Britain | Rule-breaking

A secret world of illicit fun

Many Britons are breaking the rules in many different ways

Fun for some

ALEX, A CRYPTO-CURRENCY trader in east London, is a party animal. For a while covid-19 put a brake on his hedonism, but during this lockdown the boredom got too much, so he has started attending cocaine- and spirit-fuelled parties once more. At the last bash, in January, there were 40-50 people. He is not surprised it was so well-attended: his friends, he says, are “a bunch of degenerates…Liberal progressive people don’t give a toss anymore.” One such soirée was so raucous that it exploded onto the street, where two guests scrapped. Alex says the neighbours did not call the police because they host similar gatherings.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Going underground”

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