‘The coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced for decades’.
He went on to describe it as an ‘invisible killer’. Yet judging by the Christmas parties, he and other staff and members obviously didn’t believe either of these statements, or certainly not by that point in time.
But the government kept the pantomime of the damaging lockdowns and other Covid measures going.
Geoff Moore, Alness
■ Recently we have seen a deluge of news items about alleged lockdown parties taking place two-and-a-half years ago.
Any such parties were objectionable as being in breach of the rules imposed on us all.
Currently there is an appalling war in Europe that has caused international food supply problems and fuel price jumps and refugee problems – among many other crucial issues.
Endless obsessing with parties gets us nowhere. They were wrong but they did not steal money off us or kill anyone at all. A sense of proportion would not hurt.
We would be better served to focus on huge current issues rather than a few idiots at a party 30 months ago.
D Hartley, Solihull
‘We’re in so much debt it doesn’t matter who wins the next election.’
■ I’m afraid David Bodimeade, who says that Sir Keir Starmer can rebuild our broken public services (MetroTalk, Mon) will be in for a rude awakening should Labour win the next election.
The current national debt is £90,000 for every household and with increasing demand on public services (ageing population, two-and-a-half million not working due to long-term health issues) it should be blindingly obvious that the welfare state as we knew it is unsustainable and has been for many years.
There is no ready source of substantial additional tax income without driving away the very individuals and concerns that already pay large amounts anyway, so the only alternative is cuts in public spending.
Interestingly, when Labour are asked if they would pay the doctor/nurses/rail workers/teachers the rises they ask for they always dodge the question; they’re well aware of the financial issues but, like all politicians, don’t want to talk about it.
No, I’m afraid that the financial position of this country means there will be little difference between Labour and the Tories, they’re both constrained by debt – as Liz Truss found out.
John Daniels, via email
‘You didn’t have to vote Johnson, you made the wrong choice.’
■ Rinaldo Gozdek (MetroTalk, Mon) says Jeremy Corbyn was too left wing and we had no choice but to vote for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in 2019. Absolute rubbish. You still had a choice. You made the wrong one. People like yourself have a lot to answer for.
Amanda, Durham
■ I’ve just finished helping my father, who is well into his eighties, to pay a sizeable bill via internet banking. This involved a username, a password, a memorable word, a texted code, a birthdate, two questions confirming that he was not a scam victim and finally a phone call with a person at the bank.
Now I accept the good intent and reasoning behind all these steps, but surely it’s time to start using cheques again.
Will, Sussex
■I was never a great fan of credit or debit cards but as the cost of living escalates we’ll soon have to carry our money in wheelbarrows like the Germans did just before Hitler came to power.
Miss K Carpenter, London
Why I didn’t intervene with moped phone-snatch gang
■ The other night in Baker Street, two guys on a moped drove across the centre island, which they are not supposed to do. I warned the ladies beside me to put away their phones, which they did.
The guys then drove towards a bus station and snatched the phone from a man waiting for a bus. They then passed in front of me and, in my anger, I thought of knocking them over and giving the man a chance to retrieve his phone.
You know what held me back? The thought of that teacher who was sacked because he threatened the kids who had threatened to rape his family. If I did what I was thinking, as a health worker, I would probably be sacked as I could be seen as a potential danger to my patients.
Too much political correctness in this country. No wonder we are in such a mess.
ER, London
Two historic anniversaries for the police
■ Further to June 19, 1829, being the anniversary of the Met Police (Metro, Mon), it was also on that date in 1944 that a V-1 Flying Bomb fell just north of Oxford Street, killing WPC Bertha Massey Gleghorn.
She was the first female police officer to be killed on duty. Another fell on Wimbledon, killing Inspector Bernard Sylvester and Reserve Inspector Alfred John Giles.
These were the first British police officers to be killed by V-1 Flying Bombs, which had been launched against the UK just a week or so earlier.
Chas Kenny, Ilford
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MORE : Tory aides in Covid Christmas party video were invited to ‘jingle and mingle’
MORE : Tory aides in Covid Christmas party video were invited to ‘jingle and mingle’
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