00:08:00 Reading time.
I'm a Dutchman living in the U.K. now for almost 45 years. When I arrived I was a teenager and teenagers aren't really into politics. Once I turned 18, I have never been able to vote in general elections in the U.K. because I am not a British Citizen, despite the fact that all the policies, laws and behaviour of politicians have affected my personal and working life in the U.K.
My father got the whole family a permanent residence permit back in 1978 and despite having that and thanks to Brexit, I still had to apply for the EU settlement scheme, bizarre, I did and of course I was accepted.
The only place I can cast a vote is during local elections, which usually are a big waste of time and I'm getting very close to not bothering any longer.
I rarely comment publicly about politics, although I have been doing in the past few years. I guess when you are moving into the Autumn of your life, you take more notice of the news and are more sensitive to a sense of what's right and what's wrong. The sense of what's right and wrong gets instilled into us usually by our parents and the impact of growing up with siblings. I could probably write a book about the "unfairness" I believed I experienced when growing up as a twin and comparing what my twin sister used to get, in terms of clothes, presents and even our Birthday cakes, yes we each had a different cake! Of course when you're a kid you believe that your siblings always are treated more favourably compared to yourself.
"Fairness - the quality of treating people equally or in a way that is right or reasonable".
The U.K. has a very big value in terms of "Fair Play" - (fair and honest treatment of people), it probably is the cornerstone of British life and shows up in many areas of sport, business and life in general. The Brits have a reputation for queuing for example and detest queue jumpers, they also detest the Germans on holiday, who are known for leaving their towels on sun loungers at dawn in order to reserve their lounger ahead of anyone else getting to the pool or beach in the morning.
The U.K. also detest bullies, who can be found in school playgrounds, inside corporate buildings, in homes, in the media and of course in government.
Witnessing how the U.K. is governed and how politicians on opposite sides treat each other is actually quite awful. The spectacle that is the House of Commons, where abuse is hurled across the floor might make good TV and headlines but it isn't really a great recipe for governance of the U.K. and yet it has been accepted as a way of British Life, albeit a very destructive one.
Following on from my previous article about our conditioned mind, it's hardly surprising that many British people follow the example of behaviour in the House of Commons and regards that it is quite acceptable to hurl serious abuse at each other on Social Media and I witness this especially on Twitter, specifically aimed at politicians.
At the time of writing there's a huge story unfolding in the U.K. where it has been alleged and in fact you may even say, it has been proven without a shadow of doubt, that the Prime Minster Boris Johnson, has himself and his No.10 Downing Street colleagues not followed the rules and have had regular parties at that address, whilst the rest of the U.K. was either in Lockdown or some other special restrictions to stop movement and social contact.
A lot of people broke the law during this time and were handed fines, here's a headline of some of those stats.
"There were 807 fixed penalty notices issued for breaches of Covid rules in England and Wales in the week between May 15 and May 21 2020.
Police in England and Wales have processed total of 117,213 fixed penalty notices for breaches of Coronavirus restrictions up to 20 June 2021."
And although Boris Johnson has agreed for an enquiry by one of his aids, Sue Gray who is the Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office. A grand title, but she reports to Boris and therefore whatever report she writes, it will first have to be seen and read by Boris himself before it is released to the wider public and Parliament.
In a recent (19 January, 2022), Prime Minister Questions Time, which normally take place every Wednesday afternoon at 12 Noon, the leader of the opposition Keir Starmer of Labour made this very damning statement at the start of his very first question to Boris. See statement and question below.
"First he said there were no parties, then the video landed blowing that defence out of the water, next he said he was sickened and furious when he found out about the parties until it turned out that he himself was at the Downing Street garden party. Last week he didn't realise he was at a party and surprise, surprise nobody believed him. So this week he's got a new defence, nobody warned me that it was against the rules, that's it nobody told him. Since the Prime Minster wrote the rules, why on earth does he think this new defence is going to work for him?"
Boris basically batted every question posed to him away by stating that we had to wait until such time when the Sue Gray report comes out.
He appeared very bullish and almost defiant in the House of Commons compared to the day previous when he was interviewed by Sky News in a hospital on 18 January, 2022, see video clip below.
ITV (National U.K. TV Station), did a half hour report on the current state of affairs, the details of the parties and the current sentiment across the country. You can probably only watch this if you’re in the U.K., it’s titled “Is the Party Over?”
Politicians at the highest level of office, whether we look at the U.K. or the U.S.A are known for their bully tactics and behaviour. I don't know Boris, all I know is that his public behaviour in politics has been that of aversion, greed and delusion one of the 12 cycles on the "Dependent Origination Wheel" I shared in my article a couple of weeks ago.
Sañkhāra: Mental Formations,Fabrications; Concoctions; Will to Live, lit: Put Together Habits and Patterns of Mind, Aversion - Greed - Delusion.
It is very clear that his mind has been conditioned throughout his life, since being a young boy into adulthood that the behaviour he displays is okay and that if he manages to create enough diversion around the current issues and the spotlight upon him, he will manage to get through without any collateral damage to himself or his reputation.
Trouble is "Fairness" as mentioned earlier is in the British DNA and therefore it is going to be a tough climb for him to get out of the pit that he has dug for himself. It's not just this particular story though, it has happened before with Brexit, he lied to the British People then, made a load of promises and many of those have not been delivered.
That's why the polls are against him, I have included a few below.
Despite all these allegations and media coverage, despite some ministers putting in letters of no confidence to the 1922 committee and despite the challenges from reporters and opposition leaders, he deep down believes he hasn't done anything wrong and expects that the Sue Gray report will probably vindicate him. This time though it will not wash with the British people, this time it has gone too far. During the restrictions, people died, people grieved, people were lonely, people were in deep pain and all whilst Downing Street partied.
Boris' conditioned mind will unlikely give in, but eventually the British people will vote and that vote will take place first in local elections in May 2022 and in the general election in May 2024. Then it will be the time for the British people to get their revenge on the political elite, who rule as if there are different rules for them compared to the rest of the British people. They always forget who they actually work for and who pays their mortgage, their holidays etc.
I made a prediction on the 7th January that he would resign, see video below and I might be wrong about that now, now that I have seen that Boris has no moral compass, no sense of guilt and no humbleness about his actions and those of his staffers.
Boris the bully will likely survive, but the Brits hate bullies.
We will see...
https://bio.link/stayingaliveuk
ps. You may enjoy this study on fairness on two Capuchin monkeys.
pps. pps. Since I published this article, even more parties were revealed, this time a Birthday Party for Boris! The content below explains the "fairness" of that act.
Josephine has significantly better writing compared to Boris and that tells you a lot too! In case you're struggling to read either, I have written it out for you below.
Dear Prime Minister, I want to let you know it is my birthday today but I am staying at home because you asked us to. I think mummy and daddy might have to cancel my party but I don't mind because I want everybody to be ok. Please keep working hard to keep us all well. Are you remembering to wash your hands? Lots of love, Josephine - aged 7 (today) ❤️ wash hands X
______________
Dear Josephine
Happy Birthday! I am glad to hear you are staying at home, though I am sorry to hear about your party. We have all got to do our bit to protect the NHS and save lives, and that is exactly what you are doing, so well done! You are setting a great example. We are working round the clock to keep people safe, and if we work together we can send coronavirus packing. And once we have done that you can DEFINITELY have a party with your friends! In answer to your question - I'm regularly washing my hands with soap and water for 20 seconds: the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice!
With best wishes - Boris Johnson.
And a “Report Update", was published on Monday 31 January, 2022 and you can download it in its glory HERE.