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?

[Thinkingabout1t]

He probably questioned what would happen if both him and his wife were seriously ill and the child would then be at risk. He went somewhere where people could check on them.

On his income, why not employ an agency nurse and a nanny for a few weeks?

[VenusTiger]

I don't think it helps that we're all comparing how we did things/we'd do things to other people - it's pointless.

[CoachBombay]

I really can't get worked up about this, mainly because I'd be a massive hypocrite.

I'm a key worker. Single mother, WFH and community work. I've been using my mother for childcare when I needed to do community work here and there, he's even stayed over the odd night at hers.

If I were to become so unwell, I'd go to my mother's with DS and isolate there. I would need to drive there.

No I won't get a medal about being locked in my house eating moss of rocks or some sort of race to the bottom of misery, but I've done what I've done to mentally survive and cope during this pandemic. I followed the guidelines of "if possible" 🤷🏻‍♀️

[VenusTiger]

@Thinkingabout1t - not a chance I'd handover my 6yr old only child to a stranger, never, ever, ever. Where's your heart?

[PissOffStayAtHomeDogMum]

I am not above the law, @Ratasha However, the lockdown laws are arbitrary, not well defined or established. So, no, I have not adhered to them, and and will not do so either.

[VenusTiger]

@CoachBombay thank fuck for your comment - a mom friend of mine has been doing the same with her 3 kids all through lockdown as she's a nurse.

[RubyViolet]

His wife had family locally. In London. They could have dropped food to the doorstep or met them in the garden to check on them. These family members could have taken care of the kid if they were hospitalised.

[Ratasha]

I am not above the law,@RatashaHowever, the lockdown laws are arbitrary, not well defined or established. So, no, I have not adhered to them, and and will not do so either.
Okay, so you're a rebelling against laws you perceive to be unjust.

But dont you think it's a bit fucking rich for those involved in government, who actually implemented the laws, to not abide by them (and receive the seal of approval from the PM) when others are getting fined for similar breaches?

[Pacmanitee]

@CoachBombay but people in government should uphold their guidance, especially when there were other viable options. What you have been doing is entirely sensible, and you aren't in a position of relative power where your actions are likely to influence others.

[Doryhunky]

I am a lone parent. I suffered alone in isolation with covid symptoms and two children.

[Nonotthatdr]

@hopelesschildren of course. Have before and will again, fortunately not because both unwell but often for friends to give birth. So would most people surely?

[MadgeMak]

Would all of you happily take in a child of a friend if both parents were ill in hospital?

Maybe, if they were a close friend. But if I didn't feel able to I assume the parents in question would have to refer to the appropriate services to take care of their child. That's what us plebs would be expected to do.

[Ratasha]

The Rule of Law is one of the key foundations of our democracy.

Per the OED- the Rule of Law is "The authority and influence oflawin society, especially when viewed as a constraint on individual and institutional behavior; (hence) the principle whereby all members of a society (including those in government) are considered equally subject to publicly disclosed legal codes and processes."

Even if you think the lockdown laws, implemented by this government, are draconian and unjust, it should be clear as day that the PM's mates are being held to a different standard than the rest of the populace.

[CoachBombay]

pacmanitee I know what you are saying, but like they say people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I'd very much be doing that.

[Inoneminute]

I would absolutely take in a child whose parents were both hospitalised. I wouldn't hesitate no matter who it was, but the advice to parents was that local hubs would help if necessary.

[MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously]

It's bad enough to endanger your own child and parents but I want to know if he stopped for petrol and loo breaks, shedding his virus all over the service stations? What if he'd crashed or broken down and he'd infected the people sent out to help him?

I would be inclined to accept him breaking lockdown if there was literally no one in London who would have stepped in to look after the child, but we know that's not true. Iirc his sister or sil lives in London. The truth is he wanted to go and rules are just for us, not the likes of him.

I didn't know Caroline Flack but I'd hazard a guess that she would not want her death politicised to get Cummings off the hook.

[corythatwas]

He had no special reason to believe either that he and his wife would become more ill than tens of thousands of others nor that they would both be so ill at the same time that they would be incapable of looking after a 4-year-old.

No reason whatsoever. Zero. Zilch. And indeed it didn't happen.

If that happened, then his family should have travelled. Not him.

[SusieOwl4]

@user1498647726

About your point about who could go to the funeral that must have been down to the council and not the government because we were allowed 10 at a funeral and another council allowed 25

So I am not sure why that happened .

The funeral directors did tell us that some crematoriums had banned mourners but it was not the general government guidance .

Also you are allowed visitors for end of life .

[WrongKindOfFace]

Yes, both him and Gove have implied that us plebs are crap parents. We should have followed our instincts and drive to stay with our parents, like the right and proper Mr Cummings.

I have had suspected covid (I say suspected as at the time even keyworker plebs couldn’t get a test) whilst having to take care of a child who also had suspected covid. Somehow we managed without needing to spread our germs halfway across the country.

[Hermagsjesty]

@VenusTiger respectfully, that is exactly what the government have invited us to do by talking in these terms.

[SusieOwl4]

@Doryhunky

It does say in the guidance to do your best but if you have children it is understandable if you can’t adhere to every part of the guidance .

It does say that .

[jugglingbeans]

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

Surely it's just:

Boris Johnson protects the interest of Boris Johnson

[Hermagsjesty]

@VenusTiger sorry, I think the thread had moved on between my starting typing and posting. I feel the govt have invited comparisons by talking in terms of the instincts of “every parent”

[TabbyMumz]

"Why pretend there is nothing to see here"?
Because there really is nothing to see.. it's really not that interesting. He is not an MP, he is an advisor. He travelled to secure his son was safe and well cared for.

[Nonnymum]

"Having watched that briefing I am incandescent with rage
Seems a bit of an over reaction*

I think it's a perfectly reasonable reaction. I am also very, very angry as are many other parents and grandparents who have coped in their own homes with less support than Cummings and his wife had. She even has family in London who could have helped if they needed it and obviously they have childcare in London too.
He clearly broke the rules, if he owned up and apologised for an error of judgement that would be understandable but trying to justify it is just wrong.