Evening Standard
When the Met Police drew a line under its Partygate probe by announcing 126 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) have been issued and the investigation is over, Downing Street no doubt wished the saga was near to an end. Prime Minister Boris Johnson already has a £50 fine on his record over his 2020 birthday party in the Cabinet Office, but has apparently escaped censure for events he attended including the notorious ‘Bring Your Own Booze’ gathering in the Number 10 garden. In this mess, the government has – inadvertently – shone a light on the use of lockdown laws throughout the pandemic on the general public, and disturbing trends that have emerged: uneven decision-making, baffling inequality, confusion, and secrecy.