The Adventure of the Law-Breakers

In which I get annoyed at lockdown parties...


The other day I was walking past my local corner shop and I watched a man pull up. He parked three quarters on the footpath, a quarter on the road with double yellow lines and then proceeded to walk into the shop without wearing a mask. He managed to break three laws in about ten seconds. 

I've recently concluded that there are two types of people in the world- law-breakers and law-abiders. That man was clearly a law-breaker. He didn't give a shit about the rules. Sure, his offences were relatively minor but if one is willing to break lesser rules than I can't help but wonder just how serious a law has to be for him to follow it. I use laws in a general sense here. There are laws set out by the government, then there's rules set out by an organisation and there's also ethics, unwritten rules if you like, which include things which are technically allowed but are frowned upon like having an affair or putting pineapple on pizza. 

I definitely fall under the category of 'law-abider'. I don't think law-abiders follow the rules one hundred percent of the time because no human is perfect and there are moments when we all can't control ourselves and do something we shouldn't (Exhibit A- the empty crème egg box on the table next to me). But for law-abiders breaking the rules is not a common occurrence and if we do break the rules there is a level of guilt that comes with it. I am engulfed by a sense of wrongness if I find myself breaking some sort of rule. 

You have probably guessed where I'm heading. Boris Johnson, and indeed a sizeable number of the staff at Downing Street, are clearly law-breakers. It feels especially wrong that the people who set the laws fall into this category. Whilst the majority of the country were agonising over minor decisions like going to see a friend or going into a supermarket with another person, Downing Street was hosting a series of "business meetings" which involve cheese and wine. Indeed, as revelation after revelation has been unveiled even the thinly-veiled business meeting excuse has been given up on because no-one will believe that an attendee at a business meeting was sent to the local Co-Op with a suitcase to fill with wine (and yes, incredibly that did happen). 

Now even if by some stretch a law-abider did host a party during lockdown their guilt would overwhelm them and they would feel compelled to resign. The trouble is that as a law-breaker Boris Johnson doesn't appear to feel that guilt. Johnson has fitted my definition of law-breaker basically as long as he's been in the public eye what with being openly racist and believed to have had multiple affairs. It was always clear to me that this clown wasn't fit to be Prime Minister and it's taken all this time for a large portion of the British public to realise this. 

Many people have been discussing what they were doing on the 20th May 2020, the day of one of the parties. Thanks to my diary I know I went for a walk for my daily exercise, intentionally going somewhere I hoped would be devoid of people, and like most of lockdown remained in the house with my family. It was quite an unfulfilling time. My situation was much better than many other's and the media has seen various people write about losing loved ones and not even being able to attend the funeral due to Covid rules whilst Johnson and friends partied away (actor Rory Kinnear's heart-breaking piece is especially worth a read).

As law-abiders all we can do to deal with these law-breakers is put pressure on them. Certainly we've done a good job at calling out the hypocrisy and general awfulness of this situation on social media. Hopefully MPs are being bombarded with e-mails demanding they address this situation. Maybe enough of them are law-abiders and will oust the Prime Minister. Either way, we'll get to have our say at the next general election and even if trust in the government has somehow improved by that point we can't forget this moment and must use our votes to ensure the law-breakers are no longer the law-makers. 

My sympathy right now lies with Sue Gray, the poor woman who is leading into the enquiry into these parties. "That's for Sue Gray to decide" has already becomes one of the catchphrases of 2022. What started off as quite a small job has become a big one as virtually every day yet another party is unveiled. I can only imagine how many unread e-mails there are in Sue Gray's inbox. Poor woman. 

I'll be back for more nonsense next week. Maybe. That's for Sue Gray to decide.

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