to wonder who approved this message from DS?!

[riveted1]

Re: Dominic Cummings

In response to the fresh claims, Downing Street said: "Yesterday the Mirror and Guardian wrote inaccurate stories about Mr Cummings.

"Today they are writing more inaccurate stories including claims that Mr Cummings returned to Durham after returning to work in Downing Street on 14 April.

"We will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about Mr Cummings from campaigning newspapers."

The utter ARROGANCE of it. Reassuring the public that a senior member of government isn't a lying corrupt twunt isn't a waste of time. It is actually breathtaking how little they seem to care about public opinion.

@ChicCroissant and of course, 'deny, deny, deny'... then when faced with evidence, minimise, and where necessary, gaslight... when that doesn't work, shut down and stonewall completely

It’s his wife’s lying article that really takes the biscuit. I love how she offers two top tips to Covid-struck parents of preschoolers:
“When do you go to hospital? Cedd [their DS], in his doctor’s uniform, administered Ribena with the grim insistence of a Broadmoor nurse, and this might be my only really useful advice for other double-Covid parents or single mothers with pre-schoolers: get out the doctor’s kit and make it your child’s job to take your temperature. Any game that involves lying down is a good game. My other corona tip is to order at least a litre of PVA glue”

Funny she missed out the other key tip about driving the length of the country so family can look after you, given that this was 100% OK and totally within the rules...

NiceTwin, if you were in government and aware of the need to lead by example and you had family close by would you drive 200+ miles?

The statement is so arrogant and shows utter contempt for genuine concerns of the public. I think this reflects so badly on Boris and gives an insight into their beliefs that they don't have to follow the rules.

At the time the advice was very, very clear, stay home and protect the NHS. It could not have been clearer.

Just because you would do it too, NiceTwin, doesn't make it right. Many have struggled with the same situation and yet managed to stick to the law.

We will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about Mr Cummings from campaigning newspapers.

The sheer contempt of "We will not waste our time (which is infinitely more valuable than yours)" and the unintentional compliment to the "campaigning" Mirror and Guardian....

We will not waste our time answering

Translates as "We really don't want even to begin answering questions because we have no clue where he was on the relevant dates so can't prove what we are saying".

Who ever wrote it needs to hand back the crayons!
Was it DC's child

Can't agree with the 'well no one died' argument. Even if they did make the journey without touching anything or infecting anyone, the mere fact someone senior in the rule-making hierarchy has disregarded the spirit of the rules means a lot of others will also think, 'sod it, I'm going out too' - and that will certainly cause more deaths than if he hadn't made the trip, and those people stayed at home.

He needs to go, but as I saw on twitter earlier, Bojo firing him would be rather like Emu sacking Rod Hull.

f my dh and I were jorh displaying symptoms, we would have nobody to
Damn right we would go to my dsis's and live in her annex, just as DC did, so our dc's could be cared for.

@NiceTwin, would you do that if you had another sister down the road, if you had a circle of friends around you who could organise shopping etc, if you lived in an area which in fact has a voluntary organisation set up to do that as well, if you could perfectly well afford to hire a nanny or nurse? And would you still do it if your sister lived 270 miles away and you risked spreading infection to every unfortunate individual who chose to visit the same service station or motorway toilets for the subsequent few days?

If so, could you explain why?

Techway I don't have family close by, so it's a moot point. If I had family close by, of course I would call on them.
If I absolutely had no other option, I would travel to my family.

Eckhart you only have to look at the numerous posts on here to see people have been to fetch their dc from university etc after lockdown had commenced.

As an aside, I know of somebody who has it in their care plan, and have a letter to show the police if necessary, that they can meet up with a friend (in house) and have had permission since the beginning of April.

Not everything is as black and white in other people's world, just because it may be in others.

It’s his wife’s lying article that really takes the biscuit.

Oh god, Aardvark, I hadn't read that article. Jaw-dropping hypocrisy, blatant lies.

Boris Johnson and his crew are so totally shameless, it sickens me. I wouldn't mind so much if they were also brilliantly competent at protecting humans and the economy in the current crisis. But shameless and totally incompetent?

But maybe this can do some good. Maybe if the press start spotlighting the dishonesty of Johnson's chosen staff and advisers, people will finally see how unsuitable Johnson is to lead a country.

