reacting to british scandals

After eight years living and working in Britain, I felt I had a fairly decent grasp of the culture. Then people suggested I look at British scandals, and I realised there was a whole collection of stories I’d either missed or only half remembered. In September 2024, I tried a WatchMojo compilation of the most ridiculous ones.

Apparently everything had to end in “gate”. Beer, trains, fridges, tractors. The names alone made it sound like quite a strange collection, but my reactions weren’t all the same. Some stories made me laugh at the absurdity. Others brought back the anger I remembered from living through the pandemic here.

A train-seat argument I had completely missed

The compilation described “Traingate” as a controversy around Jeremy Corbyn sitting on the floor of a train and the question of whether there had been empty seats. Its account included footage of him talking about a packed train, then a dispute about seats he’d walked past. It also described his explanation that he wanted two unreserved seats together so he could sit with his wife.

I didn’t remember this one at all. Wanting to sit beside your wife sounded reasonable to me, but I couldn’t help wondering about the alternative. Would you rather sit on the floor, or take two separate seats and perhaps move together after a few stops? That was the part I found funny. The compilation’s story had turned finding somewhere to sit into a political publicity argument.

My immediate reaction to the packed-train complaint was that at least the train was running. I could see why footage of a crowded train would make good publicity if there really were no seats, but the argument over empty ones was a new bit of British political culture for me.

The fridge was too much

“Fridgegate” was easier to half remember. In the compilation’s account, Boris Johnson was doing a milk-delivery photo opportunity when a Good Morning Britain reporter tried to question him. It showed the reporter trying to get his attention, then described Johnson going into a fridge rather than answering. I remembered the milk part, but the fridge still made me stop.

I get secondhand embarrassment watching Boris Johnson. Whatever someone thinks of his politics, I often find the public appearances painfully awkward. My personal favourite was him getting stuck on a zipline, hanging there. I find that so embarrassing that I struggle to watch it. The fridge story gave me the same feeling that someone surely couldn’t write this stuff.

It reminded me of The Thick of It, a political comedy I used to love and one of the funniest shows I’d watched. Some of the stories in this compilation felt like an episode. I wasn’t laughing because I’d followed every political detail. I was reacting to the sheer oddness of the scenes being described.

Ridiculous doesn’t always mean funny

The compilation also brought up “Beergate” alongside Partygate. I remembered Partygate because I’d been living here during Covid, but I didn’t know the beer story. The video’s account contrasted an office beer-and-takeaway controversy with the parties during lockdown. Watching it in 2024, I noticed that parts of the older compilation were already talking from an earlier point in time.

Partygate made me angry. I remembered how frightening and isolating lockdown had been, when people couldn’t see or comfort loved ones. Against that experience, the reports of politicians partying while everyone else was living under restrictions felt offensive. I didn’t react to that as a harmless silly scandal, whatever category the compilation had put around it.

The Matt Hancock section brought that feeling back. The compilation discussed footage of him kissing an aide while Covid restrictions were in place. I was relieved it didn’t show the footage itself because I’d seen it before and found it deeply cringeworthy. But my reaction went beyond embarrassment. The contrast with the restrictions people were living under was infuriating.

Looking back in 2024, that period somehow felt both recent and like a different life. I remembered the restrictions around sitting outside rather than actively exercising, and police moving people along. Hearing another story about the people involved in those restrictions brought the frustration back very quickly.

So I had plenty to laugh at in the train-seat and fridge stories, but I wasn’t going to have the same reaction to every item just because it appeared in a list called ridiculous scandals. Some were new to me. Some were awkward enough that I wanted to look away. The lockdown-related ones were the point where laughing stopped coming easily.

Watch British scandals that made me laugh, and the ones that didn’t on YouTube.