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.

without taking sides, @riveted1 why have you assumed the red top are telling the truth and other people are lying?

Do you take as gospel anything that a tabloid prints? Especially when the paper supports the opposition?

I am surprised at how many people here think everything in the press is true, whichever side you're on, for anything.

Standard for the Tories since Dave and George. They only like the tabloids they co-operate with.

This government is venal and shameful and I have never known one that was so openly contemptuous of the electorate.

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

But could you guarantee that you would not suffer a breakdown or accident?

@JinglingHellsBells because he's admitted it?!

I don't make assumptions (wouldn't have got very far in my career if I did) but this came from the man himself.

I very clearly had allegedly in my second statement re going out in public

I rather think this is the problem now...

Bojo firing him would be rather like Emu sacking Rod Hull

Not sure who the original poster was or I'd credit them.

Dominic Cummings being doorstepped again this morning...gets into the car, looks a bit 'tired'...then has a VERY smug grin after closing his car door. Git.

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

Possible. Rather less likely with the 4 yo he was oh-so-concerned about.

But could you guarantee that you would not suffer a breakdown or accident?

Of course not @JudyCoolibar. I wasn’t defending him, I was pointing out that the “stopping at the services* allegation is the wrong one to focus on.

Driving to collect children from university when noone is.symptomatic is one thing . I can understand that despite the minority of asymptomatic Covid. cases.
When you are absolutely sure you have the virus in the house but you refuse to stay at home that is when I agree that you have gone to far

The absolute non negotiable completely unacceptable rule to break in all.of this shluld.be that if.you have Covid you stay at he.unleas.you need to be in hospital . The only acceptable.teason for you to leave your house is for medical emergencies .

I'd have understand of someone came.to live with them.to take care of the child . Even if another family took the child.in their home (.as long as they isolated as well )

But driving all that way with symptoms is.complety and utterly unacceptable.

@A1langdownthecleghole

How so? Kids will happily wee outside or run about a field. Our 3.5 year old would still use a travel potty to poo if out and about. They don’t tend to complain about not getting the chance to buy a copy of the Daily Mail in WH Smith.

Piece in the Sunday Times today:
"22 days of dither and delay on coronavirus that cost thousands of British lives"
Is there any paper other than the Telegraph which is still defending this useless incompetent government and the even more useless incompetent Boris Johnson?

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

And you know this how?

By far the most shocking thing about this is not what Cummings did, it is what the government is doing now in trying to defend the indefensible. This government has the moral compass of a sewer. Already one of the worst records in the entire world with more than 65000 deaths, and yet still they are willing to risk further confusion and water down the stay-at-home message just to keep this one aide working alongside them. Now the message is all "open to interpretation.". Level of contempt for the public is breathtaking. Level of contempt for the safety of the elder generation is breathtaking. Johnson needs to go. Or has shakehands man gone already?

Total joke.
And yet the Scottish Health Secretary had her head on a plate for travelling an hour to their second home amd meeting up with no one.
How come DC is untouchable? Elitist bunch of cuntbags..oh, wait we already knew that.

I think his arrogance is breathtaking so he has to go.

But aside from that, I think there are a lot of people living by the rule "never let a good crisis go to waste" and are using this to get rid of someone who has rubbed them up the wrong way (Baker, Farage, many nameless Tory MPs, probably other parties have a big hand in it). That's the worst type of politicking.
Also, no matter how tedious this story now is, I want to establish the facts of how many times he drove up and whether he spoke to the police etc., because someone is lying and I would just like to know who.

we are quite capable of travelling that distance without toilet breaks

Irrelevant. If Cummings had done the entire journey with no breaks at all, he would undoubtedly have said so.

It seems like Durham police did themselves no favours by putting out a statement that made it sound like they took the initiative to investigate and warn him. I can’t quite work out why DC’s father would have called them but I do believe that was the sequence of events. I find it a bit worrying that the police were not able to give a statement that accurately stated what had happened.

It unfortunately makes it look like they tried a bit too hard to support the Guardian’s agenda. Which is annoying because the true story was damaging enough but it is the little inconsistencies that dilute it.

How on Earth were they unwell enough to care for one child but well enough to drive 260 miles? And if they isolated themselves when they got there why didn’t they just do that in London? It makes no sense.

Tories don't give a shit about the public. They certainly don't give a shit about Guardian, Observer or Mirror readers.

Johnson was elected without engaging in TV debates - he was allowed to breeze through unchallenged. Likewise with Covid - Johnson hasn't sent any senior figures to debate issues with journalists.

Hypocritical to fine Tom from Tesco for going to the seaside for a day, or Alice from Aldi from going to sunbathe in the Park, when they've been working non stop while a Covid infected Cummings drives hundreds of miles to take the virus to others!

Too many people seem to think criticising the government during the Covid crisis is unpatriotic! A healthy critical press and media is essential to democracy.

@ArgumentativeAardvaark DC's father called the police worried about security for his son apparently.

@ShredMeJillianIWantToBeNatalie DC wasn't actually ill, just worried he might become ill and might not be able to look after Saint Cedd is the story.

I think that the argument was this: she was unwell. He was probably going to get unwell. If both v sick at same time, Family would have to step in. So they went to Durham so that just could go to Auntie’s house if they both got too sick to care for kid. However in the end they did not need that as she was well enough to look after kid by time he got really sick. I think they will argue that was better for a frightened 4 year old with sick parents to be cared for by family than a stranger. The problem comes in that in the end all the family did was deliver shopping, which anyone could have done in London. Also sister - who did not have Covid- could have travelled to them. Or kid could have gone to Mum’s brother in London.

It seems like Durham police did themselves no favours by putting out a statement that made it sound like they took the initiative to investigate and warn him. I can’t quite work out why DC’s father would have called them but I do believe that was the sequence of events. I find it a bit worrying that the police were not able to give a statement that accurately stated what had happened.

I think the sequence of events was someone saw Cummings at his parents' property, reported it to the police. This person also reported it to the papers. Paparazzi turn up at parents' house, take photos (subject to injunction?) of Cummings dancing to Abba.. Cummings' Father calls the police, explain his son is there (police already know this, and reiterate lockdown advice) and asks advice on getting the paparazzi off his land (the 'security matter'). So both the Durham police statements were true. In the first statement, the police were just focussing on the lockdown breach aspect of it (rather than the 'security matter' aspect)

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
@NiceTwinits not a moot point in relation to Cummings, who did have family nearby and did live in an area with plenty of community support organisations to call on, and also seems to have many friends judging by the way they are leaping to his defence.
That’s what the ‘hoo ha’, as you put It, is about. He absolutely didn’t need to travel to ensure the wellbeing of his 4 year old.

@madroid

ArgumentativeAardvaark DC's father called the police worried about security for his son apparently.

I know. But why would he do that when it would bring attention to fact he was there? Was he expecting police to be complicit in the initial crime?