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?

[corythatwas]

A 4 year old child with a very poorly mother is extremely vulnerable

Of course he was vulnerable. Packed in a car with an infectious parent for hours instead of the sick person staying in their room with the door closed. And then (if there is any truth in his mother's article in the Spectator) being allowed to hang around his sick father's bed, bringing him Ribena and taking his temperature- nice exposure to droplets there!

If there is anything this sorry couple have NOT demonstrated it is care for the safety of their 4yo.

Though I am willing to concede that his mother may have been lying in the Spectator article; there were certainly a fair few holes to the rest of that story.

[PositiveVibez]

They don't care, you can just die

Top and bottom of it. If ANYONE on this board think Boris Johnson and his cronies could give one shiny shit about you or you loved ones dying, then you are deluded.

Boris Johnson protects the interest of Boris Johnson and his hedge fund buddies.

[chomalungma]

f they were both ill, that would mean they thought it was ok to choose drive along a motorway in that state, and fuck the risk to the other drivers

I am sure that is the next question.

What symptoms was Cummings showing when he left London?
Was he safe to drive 250 miles if he was ill with Covid 19?
Where did he stop en route?

[Nonotthatdr]

Been pretty pro government through this but serious angry now. Have written to my mp to express my displeasure that I and my husband managed to parent our young child despite having covid and did not need granny to help! We did say if we got to the point we were admitted to hospital/dead then we would ask a young local healthy friend to take her, but not drive across the damm country.

[MeganBacon]

He really didn't say that, and it's pretty silly to try to frame it that way.

[PissOffStayAtHomeDogMum]

Oh goodness, @BlackberryCane. I have spent the past two days reading the Cummings news, so I have no idea why you think I am ignorant.

However, I will concede that you would judge me because, yes, I would have driven 250 miles in the situation Cummings was in.

Judge away.

And I will, again, say that I can do what I like (and remember that this is theoretical, as I have neither small children nor willing grandparents) because I am a private individual. DC is not.

As previously mentioned, I was a lifelong Conservative voter until Brexit. So I am not coming at this from an inimical POV.

[Dumbie]

Can't look after a 4 year old, can drive 250 miles.

[GinDaddyRedux]

We have such a dreadful, superior "I know best" culture in this country, where some people would stick their fingers in their ears even if the Government warned them that Bengal tigers were marauding every street.

I think a lot of the people on here who are trying to denigrate the OP's argument by sneering at her "incandescent" etc are really just fans of Dominic Cumming's "fuck this I'll do what I think is best" approach. It's an approach so beloved of some on here that, no matter how harmful his actions might have been to the integrity of the lockdown message, they admire his "me first" approach and identify with it.

It's why we've had such a weak, shitty lockdown, because so many up and down the UK have decided "this is a joke, no one is telling me I can't" etc. It's the "I won't be told, ever" approach that brings out these Cummings fans. Some of them will have acted as he has, the rest are wishing they did and are damned if they won't now.

It's such a shitshow....OP has a very valid, fair argument, but she's going to be sneered at for championing and following rules which we were told from a high authority to follow in order to protect others.

[Ratasha]

However, I will concede that you would judge me because, yes, I would have driven 250 miles in the situation Cummings was in.
Just the first trip or the subsequent jollies too?

[TheWorstShed]

Yes, basically I agree - that is the implication of the absolute bollocks he came out with.

Like you, when ill with this, me and my husband took turns to sleep and supervise the kids but basically lying down. It was mild but the rest was needed. It's made me furious too.

I can only imagine how people who have had to make horrible difficult sacrifices in not seeing their families at key moments, and maybe for the last time, feel about this.

[YounghillKang]

They were either both too ill to take care of their child properly, in which case neither of them had any business getting behind the wheel of car and driving 200+ miles.

I agree perilously close to child endangerment, if the wife's Spectator article is accurate about their symptoms. There's also the issue about whether they stopped during the journey endangering people outside/as well as inside their family. In addition, if they had broken down or had problems on the journey they would have endangered even more people - one of the other reasons long car journeys were discouraged. And seems appalling other people were stopped and fined for small infractions of lockdown rules and no action was taken against Cummings or his partner. I share your anger OP.
Also find it hard to think that a multi-millionaire's family doesn't have staff, sure I read they have a nanny, so not likely they would have been without support in London.

[itsgettingweird]

Slarti no it wouldn't. My ds has a very rare condition (1:100000) and is autistic. I spent 3 days on the floor of my lounge trying to breathe. I stayed at home. I was told I must stay at home. We were to,d local authority hubs would sort childcare is we couldn't source someone to provide essential care.
I think that I, and others, should have been informed that in fact we didn't need to stay home, protect the nhs and save lives but in fact the minute I started symptoms I could have hauled my arse and corona virus halfway across the country in case I did actually end up as bad as I did.

[b0redb0redb0red]

It's a side issue, but I'm actually livid that the Cummings bot army (or whatever they are - they're certainly organised) managed to get Caroline Flack's name trending on Twitter earlier because so many of them were tweeting variations on "Have the media learned nothing from Caroline Flack's death? What if Dominic Cummings were to kill himself because of their bullying?". Yup, someone or some people out there think it's a great idea to appropriate the death by suicide of a vulnerable woman (and the discussions about misogyny and the media that her death inspired) to argue that one of the most powerful men in the country shouldn't have to be accountable if he screws up.

[GinDaddyRedux]

@TheWorstShed

Exactly. I think there will be thousands of families who voluntarily separated from their closest loved ones in order to halt the spread of the virus. This is what they were instructed to do.

Now, since Cummings, we get a bunch gf Mumsnetters proudly saying "no, I would have done what's best for my family, i.e travel 250 miles in a car, because I put my family first" etc.....it's so predictable.

We are such a nation of "I told you so, I know best, don't tell me what to do", that I bet there will be thousands of people who are quietly seeing Cummings as not quite heroic, but certainly one of their tribe.

[Hermagsjesty]

@MeganBacon respectfully, 90% of the 300+ people who have voted on this thread agree that is the implication of the government’s line of defence. So, if they didn’t want their argument to be interpreted in that way, then I think they should have worded it more carefully. It shows a stunning lack of empathy for the many people who have made considerable sacrifices to uphold the guidance.

[DioneTheDiabolist]

I think Slarti is canvassing for answers that would quell public anger.

[JamieLeeCurtains]

That's my take on it, @Hermagsjesty

Johnson, the Cabinet and Cummings hate us all - including the idiots defending them

[Blondieg]

Incandescent

[Cam77]

When is the leader of this country actually going to properly address the public? We have Hancock and Schnapps a couple of times a week, and that blathering idiot Johnson today (for the first time in a while) - but haven’t heard directly from Cummings in ages. Hes running the bloody country, surely he needs to step up a bit in terms of communicating with the public

[PissOffStayAtHomeDogMum]

@Ratasha Both. But I am 100 per cent opposed to the lockdown.

[Ratasha]

What if Dominic Cummings were to kill himself because of their bullying?
Stop, I can only get so erect.

[Ratasha]

But I am 100 per cent opposed to the lockdown.
And how do you feel about the Rule of Law?

[hopelesschildren]

Would all of you happily take in a child of a friend if both parents were ill in hospital? And no family in this country. And no, I have never voted for Tories, and have no family in this country and my dc are much older.
But to my question, no I wouldn't.

[Hermagsjesty]

@Blondieg you know, if you don’t have anything to add to a thread, you don’t need to add to it..?!