Today, 20 December, would have been my son’s 47th birthday. On 19 May 2020, four days after the picture was taken of the prime minister partying in the Downing Street garden (Report, 19 December), my son’s funeral took place. The number of people allowed to attend funerals was limited. In normal times the place would have been full. Church services were not allowed. No singing was allowed. You couldn’t even have an order of service printed. You could only have one floral arrangement, no other flowers. We had to sit at a two-metre distance from each other and wear masks throughout. We all had to leave and go straight home, as holding even a small socially distanced gathering was illegal. You were not allowed to meet indoors or in gardens and pubs, and restaurants were closed. Looking at the picture of a man with no moral compass justifying this as a work meeting is truly insulting.
Name and address supplied
• As a human resources consultant with considerable experience, it concerns me greatly that according to your recent picture, 10 Downing Street apparently has no “alcohol at work” policy in force. No 10 may be a home, but it is also a workplace, and we have been assured that the photo shows a work meeting. A typical policy states: “The company requires all employees to report for duty free from the effects of alcohol and drugs. It is not acceptable to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs at work or consume alcohol or drugs during hours of work – this includes paid and unpaid breaks.”
Staff breaking these rules are normally found guilty of serious misconduct. Surely we need further clarification on this issue? Many organisations will be looking to have outdoor work meetings as the Covid situation deteriorates.
Stephanie Gaunt
Hastings, East Sussex
• The cheese and wine “meeting” marks another shift in the Tory culture wars. Any self-respecting anti-Tory knows that in the 2020s, the pairing is cheese and craft beer. The gathering also underlines what we saw with Dominic Cummings in that first lockdown – a sense of their lockdowns and ours. They can continue to go about their business as they will. Meanwhile, many of those in city flats without access to outside space were being harassed and sometimes arrested by the police in parks. Lockdown by class is probably no more than we should expect in Tory Britain 2021.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London
• Downing Street tells us that work meetings sometimes included drinks, ie wine. Does this help to explain the poor decisions by No 10 in the last two years?
Catherine Wykes
Derby
• It looks like our garden on most days: a flock of tits feeding on whatever food and drink is available.
William Moloney
Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire
• Babies are banned from working sessions in the House of Commons. How come they’re allowed at working sessions in the No 10 garden?
Maureen Vilar
Portsmouth, Hampshire
• Incredibly, it appears that a piss-up (in a government building for sure, but perhaps also in a brewery) might be the one thing that this government is capable of organising.
Dr Paul Somerfield
Plymouth
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