January: is the end of the pandemic and the collapse of the House of Cards in sight ?

January was a month where increasing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the crisis in Afghanistan and the UK's critical cost of living crisis were of crucial importance, but once again it was revelations of more lockdown parties taking place in Downing Street which dominated the news headlines.

With over 155,000 deaths recorded in UK since the start of the pandemic Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in more trouble with the revelation that in May 2020, during the first lockdown, where people in England could meet only one person outside and large gatherings (such as the Cornish Mining Sundowner) were banned, dozens of Downing Street staff were invited to a drinks party to celebrate the "lovely weather". Around 40 people were thought to have joined the "bring your own booze" party, including the PM and his wife. When asked whether he and his wife attended, Johnson replied that that was the subject of a proper investigation! So rather than a plain yes or no, we were asked to wait for the result of the inquiry by senior civil servant Sue Gray,  ordered by him to determine whether he attended a party at his house! There was real anger expressed by the many people who were unable to see dying loved ones, or to attend their funerals, at the time of the event, and he eventually apologised in the Commons, accepting that he did attend the event, but that he he was under the impression that it was a 'work gathering' rather than a party!

My very own BYO booze sundowner at Falmouth's Chain Locker
the day after the Downing Street party

A few days later there were more calls for him to quit after reports emerged that aides drank and danced at two No 10 leaving parties on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral last April, when Britain was in national mourning and indoor socialising between households was banned. A week later more revelations of boozy parties at No. 10 increased the pressure on the PM with calls to resign. And then only last week, a damning revelation that in June 2020, when indoor mixing was illegal, a party to celebrate his 56th birthday was attended by 30 people in the Downing Street cabinet room, and his wife even supplied a cake for the occasion!

During the whole month the public has listened with growing incredulity to Johnson's increasingly implausible explanations of the numerous lockdown parties and last week it was announced that the Metropolitan Police would conduct its own inquiry into illegal gatherings at Whitehall. Sue Gray's heavily redacted report was made public yesterday afternoon finding 'failures of leadership and judgment' over Whitehall parties but the police inquiry delayed a 'meaningful report'. 

In truth, although the 'update' was damning, few minds will be changed, as there was little there that the public didn't already know. Johnson faced a torrid time in Parliament yesterday where he was shamed by former Prime Minister Theresa May and utterly damned by the eloquence of a 7 minute speech by Labour Leader Keir Starmer. In an abysmal performance Johnson told MPs that he accepted the report and would make changes to how no. 10 is run, but despite further calls to do so there were no thoughts of resigning.

The UK wasn't the only country last month with cries of one rule for them and another for us. Across the world in Australia there was outcry when the world's number 1 tennis player, Novak Djokovik, was eventually granted access to the country to compete in the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated and citizens of Melbourne having been under one of the world's most rigid lockdowns for many months. A few days later his visa was revoked so it was hard to say who was having the worst week in mid-January, Djokovic, Johnston, or Prince Andrew (I suspect the latter) who had been stripped of his  military titles and royal patronages by the Queen as a judge in the USA ruled that a sexual abuse civil lawsuit against the Queen's son could proceed.

At the beginning of the month the Government decided that there would be no further restrictions to its Plan B despite soaring Omicron infections putting a huge strain on the NHS and schools. Hospital admissions plateaued by the middle of the month, suggesting to some that the end of the pandemic might be in sight and Plan B restrictions were removed last week and travel restrictions eased further with no Covid tests required before entering UK, so we were optimistic that travel may be on again and Jon was the first of the MEI team to venture overseas, with a trip to the USA.

Jon at Mount Batchelor, Oregon

Will we be back to face-to-face conferences this year? I hope so, and we plan to hold Process Mineralogy '22 in the first week of November in Sitjes, Spain. But before then I intend to test the water this month and have registered for the SME Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City at the end of the month. My last venture overseas was to the SME Meeting in Phoenix in February 2020 so it will be interesting to see the response to the slow return to face to face events.

@barrywills