Helen MacNamara, who is giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry today, was the Government ethics chief who was at the heart of a very unethical lockdown-busting party at the height of the pandemic. The Mail has more.
The mother-of-four was in charge of making sure the Government upheld the highest standards of behaviour while the country was reeling from the privations of the pandemic in June 2020.
But Ms. MacNamara played a central role in a drunken party that saw staff vomiting and fighting in government buildings – even bringing along a karaoke machine to liven things up.
At the time Brits were banned from meeting together indoors as the virus swept the nation.
Sue Gray’s 2022 report into rule-breaking at the heart of Government revealed a bacchanalian event, writing: “The event lasted for a number of hours. There was excessive alcohol consumption by some individuals. One individual was sick. There was a minor altercation between two other individuals.”
Ms. MacNamara was Director General for Propriety and Ethics at the Cabinet office before becoming Deputy Cabinet Secretary, the second most senior civil servant in the country.
She was among the first people to be fined by the Metropolitan Police as part of its probe into Downing Street. She later apologised for her behaviour, saying it had been an “error in judgement”.
Today she told the inquiry rules were being broken on a daily basis just in the conduct of Government business.
“I definitely wasn’t partying in Number 10, I was either at work or at home,” she said.
“I think that acknowledging what had happened, acknowledging that some of it was a symptom of the situation, being honest about the fact that – actually, I would find it hard to pick one day when the regulations were followed properly inside that building.”
She said there was “one meeting where we absolutely adhered to the guidance to the letter” – the Cabinet meeting – “and everybody moaned about it and tried to change repeatedly”.
“So, I know how exceptional it was to really, really, really properly follow the guidance. I think that, in retrospect, obviously, all sorts of things were wrong.”
All sorts of things. Like the guidance, for instance, which even those who made it thought was unworkable and unencessary.
The Gray report outlined details of a “raucous” party involving “excessive alcohol consumption”, which began at 7.40pm on June 18th and continued until 3.13am the following day. The party took place at a time when all indoor gatherings were banned and mourners were prevented from singing hymns at funerals in an effort to ‘stop the spread’.
Worth reading in full.
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I love my Kawasaki Versys.
I also have a really good heavyweight SDS+ hammer drill by Kawasaki. Corded, of course.
The motorbike is not corded.
Principally Makita for me, two drills and a jigsaw although I do have a Bosch drill over thirty years old.
All corded.
I don’t think Makita make motor bikes.
You should check.
I had no idea Kawasaki made power tools.
Kawasaki make a very wide range of products, including at one time aircraft during WWII.
Corded motorbikes could be useful for the 15 minute cities… need quite an extension still though!
Here’s a clever person taking his ebike battery up in a lift to charge it in his flat: https://kaotic.com/video/27a78606_20240724225342_t
Well that’s one way to have a barbecue
Bloody hell! Poor man.
Imagine the same, but on wheels, driving along a motorway, in your brand new Tesla.
In fact, you don’t need to imagine it. Plenty of recorded events like this.
Horrific. Poor man, I hope it was swift.
I wonder what set off the reaction. I thought it was charging that caused this, but this was disconnected.
Any damage to the battery or a poorly manufactured cell can cause this. The cells can also have sharp metal crystals that puncture the separator and short out that cell causing it to heat up and then adjacent cells are subject to thermal runaway. The electrolyte decomposing gives off oxygen and that’s why these fires are so difficult to extinguish.
E-bay .leading where the govt should be going. Why aren’t ebikes classed as motorbikes (at least the petrol fueled variety aren’t prone to bursting into flames)?
I don’t think that all e-bikes should be classed as motorbikes if that means they need registration and mandatory insurance. There is (and should be) a class of vehicle which is driven (ridden) at the driver’s risk. A pedal cycle rider who causes injury through recklessness or negligence is always liable for any injury or damage caused – it does not matter if they do not have insurance to pay any compensation, that’s effectively a decision they made. With the greater potential for serious injury the state has mandated that the drivers of certain more powerful vehicles must have insurance to pay any compensation claims and to enforce that these classes of vehicle must be registered, and recognisable through a visible registration plate and with a known ‘keeper’ and limited to certain qualified drivers.
Sure, put a limit on what’s allowed without registration (oh, they did already). Maybe even (shock!) have the police stop some e-bikes or scooters which seem to be over-powered or otherwise exceed the limits. We could even arrange that footpaths are reserved for foot traffic (controversial)!
As for the risk of fire from these things. I have no problem if bringing explosive or otherwise dangerous things into a building is banned by the building owners – as long as they enforce the ban. There’s no point in banning something and then ignoring the fact that people are breaking the rules (this reminds me that voicing support for Hamas is illegal in the UK – but almost nobody is arrested for the offence).
I’d say eBay leading on anything is a bit strong – their ‘business sellers’ are almost guaranteed to sell tat as well, same as Amazon, it’s just they get paid more
Lithium batteris are you having a laugh. Puff on a vaping pen, use your laptop or phone. Just be aware that these things are more volatile than you like to believe. And the fire is rather difficult to put out.
It is disgusting. Imagine you bring the bike in your house and you set your kids and granny on fire for the sake of some not very impressive novelty technology. We need to come down hard on these devices because you can be assured that all over the world these batteries are blowing up likely with rapidly increasing frequency given the short life and volatility of these monstrosities.
If it’s your own house then it’s up to you to take the risk. If it’s an apartment in a block of flats or HMO then it’s up to the building owner (and their insurer). Despite the horrific video linked above, I say leave the decision on risk to the owner of the property. That said, people need to know and understand what the risks and consequences are.
Just as well I sold mine last year then.
It was being kept in the garage, along with a year’s supply of bio-ethanol, and I deemed the fire risk was too great.