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.

I looked at today' news a bit earlier and I could see was this man's name everywhere. I'd never or hardly heard of him before his breach of lockdown and now there's nothing else.

I expect plenty of people have done what he did, the difference is they don't have reporters lurking outside their homes and following them everywhere. I expect he and his family made sure they were quite safe, he did what he believed was right at the time. Nobody has died as a result of it, as far as I know, can't we just leave him alone now?

People on Mumsnet break the 'rules' sometimes too, they are castigated on here and others are called 'curtain twitchers'. I haven't been out of my house since before lockdown but I do not have young children or family many miles away, in his circumstances I might have felt desperate and taken a risk.

Nobody has died as a result of it, as far as I know

And you never will, @Lynda07. That's the whole point of the lockdown rules - to prevent the unwitting spread of disease.

The north east now has one of the worst infection rates in the country, so someone clearly took it there.

I’m surprised people hadn’t heard of him.

This is not a regular member of the public who has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

This is a dangerous psychopath who is essentially running the government despite a huge string of scandals, dangerous disregard for our country’s safety, and desire to turn the UK into some weird science experiment.

Cummings - and I say that as someone with something of a personal connection to him - is the most dangerous man in this country. It’s only right and just that flagrant rule breaking of the man who essentially runs the country should be in the press.

Of course he did

@Lynda07

Yes, maybe you would have taken a risk, but it would have still been breaking the rules, no? (Had you been caught, you would have been prosecuted.)

Also, you are not the most senior advisor to the government.

I can understand that he wanted to be near family, but don’t we all?

He had such power and privilege, there was absolutely no need for him to do this . Even if the two/three of them had been extremely ill, they could pick up the phone and something would have been sorted for him. Unlike thousands of families, front line workers, single parents, who had no choice but to suck it up.

It is said they had family and friends in London anyway.

It’s so ridiculous that he did this that I think there is more to come out. Why would he be so stupid? Unles it’s just supreme arrogance.

Sounds like we have to go for the supreme arrogance explanation, given that evidence is now coming out of at least two more visits to Durham during lockdown.

Nobody has died as a result of it, as far as I know, can't we just leave him alone now?

How would you know, @Lynda07? If someone picked up the virus as a result of touching something in a petrol station half an hour after he coughed on it, it's not terribly likely that anyone made the connection, is it? Interestingly, he's keeping very quiet about how and where they managed things like fuel and toilet stops on the journey - I wonder if that's precisely because they're scared of evidence coming out that they did indeed infect others?

This is a dangerous psychopath

Don't you mean "Career Psychopath" as diagnosed by the well known psychiatrist and ex PM David Cameron?

I doubt he did a journey to Durham from London with a four year old without stopping at least once somewhere. He needs to go !

Yes, he did. I think the thing that is difficult to stomach and why I won't 'just leave him alone' is that it is one rule for him and another for others. We, and a lot of people I know, have had the same worries. We chose not to drive to my sister's (for example) who lives about 40 miles away - no, they don't have a spare house in their garden but they do have a garage they converted to a bedroom for lodgers and don't currently have any lodgers - so could probably reasonably isolate there although it is much smaller than our usual house!. I had lots of worries about what would happen if we both got sick (I work in a hospital and have been going to work), but linked in with local support groups who were wonderfully reassuring (i.e. we'll get food if you need it delivered to the front door if you have to isolate). I'm quite new to the area where I live so don't know lots of people locally - also I'm in London so my friends are too far away to wander round by foot. Anyway, the point is, that for many of us, we didn't take the choice he and his wife did, despite the same worries, because we didn't want to spread the virus from London to other parts of the country.

Of course he broke the rules - worse, he knowingly broke them while he knew he had the virus. He knew he would be putting other people at risk and he did it anyway. It’s appalling.

Isn't he saying it was only his wife who had symptoms, therefore he was able to do the drive? So don't the guidelines say she should have self isolated within the home? Therefore no need to go anywhere. Rules broken.

Yes, the rules say she should have isolated for 7 days and he should have isolated for 14 days. Both broke rules. If he wasn’t sick he had no excuse for going. Even if he had been sick he should still never have gone, there were other options which did not involve 2 contagious people travelling the length of England.

I can’t wait to see how he responds.

Sadly I suspect with the usual arrogance.

Load of waffle about how no rules were broken, it was an essential trip due to safeguarding, it’s all fake news, shouldn’t you lot be 2m apart, don’t care what you think....etc. Then ignore it all and hope the media and public forget.

Steve Baker (Hartman of Brexit, former ERG chairman) just laid into him on Sophie Ridge and calling for him to resign.

Perhaps others will now find the courage to speak out?

Didn’t he try and recommend a herd immunity strategy, but BJ rejected it in the end?

He has to go. Today.

It’s absolutely appalling that they’re all rallying round him.

Thousands and thousands of patents have had the virus. We don’t all drive across the country “in case” we need help from relatives

There have been over 36,000 funerals from Covid alone and only limited groups have been able to attend these funerals.

This man does what he likes. He thinks the public are stupid and he enjoys toying with them. Unfortunately, his propaganda experiment worked with Brexit and this will have reinforced his megalomania. He does what he likes. Why the hell is he even in No 10 - he’s not elected?

The north east now has one of the worst infection rates in the country, so someone clearly took it there.

Durham Constabulary certainly issued fixed penalty notices to some people in the area - Peterlee is about 13 miles from Durham City.

"Some instances where fines have been issued include:"

•Two men aged 32 and 25, who did not live together, who had travelled from London to Peterlee.

Dominic Cummings and family obviously didn't receive a fixed penalty notice - I assume the police accepted their circumstances as reasonable at the time and within the guidelines as they were in March.

www.durham.police.uk/news-and-events/Pages/News%20Articles/39-people-issued-with-fines-for-not-complying-with-Covid-19-restrictions-.aspx

I don't like the man but if he went to Durham expecting to be able to work as a senior adviser and a key member of the government's response to coronavirus then I accept that he needed childcare when his wife was sick and he was self-isolating. If it was easy to work in such a job with a young child and a sick wife then all of our teachers should be able to deliver a full timetable of lessons every day regardless of whether they have young children at home or not. In the event Dominic Cummings became ill himself and he was covering that situation as well. I would also make the same allowances for the CEO of Sainsbury's or the London Mayor for example, if they were in similar circumstances.

If Dominic Cummings made return trips to Durham without a reasonable explanation then that is not acceptable.

Transport secretary currently on Andrew marr show defending him, saying he didn’t do anything wrong. States the report of a second trip/sighting is wrong.

It’s so ridiculous that he did this that I think there is more to come out. Why would he be so stupid? Unles it’s just supreme arrogance.

Supreme arrogance for sure. But that doesn't mean there isn't more to come out.

Clavinova if you think DC not receiving a fixed penalty notice is entirely because the police felt he was within guidelines and the fact that he is Dominic Cummings played no part then you are wonderfully naive.

Interestingly, he's keeping very quiet about how and where they managed things like fuel and toilet stops on the journey

No problem re-fuelling wearing gloves and and using pay at pump.
And why should he explain how he managed toilet stops? Not hard to work out, potty for child, suitable receptacle for adults.
I keep an emergency tena pad in the car since I was stuck in traffic for 5 hrs with a full bladder, on an overpass so nowhere outside to pee.

His arrogance is breathtaking.

The child is 4, typically long past potty age

He did what many of us would have wanted to do in that situation but couldn’t because it was against the rules. Is his child’s safety any more important than one of ours? Of course not.