No 10’s parties are no laughing matter

The mezzo-soprano from Methlick and vocal coach to the stars

Exasperated, angry, frustrated, fatigued, past caring. These are some of the adjectives used by you readers, in reply to me asking how you feel.

As more and more stories come out about Downing Street parties and as it looks like, in contrast, we are to be given even more restrictions over the next days and weeks, no wonder we are feeling frustration.

Is it one rule for the privileged few while the rest of us keep the country safe?

It certainly looks like while many of our loved ones were spending Christmas alone last year and sticking to the rules, that wasn’t the case for some of those making them.

For some people, a loved one who spent Christmas apart from them has now passed away, so it was the last one they could have had together.

If you are in a privileged position, the worst thing you can do is betray the trust of those who have enabled you to be there.

And what makes all of this so much worse was us seeing a leaked video of political advisers and staff laughing at how to answer awkward questions in a press conference rehearsal.

In other words, they knew it would cause outrage so they had to practise how to deny the accusations or lie to cover them up.

They found this extremely amusing and of course Allegra Stratton was the scapegoat who resigned in tears, but we can’t forget she was being coached by other members of staff in how to do this.

I believed her tears. I believed she realised how wrong this was and I think with hindsight she would have questioned this, but it’s all on camera, so she had to go.

It’s a disgrace, really. Having parties, breaking rules they set, acting above the law, but most especially sniggering at all of us ordinary people who have to just do as we are told.

The sad thing is most of us want to do as we are told if it means keeping our loved ones and our community safe. We have an inbuilt moral compass which makes us want to be unselfish and do the right thing, so we don’t deserve to be laughed at and treated with contempt.

So right now, just when the politicians need us to be compliant and careful, many people are so frustrated and angry that they want to rebel.

The government cannot tell people to cancel Christmas parties this year. They would be laughed at. Many people will do that anyway but not because Boris says so.

None of us wants to have a positive result this week of all weeks, so I think a lot of us will lie low until next weekend just to make sure we aren’t ill or having to isolate.

I popped up to Turriff for the day to see my lovely aunties. I’ve been doing lateral flow tests every day just to be sure.

I just didn’t trust that Nicola wouldn’t shut down care homes or prevent people travelling to Scotland next week so I jumped on a plane while I could.

So if we aren’t going out much, are we watching TV? Of course we are. The TV guides are looked out and all the good shows circled.

Did you watch the final of I’m A Celebrity? I’m afraid I didn’t make it that far. I went to bed that night with a good book.

I love that show and am a big fan of Ant and Dec but without the Australian sunshine it was, quite literally, a totally washout.

On the bright side, it’s bound to be back in the jungle next year or the year after, and I think a dishevelled blond-haired guy who is an ex-prime minister would be great to be voted to do all the trials.

Now what did you think of Simon Cowell’s new show, Walk The Line?

I’m writing this before I’ve watched all the episodes but after the first night, in which I didn’t like any of the singers and thought it all fell flat, I was proved wrong on night two when we actually got the gist of how the show worked.

I’m not going to bother explaining the show to you but the singers are basically betting money on their own talent, with a prize of half a million pounds.

Tonight, of course, we have the Strictly final and I’m rooting for Rose and Giovanni. I hope they lift that trophy. They have been a joy to watch.

Have a good week,

As Boris Johnson blustered, Allegra Stratton bade a tearful farewell after being made the scapegoat for last year’s folly.