The government’s former director of ethics has received a Partygate fine – how ironic

I note that Helen MacNamara, the person whose job, incredibly, was to ensure the highest ethics in government, has apologised for her – I quote – “error of judgement” in organising and attending a (banned) party with a karaoke machine so attendees could indulge in (banned) singing.

This “error of judgement” is a variation on the usual “mistake” to which all misdemeanours and crimes are now attributed, especially by politicians and cheating husbands, (who are sometimes both). This is highly irritating, as it invites sympathy (“we all make mistakes, I’m only human” etc) and is nonsense, anyway. Catching the wrong train is a mistake, posting a letter having forgotten to put on a stamp is a mistake – things done inadvertently are mistakes.

Attending an illegal party because you think you are above the law and can do as you please is not a mistake, or an error of judgement. It’s a crime, and a very arrogant one at that. Own it and admit you’ve been found out, and you just might get a fragment of respect.

This mealy-mouthed “I made a mistake” nonsense is just further irritating the British public, who surely deserve a break from being constantly and seriously irritated by the cast of horrors currently in charge of the country.

Penny Little

Oxfordshire

A brilliant article by Sean O’Grady on the Partygate fines, which puts the true picture of who “takes the rap” into perspective.

Having recently retired, my career was spent working for pharmaceutical companies including actively being involved with the development of new medicines. This meant interacting on occasions with Ethics Committees and Data Safety Monitoring Committees (DSMC).

Their work was and is always to the highest standard of ethics, and, in fact, I never had any doubts about the true meaning of ethics until now.

We read today that the first of the individuals who were identified and served a fixed penalty fine (as part of the “Partygate” scandals investigations) was Helen MacNamara, an ex-deputy cabinet secretary. Her role in the Cabinet Office was that of director of ethics, and the purpose of her role was to ensure the highest standards of propriety, integrity and governance were followed within government.

Yet this director of ethics has been issued with a fixed penalty notice for a violation of emergency Covid regulations where, generally speaking, the whole nation adopted the highest ethical standards of compliance with emergency legislation in order to save lives.

Interestingly, since then, she has been appointed into a role by the Premier League –  I’m just so pleased that I support a League 2 team.

Colin Knight

Loughborough

I read with dismay the news item “Ministers condemned over plans to privatise Channel 4” and I feel too that it is “cultural vandalism” because this channel is cost negative to the taxpayer and continuously provides the goods of innovative and individual programmes.

My go-to in the evening is their extremely good news programme, with engaging and trenchant presenters including Matt Frei and Cathy Newman, who always writes so intelligently in this paper. It is a sustainable economic entity and the government should leave it to do what it does best.

When it does go into private ownership, will it be trammelled by a different more restraining culture and possibly made to toe a completely different and less independent line? The government needs to wise up to that cogent phrase “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.

They should concentrate in-house, where their own Home Office department model is broken and should be fixed, and not meddle gratuitously in successful models such as Channel 4.

Judith A Daniels

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

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Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, and now Ukraine. If we don’t continue to help the Ukrainians stop Putin today, the war crimes and atrocities for which he is ultimately responsible for could happen to us.

There can never be a return to business as usual with Russia while Putin is in power. He and those responsible must face independent investigations for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, even if many may never actually be arrested or imprisoned.

What happened in Bucha and in so many other places is evil; a word I don’t use lightly. History will judge us.

Ian Henderson

Norwich

As a Year 12 teacher, I am concerned that Ofsted has missed the fact that this year group has had two years of disruption during a critical period of development.

This means they now have conceptual difficulties with A-level ideas, because experiences to build up understanding of basic concepts have not happened. What allowances are the government going to make for them next summer?

Kartar Uppal

Sutton Coldfield