Boris Johnson – Analog Artist Digital World

Partygate is a political scandal in the United Kingdom that lead to the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. While United Kingdom lock downs were in place, multiple gatherings took place at 10 Downing Street, its garden, and other government buildings. The police issued 126 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to 83 individuals whom the police found had committed offenses under COVID-19 regulations, including one each to Johnson, and his wife. All apologized and paid the penalties.

Public unrest over the events led to a decline in public support for Johnson, the government and the Conservatives, and contributed to the party’s loss of the 2021 North Shropshire by-election and poor performance in the 2022 local elections.

Fighting for his political future, Johnson strongly denied misleading parliament in a marathon session in front of the Commons Privileges Committee on March 22, 2023. His excused were feeble and misleading at best. He claimed that the COVID guidance allowed for exceptions for him and his staff. The policies however did not allow exceptions for the public who were unable to visit loved ones or attend funerals for those who died. Measures in the guidance were “usually” expected to be complied with, just not in his case at 10 Downing Street.

Johnson did mislead parliament about parties held at Downing Street but his defense is that he wasn’t intelligent enough to recognize the lies. Johnson said it was not realistic to operate in Downing Street in a socially distanced way as if there had “an electrical force field.” Social distancing is not rocket science. Getting 20 or so staff drunk in a small room is just plain stupid. Stupid is as stupid does.

If the Privileges Committee concludes that the former prime minister misled Parliament, and that this constituted a contempt, there are a range of possible sanctions that it could recommend. Possible sanctions could include suspension from the Commons for a number of days. Any sanctions recommended by the committee would have to be approved by a vote of the whole Commons. As Boris Johnson no longer holds ministerial office, the only sanctions that the committee could recommend relate to his status as a member of Parliament.

Omicron is “the most significant threat” to public health in the U.K., authorities warned on December 15, 2021, as the WHO cautioned that the highly contagious Covid-19 variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate.

The number of Covid-19 infections over the coming days will be “quite staggering” compared to previous variants, said Jenny Harries, the head of the U.K. Health Security Agency.

England has entered a wartime stance against the advancing Omicron variant. The country reported a record number (78,610) of new daily Covid-19 cases on December 15, 2021. This surpassed the previous high of 68,053 cases reported on January 8, 2021.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that Britain faces a “tidal wave” of omicron infections, and has announced that England would be speeding up its booster program to offer all adults a third dose of a vaccine by the end of the year.

Long lines have been seen outside vaccination centers in many U.K. cities and towns with the government putting its booster program on overdrive to try to get a third vaccine shot to as many people as possible.

Johnson confirmed on December 13, 2021 that at least one patient infected with the new omicron variant had died in the country. It was the first publicly confirmed death globally from the new heavily mutated strain. Some restrictions, including mask mandates in shops and instructions to work from home where possible, have been reintroduced in England throughout December 2021. France imposed a travel ban on U.K. travelers. The United States will be following the U.K. in two to three weeks. Omicron is already prevalent in Orange County waste water meaning it is spreading Central Florida.

Professor Shabir Madhi, a leading vaccinologist, said that Omicron is NOT less virulent than Delta but deaths have been 10 times less in South Africa. This may be because so many people (73%) had prior infections resulting in some immunity. Discovery Health of South Africa reported on a study of 3.7 million people from the first thee weeks of the Omicron outbreak. Omicron now accounts for 90% of the cases having displaced Delta. Omicron has peaked faster than any other variant of COVID-19.

Two doses of Pfizer Bio-NTech now only offer 33% protection against infection. Cases however are mild when infection occurs. The two doses of Pfizer offer 70% protection against hospitalization. Booster doses should bring immunity levels back up to 90%. For someone with a prior infection of COVID there is a 40% risk of re-infection.If you are unvaccinated, then you are screwed. The virus will find you.

In South Africa the chance of hospitalization with Omicron is 29% lower than Delta. There is less of chance of intensive care admission. Children under the age of 18 have a 20% higher risk of admission. There is also an increase of admissions for children under the age of 5. Most children presented with mild symptoms such as sore throat, nasal congestion, headache, and a fever that resolved in two or three days.