Did Boris Johnson just call us all bad parents?!

[Hermagsjesty]

Having watched that briefing I am incandescent with rage, less at what Cummings did - I understand people might have needed to make difficult choices and compromises during lockdown - but at the excusing of it. Why not admit it was an error of judgement and apologise?

I have three children. When my husband and I both became ill with what we believed to be Coronavirus in mid-March, we took turns to watch the children whilst the other slept. I lay on the sofa, feeling the illest I have ever felt, while CBeebies played on loop. We relied on neighbours we barely knew to drop off essentials. We would have loved to lean on family but we didn’t because we believed to do so would endanger them and the wider community.

A succession of ministers - and now the Primeminister himself - have suggested that Mr. Cummings behaved as any loving parent would. But many loving parents did not behave as he did. We struggled and made sacrifices in what we believed was the National interest. Are they now suggesting we just don’t love our kids as much as Mr. Cummings loves his?

Agency nurses or nannies were not allowed to work.

Again, nonsense, @TabbyMumz. It was expressly provided that people who needed to travel to work could carry on doing so.

No. If necessary, the childcare should have travelled to the infected person.

What if they cant drive? There are lots of scenarios we dont know about here. The childcare might not have been able to go to them. Their parents might have needed assistance too, the child may need certain type of assistance. We cant presume to know the ins and outs of their family scenario

Trains have been running. More materially, they have other family members living near to them. They live in Islington where there are a number of Mutual Aid initiatives for delivering groceries etc to shielded and self-isolating residents. They have never once suggested that their parents needed assistance, and if they did, travelling up whilst infectious is self-evidently not the way to provide it.

Why do you keep trying to spin the facts? The excuses you keep coming up with are really getting a bit desperate.

"And because it's incredibly unlikely that theonly people who could look after this child live 270 miles away and are unable to travel down to London to help."

You dont know whether his parents can drive, or whether the family that lived in London were able or willing to care for him. It might have been the best possible solution for all the family. If his parents are elderly and needed help themselves he may have thought it was ideal in that he could travel to care for them (especially as his uncle had died), and for his ill wife to isolate in a separate building. Then if he got ill, they could watch out for him and the child. I dont think we can speculate if we font know the full reasons, which we probably shouldn't know if its personal and private. This whole thing is a witchhunt brought to a frenzy by the press. Just like Diana. They want blood and wont stop until they get it. They need to lay off now. Theyve probably made life hell for his family.

Tabbymumz

Agree with you.

Some refreshing and sensible posts.

This isnt about finding out about the rules, it's a witchhunt. They want blood and they wont stop until they get it. There was allowance in the rules for this

That's just a defence trotted out when there isn't one "Oh its a Witch Hunt!"
The rules were (for once) very clear Stay at home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Its why with very deep regret we didn't go and visit my partners Nan before she died or go to her funeral, its a pity we didn't realise there was a Cummings clause in the legislation (Andrew Marr)

Johnson defending him shows the contempt these people have for the ordinary citizen.

I’ve just seen a clip of DC sarcastically telling journalists - why are you here you should be following the rules. This is what children do when they know they have got away with something. He hasn’t said anything except snide comments and basically rubbed it in the public’s faces that he can do what he likes. I didn’t know anything about him and I haven’t seen him play an active role in this - it’s all behind the scenes. His arrogance coupled with the unfaltered support of BJ is quite concerning. He seems to be calling all the shots and the ways he may be getting away with this are frightening. What does he know ?

"Why do you keep trying to spin the facts?"

Actually noone knows the facts. Because they are private to them and should stay that way. Saying they can get trains....maybe they cant. Have you thought of that. Honestly this is terrible. Saying maybe they could have done this, maybe that. Maybe family in London couldnt help, or wouldnt. Maybe one of their parents has dementia, there are all kinds of different scenarios that you probably dont know about .

Tabbymumz evidently doesn't understand the meaning of the term witch hunt.

He is just an advisor. He is not an MP.

He's an advisor who has direct access to the PM and heavily influences him. He's an advisor who sits in on SAGE meetings. He's the advisor who came up with the herd immunity idea.

What is fascinating is the fact that Johnson is so desperate to keep him. Given the government's pretty disastrous history throughout this crisis, you'd think it might be tempting to throw Cummings overboard and blame him for everything, but Johnson doesn't even want to do that. What on earth is the hold that Cummings has on him?

