To think that Dominic Cummings DID break the rules?

[LumaLou]

The day after reportedly developing coronavirus symptoms, Dominic Cummings and his family travelled 200 miles to self isolate.

While I can understand the desire to be near family, AIBU to think they should have isolated at home?

Many families in the UK have faced situations where sticking to the rules has at best inconvenient, at worst traumatic. They have managed to do so with less of a support network and less resources at their disposal than the Cummings family.

The weasely statements aren't really a surprise. Dominic knows where the bodies are buried.

Rules or not, what kind of man expects his parents to care for his possibly infectious son? Meanwhile, families were facing the loss of their loved ones without being able to say goodbye. His arrogance pervades his private life as well his "professional" life. What a tosser.

Not unreasonable.
This incident and the way it's been defended by Gove, Raab and others, not to mention the way it has been covered up for nearly 2 months ought to bring the government down.

And we are now supposed to believe that everyone who has had symptoms would have been completely justified in driving wherever the hell they wanted visit (with symptoms) anyone they wanted to ensure convenient childcare? What???

It's not even what he did as an individual - it's the systematic hypocrisy and bullshittery that this (once again) exposes in this government. I cant put into words how angry I am. It is utterly disgraceful.

He objectively did break the rules, this isn't open to interpretation. You can't leave the house if you or a household member has Covid-19 symptoms.

Whether his rule breaking was justified is what is open to interpretations" and it's for him to present his case and for people to decide.

Personally, I find it entirely believable that he couldn't find anyone closer than 250 miles that was prepared to help him out in a tough spot and that the only people that would help him were his blood relatives, he's not exactly a personality that I imagine people are drawn to do favours for...

He definitely broke the rules. The fact that the government are saying it’s fine (Matt Hancock’s tweet was outrageous) says a lot.

I wonder if it was the prospect of actually having to care for/home-school his own child while nursing his sick wife that drove him north to shift the burden to female relatives?

Of course he broke the rules which are clear about staying put and isolating when someone in the house has symptoms.

Of course he thinks the rules that he helped frame don't apply to him.

Of course he scarpered when it looked as if he might have to do the grunt work.

Of course he won't resign, nor be sacked.

Of course he broke the rules. “Reasonable excuse” to leave your home does NOT apply to anyone with symptoms. If you have symptoms you must not leave your home for any reason.

He should be sacked because he broke the rule, he’s proven he can’t be trusted, that he disregards rules when it suits him (a dangerous quality in a politician), and that he’s generally a totally selfish wanker.

Rules or not, what kind of man expects his parents to care for his possibly infectious son?

I read that his sister and other family members were also available to he help there.

cardibach no at one point they definitely said you could leave the house for exercise even if you have symptoms. I don't dispute that this is now against the rules but it wasn't initially because I checked!

It was allowed around the start of lockdown. I don't know when it changed. Not that that excuses Cummings of course!

You were definitely allowed to leave the house for exercise while SI early on. It was discussed on here (because people were a bit surprised it was allowed). It was changed silently on the government and NHS websites at some point.

The rules are clear. He and his wife had symptoms. They all should stay at home.
He could use this opportunity and add something to the guidance about what to do with children whose parents are ill.

Rules are generic and don't take account of individual circumstances. So if they don't have the force of law, I don't necessarily see it as a problem if they are broken.

In fact even if he broke the law, I'm open to saying fuck the law, depending on the circumstances. (I wouldn't have said this for most of my life, but I'm still bitter at having to pay £280 in congestion charge fines years go, because TFL didn't feel like going out of their way to contact me and collect payment by another means, when the credit card they had on file expired.)

www.google.com/amp/s/inews.co.uk/news/health/self-isolation-coronavirus-explained-how-isolate-uk-advice-who-latest-1995688%3Famp

Here's an article referencing it.

'If you are self-isolating, you must not leave your home for any reason, other than to exercise once a day – but stay at least two metres (three steps) away from other people.'

I really don’t think his actions were in keeping with guidelines. Don’t understand at all how this is acceptable!

They weren't in keeping with the spirit of the guidelines. Even if you could find a way he didn't break the letter of the rules (he did, so good luck), it's clear he wasn't in keeping with the spirit of the rules. Normally that wouldn't matter, but when you actually wrote the rules in question it becomes a bit more problematic.

I agree with a pp earlier who said the correct approach would have been to say yes I broke them, I had absolutely no choice because of this, it highlighted to me the particular issues faced by parents, here's some workarounds.
But that would require empathy.

Why did he need child care if he was at home isolating? He and his whole family would stay at home.
Why travel the other end of the country to spread the virus there?

His claim is he was worried wife and himself would be incapacitated with it at the same time.

That's a fair worry. Healthy Relative should have travelled to them though.

Of course he broke the rules. It’s so insulting that they’re all trying to suggest otherwise.

Yes he broke the rules,no nothing will come of it if it is left up to the government. It'll be interesting to see what's Starmer does with it.

@scarfsladybag THANK YOU I thought I was going mad! 😂

I had searched for evidence to confirm my memory but couldn't find anything! "We have always been at war with Eurasia" etc etc...

Last week MN was awash with threads ‘not understanding’ the new lockdown rules.
This week everyone’s an expert on what the rules are.
Make up your minds, will ya?

Absolutely he broke the rules.

My DH is a civil servant, WFH. He has been out to the shops once a week and that's it. I'm pregnant and our friend offered us their used cot, and he hasn't gone to pick it up as he was concerned that if he was stopped by the police, it wouldn't be classed as an essential journey and he could lose his job.

If Cummings keeps his job (which he will) it's a national disgrace.

The Tory response that all he did was look after his family rather than explicitly admit the rule break is gaslighting on a national scale.

Why DC keeping his job is SO important to the government is beyond me. The man might have flashes of genius according to those that know him but he's an epic liability most of the time.

He's clearly got a lot of dirt to dish on bozo and a few ministers that's why he's keeping his job