If my dh and I were jorh displaying symptoms, we would have nobody to look after the dc's.
Damn right we would go to my dsis's and live in her annex, just as DC did, so our dc's could be cared for.
It's not as if he was in the same house.

You're probably not alone in that. To be honest my issue is less with what he actually did (although that does annoy me) and more with the fucking nonsense the government and deputy chief medical officer are spouting that it wasn't against the rules. It so obviously was, it's like them coming out, pointing at the sky and calling it green. The complete disdain for the public's intelligence to come out and basically say "what do you mean did he break the rules? No that's fine, that's always been fine. Didn't you read the rules?"
Tell us the rules were wrong, and they're now being updated to include guidance to allow this sort of thing. Don't fucking stand there and say it was allowed all along when you know it wasn't. It's insulting.

I don't think anyone has died because of what he did

@Lynda07, you were asked on another thread how you could conceivably know this. Have you found any evidence?

He has to have stopped to refuel and for other breaks given that he had small child with him. Have you tracked down everyone who visited at the same time and for the subsequent 4/5 days and ascertained that they are still alive?

I thought the questions the reporters asked of Grant Shapps last night were brilliant. BUT, no one asked if they stopped on the 260 mile journey to use services........

@JudyCoolibar we are quite capable of travelling that distance without toilet breaks.
We would infect nobody as we'd.go.from our house to a detached annex.

It is a risk we would take if necessary.

@NiceTwin, do you seriously believe that Cummings "absolutely had no other option" I mean, I know it's quite credible that he could find no friend living closer than 270 miles from his house, but he lives in Islington which is rather well provided with Mutual Aid groups - www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/covid-19-mutual-aid-uk-community-groups-set-up-across-uk-to-help-self-isolating-neighbours-1-6563102

Hundreds of families (thousands?) did not travel to 2nd homes or AirBnB or any type of family accommodation during Lockdown because we thought we weren't allowed. Police put up signs saying "Don't go to your 2nd home." But it turns out it was allowed all along! Why were the police misled? Why were families denied access to their own property? Was it only allowed if one or more adults in a family group were symptomatic. Very bad show. I hope Emma Barnett picks this up. Grrrr.

But good news is now everyone can go to their 2nd homes, especially if you have symptoms. How nice of the govt to clarify that.

we are quite capable of travelling that distance without toilet breaks.

A journey of over four hours with one of you ill and a four year old child? Would you care to guarantee that?

And what would you do about fuel, bearing in mind that you need to get there and back?

It is a risk we would take if necessary.

The major problem, @NiceTwin, is that the risk isn't to you, is it? You would be choosing to go to these areas knowing that at least one of you is infectious and you have no guarantee that the others aren't. The risk is unquestionably primarily to, potentially, rather a lot of other people visiting and working there. Is the risk to their lives one you would take if necessary?

Hope Boris is getting his ducks in a row, and looking for a free half-hour consultation with a solicitor (I'm guessing his ex-wife won't do the job for him).

I don't think anyone has died because of what he did

I think a lot of people have died because of this government’s mismanagement.

There are no excuses for not following the same advice you asked every else to.

I mean it’s not a great sign for democracy when half the press is just a government mouthpiece that accuses the papers that are actually doing the job of journalists of “campaigning” is it?

Actually, while I think that what they did was wrong and that he absolutely has to go, I do think it might be possible to do the whole journey without stopping at services. You could stop in a quiet country road and pee behind a tree and stretch your legs in a field. Could possibly go whole way on a full tank (though query how they filled it up at the London end).

Grant Shapps was asked that very question on Andrew Marr this morning. He said he had no idea and then had to admit that he had been sent to talk about what Cummings did without actually having been allowed speak to Cummings himself.

There will have been plenty of households with both parents ill simultaneously. Ours was one, and luckily my kids are a bit older. I talked one of the kids through some basic food preparation, step by step, while too unwell to do it myself.

I also remember the whole family being ill simultaneously in the past when our kids WERE much younger, e.g. with probable swine flu. I don't remember how we coped but I know that we did. It's not impossible, you muddle through

It’s also clear from the wife’s article that he was in the verge of hospitalisation. So he was risking bringing the virus from London to another part of the country and taking up a local hospital bed.