He followed the guidance.

No, he didn't, and you know he didn't, @TabbyMumz.

I dont think we can speculate if we font know the full reasons,

Oh the irony of a poster that speculates and then says this!

If his parents are elderly and needed help themselves he may have thought it was ideal in that he could travel to care for them (especially as his uncle had died), and for his ill wife to isolate in a separate building

If they are infirm, they couldn't look after an autistic child, as for Cummings looking after them.... do you have any idea about infection control? No wonder the UK has 1000s of new infection each day.

"Agency nurses or nannies were not allowed to work."

"Again, nonsense,@TabbyMumz. It was expressly provided that people who needed to travel to work could carry on doing so."

Not to provide childcare it wasnt. Nannies and agency workers had to stop work. So if the Mum provided childcare for an autistic son, where was she suddenly supposed to get childcare from.

I wander what he was really doing

How many kids does BJ have? I've forgotten

So has he.

The fact is, if the childcare angle was genuine the whole situation could have been avoided by a statement going out to that effect.

Rather than allegations of being far worse with the illness than you are, your desperate need for childcare coinciding with one important family date if not two, and completely ignoring the guidelines you should be upholding.

As suggestions as to why other people couldn’t do the childcare, are we saying in an emergency a top government adviser wouldn’t be able to access assistance in getting his parents and sister (who had the idea of travelling to Durham in the first place) to London in a manner that didn’t break the guidelines?

*wonder! (just woke up)

Time in Durham coincides with the weekend his uncle died in London. Could it have been a family coming together to grieve?

No, @chomalungma. Because he hasn't ever claimed that. And because it would have been incredibly irresponsible to travel up to see elderly parents, whether to grieve or for any other purposes, when you know you are infected.

"They have never once suggested that their parents needed assistance"

They shouldn't have to. It's none of your business or anyone else's.

So if the Mum provided childcare for an autistic son, where was she suddenly supposed to get childcare from

Well the father who clearly wasn’t as ill as MW suggested?

No, he didn't specifically say we are all bad parents. He said D.C. was "following the instincts of a parent"
I'm sure all our "instincts" told us it would be better to travel somewhere in case we needed help with a loved one.

But we didn't follow our instincts. We followed the rules. We stayed at home.

Thinking what you did was right doesn't make it right.

I've seen here a good comparison. Thinking that by stealing a loaf of bread you are doing the right thing because your child hasn't eaten for 24 hours. Following your instincts that it's the right thing to do - ensure your child is fed. Doesn't make it ok. Doesn't make it legal.

I wouldn't have that conversation with my only child, he's 6, you would have to literally wrench him from my parents arms in those circumstances - there's no way he'd go to a bloody "hub" - my parents are the closest family to us, over an hour drive away, both in their 70s and my dad is still WFH

@VenusTiger, I hope you're not seriously suggesting that you would put your vulnerable parents at risk by asking them to look after a potentially infectious child? How would you feel if they caught the virus from him and died?

Cummings' actions surrounding observance of lockdown are literally everyone's business, because he attends SAGE meetings and is the PMs adviser. The public interest in this story is entirely legitimate.

BlackberryCane

"Tabbymumz evidently doesn't understand the meaning of the term witch hunt."

You are part of it BlackBerry. You've been whipped up into a frenzy and cant see it for what it is. A witchhunt. Pure and simple. When I saw them putting a massive tv screen outside his house with videos of boris blaring out stay at home at high volume that did it for me. Absolutely disgusting.

The fact that anyone can justify or stand up for what DC has done and his actions since completely makes me question their intelligence. It’s very clear that he disregarded the rules to suit himself and isn’t sorry. He is arrogant. He doesn’t care what you little people think because he knows he can do what he likes. Sickening.

I couldn't care less about Dominic Cummings visiting his parents.

When I saw them putting a massive tv screen outside his house with videos of boris blaring out stay at home at high volume that did it for me. Absolutely disgusting

😂😂😂

Your post is further evidence that you dont understand the meaning of the term witch hunt tabbymumz.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking we could do with a waaaah how dare you criticise Dominic Cummings bingo card. We obviously need a witch hunt square. Another for I have decided the general public don't care, because obviously my views must be representative of the population. And safeguarding too, that's got to be on there. As has, I am claiming either through bad faith or ignorance that Cummings isn't actually that important.