At the time of posting this, the nation waits to hear about the Sue Gray report. PMQ's needless to say focused on it. But today a new addition happened, Boris may have lied about a flight out of Afghanistan, allowing animals to fly out while leaving behind people who could have been helped out instead. It may be that it did not impede the escape of others, but the issue is that Boris Johnson said one thing, and now another version of the truth is coming out.
On the plus side, by son just had his parent teacher day and did well. Really really well. Made my wife and I very proud.
Another day, and it again, was an awesome one. I went for a walk with Tony and Sally in the morning and later we all went out for lunch were another friend from university surprised me. I had been given one of my presents before, an old Arsenal shirt from David, which I have been hinting about for years. After lunch, I got given others from Tony. Sally, his wife, thought that they may not be appreciated, but they were very different to what I had before. I got a mug with a picture from university along with some Boris toilet paper, some alcohol, but most important of all, a Putin calendar!
I met up with my past today. My family have organised a great birthday weekend for me. They had driven me into the middle of nowhere telling me that we were to go somewhere for afternoon tea. It turned out that we were staying in a Air BnB place. A fabulous house, and being shown round it, I missed seeing David, a friend from university sitting down (though he had been hiding at first). It was great to see him, though he let slip that Tony, another friend from my past, was to come.
While it took him time to come, he was being driven from the other side of the country. He arrived with Sally, his wife and his son, the same age as my son. All of us had to leave our dogs behind, and we talked and talked as we all caught up.
I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend as there is so much to go over.
First of all, the weekend update (though a bit late). My wife went out a bit for the birthday of a friend, the celebrations taking place over two days. Saturday I was to pick her up, and I knew it was going to be late as she told me. I was woken up about one on Sunday morning as she decided to get a friend to drive her home, but half an hour later, I went to collect her as she was still not home and I guessed correctly that the friend was being distracted. A drive over and a lift for another friend and we finally went to bed.
As for Leia, she has been having loads of fun with some toys that I have bought her. We had started to run out of some treats, but thanks to eBay, they have been sourced. Together with the puzzles, she is having loads of fun.
Do I think that Prince Andrew did anything wrong based on UK law? Not knowingly, but I do not think that what he did was immoral. If he cannot recall not having sex with Victoria Giuffre, the question arises of how many other friends of Jeffrey Epstein did he have sex with? If he had just had sex with one, you can argue that he thought that this was attraction. If he had sex with many, then the motives of the friendship of Prince Andrew with Epstein needs to be examined.
There is no doubt now, that Victoria Giuffre was the victim of grooming, the question is if Prince Andrew knew this and I suspect that the answer would be no considering that there was not as much information about this in the public eye as there is now. It will be interesting to see what happens in the USA about this considering he has done so much to avoid this case and even tried to use the Bill Cosby clause to get out of this. But as this case is being heard in the USA, if it is appealed, will this have ramifications for Matt Gaetz?
I have seen the worst apology, or rather non-apology so far this year. Our Prime Minister has decided that we was not aware that what he termed was a legal work meeting (where you bring your own bottle) was a party or could be considered such. If we ignore the breach of COVID guidelines and assume that he is right, the issue of just how drunk staff at Downing Street can be while working comes to mind. In my job, I cannot drink alcohol and work. Needless to say, in my job, I would be rightly sacked if I took a bottle of wine in to drink during a meeting. His excuse is as follows.
"I want to apologise. I know that millions of people across this country have made extraordinary sacrifices over the last 18 months. I know the anguish they have been through - unable to mourn their relatives, unable to live their lives as they want or to do the things they love. I know the rage they feel with me and with the Government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules. And though I cannot anticipate the conclusions of the current inquiry, I have learned enough to know there were things we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility. No 10 is a big department with a garden as an extension of the office which has been in constant use because of the role of fresh air in stopping the virus. When I went into that garden just after six on May 20, 2020, to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 minutes later to continue working, I believed implicitly that this was a work event. With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside. I should have found some other way to thank them. I should have recognised that even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there are millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way, people who have suffered terribly, people who were forbidden for meeting loved ones at all inside or outside, and to them and to this House I offer my heartfelt apologies. All I ask is that Sue Gray be allowed to complete her inquiry into that day and several others so that the full facts can be established."
That Boris is lying is no news to me, after all, he has past form on this. What I am shocked by are those MP's who are defending his lies, but I am glad to see that many Conservatives are not standing by him.
There is to be an investigation into this, but I think that Boris Johnson will do what he has done in the past and will ignore the findings.
And for those who may not know what this is about, the first video is about the e-mail for the socially distanced drinks meeting in May 2020, the second a reminder of that the NHS was facing in May 2020 when front line workers were literally dying.
Last year, people took the law into their own hands. And there has been partisanship amongst some as to if this should be condemned in the same way that some BLM protests were rightly condemned when they became violent. In this, I think that the law should treat all the same. A controversial view I know, but one I am open to change, and am happy to debate.
