Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
LONDON — A report into the allegations that U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the team around him have repeatedly broken COVID-19 protocols is due this week, according to The Guardian, with Johnson facing pressure to resign.
On May 15, 2020, legal restrictions stated people in England could not leave their house without reasonable excuse, but the prime minister and his staff were photographed with bottles of wine in the Downing Street garden, and five days later witnesses told the BBC that Johnson was among around 30 people who attended a separate drinks event.
On November 13, 2020, former Johnson adviser Dominic Cummings alleges that a boisterous party took place on the night he was fired, at Johnson’s Downing Street flat, before, days later, on November 27, sources say Johnson made a speech at a leaving event for a Number Ten aide in which people were drinking, according to Agence France Presse.
On December 15, Johnson was photographed sitting between two staff members holding a “Number Ten Christmas Quiz,” days after London moved to Tier 2 lockdown rules banning two or more people from different households meeting indoors unless “reasonably necessary” for work.
On December 16, London moved into the top tier of COVID restrictions, but The Daily Mirror alleges that on December 18 another party was held in Downing Street.
Finally, on April 16 2021, with socializing indoors with people from other households not allowed and meeting others outdoors limited to groups of six people or two households, two further Downing Street drinks parties were held the night before Prince Phillip’s socially distanced funeral, though Johnson did not attend, according to the BBC.
For his part, Johnson said the two alleged garden parties in May 2020 were work events. A spokesperson for his wife denied the November 13 party at their Downing Street flat took place. And Johnson denied any wrongdoing regarding the Christmas Zoom quiz.
PHOTO BY: DonkeyHotey
SOURCES: Agence France Presse, Al Jazeera, BBC, The Guardian
https://mg.co.za/world/2022-01-19-partygate-a-timeline-of-boris-johnsons-latest-scandal/
aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/12/timeline-uk-governments-alleged-covid-rule-breaking-parties
bbc.com/news/uk-politics-59577129
theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/24/boris-johnsons-lockdown-birthday-party-pm-faces-anger-from-mps-and-bereaved
theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/23/boris-johnson-at-moment-of-maximum-danger-as-partygate-report-looms
LONDON — A report into the allegations that U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the team around him have repeatedly broken COVID-19 protocols is due this week, according to The Guardian, with Johnson facing pressure to resign.
On May 15, 2020, legal restrictions stated people in England could not leave their house without reasonable excuse, but the prime minister and his staff were photographed with bottles of wine in the Downing Street garden, and five days later witnesses told the BBC that Johnson was among around 30 people who attended a separate drinks event.
On November 13, 2020, former Johnson adviser Dominic Cummings alleges that a boisterous party took place on the night he was fired, at Johnson’s Downing Street flat, before, days later, on November 27, sources say Johnson made a speech at a leaving event for a Number Ten aide in which people were drinking, according to Agence France Presse.
On December 15, Johnson was photographed sitting between two staff members holding a “Number Ten Christmas Quiz,” days after London moved to Tier 2 lockdown rules banning two or more people from different households meeting indoors unless “reasonably necessary” for work.
On December 16, London moved into the top tier of COVID restrictions, but The Daily Mirror alleges that on December 18 another party was held in Downing Street.
Finally, on April 16 2021, with socializing indoors with people from other households not allowed and meeting others outdoors limited to groups of six people or two households, two further Downing Street drinks parties were held the night before Prince Phillip’s socially distanced funeral, though Johnson did not attend, according to the BBC.
For his part, Johnson said the two alleged garden parties in May 2020 were work events. A spokesperson for his wife denied the November 13 party at their Downing Street flat took place. And Johnson denied any wrongdoing regarding the Christmas Zoom quiz.
PHOTO BY: DonkeyHotey
SOURCES: Agence France Presse, Al Jazeera, BBC, The Guardian
https://mg.co.za/world/2022-01-19-partygate-a-timeline-of-boris-johnsons-latest-scandal/
aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/12/timeline-uk-governments-alleged-covid-rule-breaking-parties
bbc.com/news/uk-politics-59577129
theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/24/boris-johnsons-lockdown-birthday-party-pm-faces-anger-from-mps-and-bereaved
theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/23/boris-johnson-at-moment-of-maximum-danger-as-partygate-report-looms

![Russia Takes Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in ‘Fierce Battle’
CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE — The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency says it is ‘closely monitoring’ developments at nuclear-related facilities in Ukraine after Russian forces captured the Chernobyl nuclear plant after a fierce battle with Ukrainian national guards protecting the decommissioned site on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera.
Infamously, Reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl exploded on April 26, 1986. The subsequent fire that demolished the reactor building released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Citing the official website of the site’s operator, Reuters explains that nuclear waste management and storage remain ongoing at the site, while New Scientist reported a surge in fission reactions around the destroyed nuclear reactor in May last year.
The situation now according to nuclear scientists who spoke to New Scientist both directly before the attack and after is that the risk of nuclear material being released from the decaying reactor as a result of the conflict is low, with one researcher who monitors the ongoing emission of neutrons from the reactor explaining that staff at Chernobyl were safe. “The entrance of [Chernobyl is] controlled by Russians. They do not enter inside,” he said.
Bruno Merk at the University of Liverpool meanwhile concluded: “I think as long as there is not a deliberate attack the risk is comparably low,” though he added: “If it’s a deliberate act, you could possibly do it.”
Closest to the situation itself, Chernobyl scientist who worked on confinement plans at the site told New Scientist on February 22 that monitoring work would continue and that all safety systems at the plant are working well, but that scientific data processing has been partially suspended.
In terms of the wider Russian invasion of Ukraine, NBC News reports that the Chernobyl is most likely valuable because of its location, sitting on one of the most direct routes to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as Russian troops look to push through the country. “They want it because they want to take control of the whole effing country,” according to Evelyn Farkas, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia for the Obama administration. “They want to surround the capital.”
SOURCES: IAEA, Reuters, Yahoo News, Al Jazeera, New Scientist, NBC
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-director-general-statement-on-the-situation-in-ukraine
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/chernobyl-power-plant-captured-by-russian-forces-ukrainian-official-2022-02-24/
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iaea-says-ukraine-power-plants-running-safely-no-destruction-chernobyl-2022-02-24/
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/war-comes-to-chernobyl-raising-nuclear-fears-in-russia-invasion-of-ukraine-170528013.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/chernobyl-nuclear-plant-targeted-as-russia-invades-ukraine
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2309599-risk-of-nuclear-disaster-is-minimal-as-russian-forces-reach-chernobyl/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2277195-nuclear-reactions-at-chernobyl-are-spiking-in-an-inaccessible-chamber/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/russia-want-take-chernobyl-rcna17615 Russia Takes Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in ‘Fierce Battle’](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yHBjsy84yV4/mqdefault.jpg)



