Having now looked into the Hancock-Coladangelo background, they have known each other more than 20 years
And Hancock gave her a job and access, which was raised as a problem at the time, and like all the rest of the Tory sleaze issues, was dismissed then
When did the friendship become an affair? No idea, and it doesn't really matter - that's the deal for the two of them, perhaps only with the caveat that they might have broken lockdown rules to do it - but then Cummings also survived a lockdown breach
So this is basically a typical modern day UK politics story of chums and corrupt appointments
No one else in the government has resigned or been sacked for anything like this, and so Hancock will also survive I reckon
How far British politics has sunk in the past 2 years...
In normal times, Hancock would resign because the affair would be considered to be bringing the government into disrepute
These are not normal times
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In normal times, the fact that Gina Coladangelo is on the Department of Health's board of non-executive directors (did know her before appointment?) would mean this wouldn't be considered as a simply personal matter
These are not normal times
The fact that meeting people indoors from outside your household for long periods over the winter was illegal must mean when and where Hancock was meeting Coladangelo needs to be checked, not ignored
This problem is not going to go away, not least because there is the *other side to it* - what happens when these fans return home from #EURO2020 - as #DeltaVariant continues to grow in 🇬🇧
A few caveats first:
- this is based on current advice, or advice known for July if available. Is hence subject to change
- whether fans travelling for matches is a good idea is a different debate, don't @ - reply me on that
- this is about travel and politics, not ⚽️ per se
If you're one of those people whining at me "I'm not going to sit 4 hours on a train, I'll fly 1 hour instead", then listen up
A worked example, for Berlin-München
From where I used to live at Yorckstrasse, Berlin, to when my old friend @ronpatz used to work at Uni München
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Buses have been eliminated here - these are just train/S-Bahn/U-Bahn options
My fastest connection is 4 hours 35 mins
3 hours 56 mins of that is on one direct train, that has wifi and a restaurant on board
If I don't manage to get one of the extra fast "Sprinter" ICEs, I have a regular ICE that makes more stops at other times of the day, and at least 1 train per hour - trip time is slightly longer 4 hours 55 mins, of which 4 hours 23 is in the ICE