To think it really doesn't matter what the rules are now?

[Ultrasoft]

No-one's going to follow them.

I am a real rule follower. I've done everything by the book since day one and despite all the hysteria about people breaking rules, so has almost everyone I know.

But when the man who effectively runs the country and wrote the rules makes it clear they don't matter I feel like something of a mug for having been so "good".

I haven't seen my parents or been anywhere outside my town in weeks but he was fine with travelling all that distance with symptoms to see his.

AIBU to think whatever the next/current phase rules are it will be very difficult to get the public to comply?

I do think the behaviour of DC and the other 2 suggests that the strict lockdown was not really necessary
And /or that they are so special they didn't need to follow the rules
Either way I do think he should go
I have been following the rules Most people I know have been but I do think compliance is now tailing off which I think was inevitable
And we really do need to get back to work

That’s true. Our family “locked down” a week earlier as I was so scared. And as soon as I read about the study in Vo and the large number of asymptomatic cases.

Strangely I am less scared now, but that isn’t rational because there are more cases circulating now. Familiarity breeds contempt.

I think we should have had JC in Government as he no doubt would have done a better job and the financial aspect post CV19 pandemic would have been far better 😳

Meanwhile in other news, the Pope has been confirmed as Catholic 👍

There is an old adage, lead by example but it does appear to be one rule for us, one rule for them and they wonder why people flout lockdown rules and guidance 😡

People are really not bothering with the rules anymore. They wear masks and wipe their trolleys and stay away from people they don't know. They are mixing with their extended family; having barbecues and picnics in the parks with their friends and families. The rules have become ridiculous. Anyone who is sticking to them now feels it is a waste of time. These revelations about Dominic Cummings just reveal that those in power didn't give a shit about them right from the start.

They probably went because the nanny wouldn't want to be in a 'covid house' and they couldn't be arsed/ didn't know how to look after their own child.
If they were able to drive 250 miles, they were capable of looking after a 4 year old.

Alternatively, his sister,who presumably wasn't ill, could have travelled to London to help.

So I think I'll interpret 'the rules' a bit more flexibly from now on. OK Boris??

TBH @Ultrasoft I'm more pissed off at the over 50% of people aged 19-30 who are supposedly not observing lockdown. (Yesterday's announcement.)

That will be hundreds of thousands, many of whom will have the virus and be asymptomatic.

I have seen people breaking lockdown every single time I go for a walk.

Yesterday, 2 or 3 women with several children, walking outside, not distancing from each other or us when we walked by; we had to detour into a field of crops to avoid them.

I am more enraged by the scenes of crowds at beaches and outside the Range than one man who travelled in car. I know which is spreading the virus more.

If they were able to drive 250 miles, they were capable of looking after a 4 year old.

The didn't know if they would need ICU and a ventiator.

Alternatively, his sister,who presumably wasn't ill, could have travelled to London to help.

Oh how do you know that? maybe she has a child of her own, is single, or supports other family members, or is key worker who can't just take time off.

Well yes but if those people are seeing that that experts don't think the rules are important what do you expect Jingling? That was my exact point.

I'm quite happy that we have young people capable of critical thought, although I highly doubt it's 50% nationally. Very few rule breakers out and about here.

Might not be ideal but it’s not flouting rules

At the time, yes he WAS. Jenny Harries burbled on about ill children and getting them looked after at the press briefing days after he'd already travelled to Durham.

He will have stopped at service stations on the way undoubtedly... petrol, bathroom breaks etc.

To add another layer to the story, it is being reported that it was his Mother's birthday.

And the day before a NDN says he was out in his garden dancing to Abba.
If this is true, he obviously wasn't that ill was he?

My adult DCs would love to see us but we have abided by the restrictions.
But the man who attended the SAGE meetings and was instrumental in setting up these lockdown restrictions obviously doesn't believe those restrictions apply to him.

If he won't resign, BoJo needs to show some backbone and sack him. But given that the scruffy git Cummings runs everything behind the scenes, I doubt that will happen.
Appalling

I will keep following the rules but this makes me so angry. I think he will get away with it too.

@JinglingHellsBells this virus has been here since at least December. It’s spread far and wide already.

He needs to resign or there’s a real risk that people will take the view that the Rules no longer matter if the people who make them don’t even follow them (while symptomatic!) - the fact he’s Johnson’s key adviser unfortunately means he probably won’t resign.

@Roussette you quoted me completely out of context. I was talking about another poster flailing about people visiting beaches, not Dominic Cummings.

granted, but that’s not what you said.

I didn't mention a timescale in my first post, but I do recall that Derbyshire Police were criticised for using drones to police people out walking in the Peak District and not obeying the lock down rules then.

We are talking about why Cummings thinks rules don't apply to him, not how they have subsequently changed.

So it was ok to travel to a second home???? ....

Well, the Royals all decamped to their second homes, and that was apparently OK, so maybe he thinks he's Royal too?

Yanbu. I genuinely hope the 2nd wave is minimal. To watch a loved one die from covid19 through a glass wall coughing yellow stuff choking it is horrendous. I've backed off Mnet due to some of the comments. I wish the newspaper could show the faces of lives lost. I assure you all the victims are not 85 and near death anyway. All anyone can do if self protect now hold on tight while the ship goes down.
The one line spouted is Boris said "I can travel as far as I like" Boris said lots of stupid things before why trust him now?

I am really fucked off by those defending this reptile.

There were single mothers on here who'd had the fear of God pushed on to them by the likes of Harries and Cummings, if they dare find cover for their children.

Up and down the country elderly people are isolated from their families.

Then there was the teenage boy who died, but the family couldn't attend his funeral.

The hypocrisy is astounding.

But seemingly, because his parents had a separate building, it was fine to make an exception.

@eeehbyegum
I do apologise. I always want to read a thread before posting but I skim read thi one so totally my fault.

@Peregrina you did mention a timescale, you said bank holiday weekend.

‘ If the fine weather holds and with a Bank Holiday this Monday, it will be OK then if everyone goes to the beach?’

TBH @Ultrasoft I'm more pissed off at the over 50% of people aged 19-30 who are supposedly not observing lockdown

The article i read said that nearly 50% of 19 to 30 ( so probably 49%) were obeying the rules

The article went on to say that nearly 60% of 30 to 55 (i think) Were obeying the rules

So only 10% difference between the ages

TBH I think the Tories didn't expect people to obey the rules as stringently as they have. This Cummings story is a ploy to plant the idea that if he can do it, so can I. It's herd immunity by stealth. Economy before lives. The Tories are governed by sociopaths.

Oh bugger, bold fail

this virus has been here since at least December. It’s spread far and wide already Has this been proven considering the death tolls from March still going to May?
I know there was a virus in December DS aged 5 his Dad and sister had it. I doubt it was covid as DS had no rash but was very ill with a winter viral infection. He's had it the previous 3 years too.

I agree about the driving. If you are that ill you shouldn't drive at all. But the government was the one that decided drive-through test centres was a good idea!

Even if you forget about the pandemic and social distancing, if you are so ill that you need childcare support, you don't get in a car and drive 240 miles.

Surely he'll be sacked now?