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Ethics under pressure

In this video, Professor Mollie Painter examines the ethics surrounding the notorious Partygate scandal.
Person reading a newspaper, their face is obscured by the paper.
© Roman Kraft on Unsplash
Leaders are often confronted with quick decisions and as a result need some normative guidelines. In some cases, due to new technological or scientific development, there are no clear policies or procedures in place. Or in some cases, there are no clear precedents that can be drawn on to take a decision. One of the controversial topics during the Covid-pandemic in the UK, centred around political leaders not following the lockdown rules that they put in place to safeguard public health. Particular political leaders acted as if the rules somehow do not apply to them, leading to a public outcry.

Watch the following video before moving on to the next step, where you will be asked to share your own ethical views on the scandal.

Video: What is ‘Partygate’, one of the many scandals that led to Boris Johnson’s fall

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