Time To Stop These Witch Hunts.....?

[ToraToraTora]

https://news.sky.com/story/margaret-ferrier-mp-who-travelled-on-train-with-covid-facing-by-election-after-suspension-recommended-12845372
...let he who is without sin etc. It's over lets move on.

[Gromit]

What is wrong with obeying the law like everyone else did?

MPs are not exempt from our laws, and if they break them, they should face censure by their peers.

This SNP/Independent MP acted extremely irresponsibly and deserves everything that happens to her.

As sdoes the buffoon ex-Prime Minister who also thought he was above the law.

[nicebloke1]

A government torn apart, by who? themselves, without any doubt.

[Gromit]

// everyone in the country broke the rules at some time //

Nope. The vast majority of people didn’t.

[naomi24]

Gromit, //What is wrong with obeying the law like everyone else did? //

No one has suggested they shouldn't obey the law. They've been punished.

[Peter Pedant]

.let he who is without sin etc. It's over lets move on.

we can only do that if we change the rules. Oh no, yes that what Boris the Liar ( "I am not lying I am doiing something else") tried

what short memories we all have!

[youngmafbog]

//Nope. The vast majority of people didn’t.//

No way do you know that. Just because they were not caught doesnt mean they didnt break the law (If it was law as much was guidance that somehow morphed into 'law; by the Covidians.

//This SNP/Independent MP acted extremely irresponsibly//
With hindsight and what has come out in the last few months I am not sure she did. The Government, Sir Kier and many around the World did though and that is why we are in a mess.

[Peter Pedant]

No one has suggested they shouldn't obey the law. They've been punished.

and so the slippery implication is that it is over

It isnt - teachers can't kiss and tell ( OK the pupils tell) because they will ALSO get fired and stopped from teaching

If a doctor ( another er professional) did that, the GMC wd go off their trolley

and that doesnt mean they dont get fired ( as the two louts who videod a terrified geek - the Chief Medical Officer - one got fired before the court case)

so she was a silly silly gairl. ( Clearly not a Blair Gurrrrrl who are the Creme de la creme - thx to Maggie SMith)

[dave50]

Hats off to anyone who ignored the stupid rules during the covid paranoia and got away with it, I know I did.

[Peter Pedant]

Maughty and vay vay silly Dr Terence Ip
got suspended for six months for using his wife's tube pass - as well as convicted. silly fellow!

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p707 (Published 24 March 2023)

[ClareTG0ld]

I don't see that the defence of "well the law was stupid anyway" holds -- firstly because that's a matter of opinion, and secondly because this was a law that everybody at the time, or certainly the relevant parties (ie, Ferrier and the Commons) agreed with.

She broke the law, and was rightly punished for it. She also fell short of the standards MPs are expected to follow, and should rightly be held accountable for that too. What's the difficulty here?

[andy-hughes]

TTT - // That's what I mean Naomi, everyone in the country broke the rules at some time. Let's move on. //

Actually, plenty of people did not break the rules, they observed them, even when it meant absences from the passing and funerals of loved ones.

And MP's are not 'everyone'.

They are the people who create and shape our laws, and it is completely their responsibility to uphold those laws, and to be punished if they fail so to do.

The idea that it's OK for an MP to break the law because 'everyone else is doing it' does not fly with me, not for one moment.

[naomi24]

I didn't break the rules - not that I agreed with all of them - but this damaging stupidity has to stop. Much of it deliberately manufactured, it was ridiculous in the beginning, and after all this time it certainly hasn't become more sensible. I can honestly say that the propensity to hate I've witnessed on these pages goes far beyond anything I have ever encountered in real life. Just awful.

[Peter Pedant]

And MP's are not 'everyone'.
I agree they are or should be respectable people, should not lie and should obey the laws they frame.

It is a difficult job with heavy responsibilities

it is not like being a mod on AB ! ( ter daah !)

[Peter Pedant]

but this damaging stupidity has to stop.
well stop posting then!

ter daah ! sozza sozza bad puppy - I know I am un-mimzy

[ClareTG0ld]

// I can honestly say that the propensity to hate I've witnessed on these pages goes far beyond anything I have ever encountered in real life. //

Inasmuch as this is true, it's a general feature of online discussions -- regrettable as it is, I don't think that AB is in any meaningful sense
worse than any other social media sites, and indeed the relatively small size of the community, and at least some amount of moderation, means that it's probably rather a lot less filled with hate than elsewhere.

Also, this seems an odd place to bring it up. There's no hate directed towards Ferrier that I can see. She broke the law -- whether it should have been the law or not -- and in the process she fell short of the standards that ought to be expected of the lawmakers, the MPs. I confess I'm surprised that the period of suspension that's been recommended is as long as 30 days, but without having read the report or full details perhaps there's some aspect of her conduct both at the time and afterwards that has led to something so severe.

[naomi24]

//I don't think that AB is in any meaningful sense
worse than any other social media sites//

I didn't suggest it is but apart from occasionally watching twitter from afar, I don't use other media sites.

[ToraToraTora]

gromit; "// everyone in the country broke the rules at some time //
Nope. The vast majority of people didn’t. " - well I accept you probably didn't you were loving it so much, praying for continual lockdowns like you were. Greatest time of your life wasn't it gromit? I bet you were out there front and centre, full jobsworth mode! Like this guy in my local B&Q who devised this "brilliant" method of social distancing...everyone must have a trolley in front of them at all times! Genius!

[bhg481]

TTT - but it was your hero, Boris, who put his name to these rules. Are you saying he was stupid and wrong?

[ToraToraTora]

bhg, well done for missing the point. Did you read the OP? This is eff all to do with the rules. Try to learn to comprehend, it will help you generally in life.

[fitdarren]

As I remember it at the time, she was one of the MP's who was very voiceiferous in condemning Dominic Cummings for breaking the rules and then she goes and does it herself. However, I didn't think all the condemnation was still going on, time to pot it to bed.