to think Dominic Cummings should go/thread 3

[SophieB100]

Third thread!

Cho, the advice back in April was not to travel to exercise unless it was because of a disability. And 25 miles to Barnard Castle would take at least 30 minutes and he said he was there for less than that. But then that's irrelevant anyway because he should not have driven 260 miles to Durham in the first place.

Oh I wondered why he kept banging on about "I blogged about the risk of coronaviruses, you can go and read my blog"!

Which he'd just edited to include a bit about coronaviruses.

Of course sometimes people do retroactively edit dated posts, for accuracy or as an addendum – in which case it's ethical and usual to inform the reader this has been done.

Just checked: nope, no such caveat on Cummings' blog post.

Kinnock broke the rules. He apologised.

Did he apologise? The Guardian -

"South Wales force criticised for tweeting disapproval of MP defying coronavirus rules." ...

"I felt that this was essential travel as I had to deliver some necessary supplies to my parents. I stayed long enough to sing ‘happy birthday’ to Dad, and then I was off. All the best, Stephen." ...

"Critics said the police were overzealous in publicly criticising the MP, as others warned they could could lose the respect of the public." ...

"The MP’s sister, Rachel, could also face admonishment from police after she tweeted that she had visited her parents to deliver a “cake, a crumble and a lamb curry!”

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/29/stephen-kinnock-targeted-by-police-for-visiting-father-neil

There really is no point ever giving this bloke the benefit of the doubt, is there?

inoneminute, no you didn't imagine it, here is a link to the video

twitter.com/liamyoung/status/1265215272304152581?s=21

You couldn't make it up

the advice back in April was not to travel to exercise unless it was because of a disability

I thought the guidelines from the police said that 'travelling to exercise is allowed as long as the time spent exercising is longer than the travel'.

Of course - the actual law said that you could leave the house to exercise. It didn't clarify how you left your house and how long to exercise for.

But we all know what was being asked of us.

can see that the government have a better net approval rating than premiership football clubs at this time, and that Rishi Sunak has an individual rating of 20%, whereas Keir Starmer's rating is only 12%

Why compare the government with football clubs? That’s utterly bizarre. I’m astonished Sunak’s rating is only 20% when he’s paying huge swathes of the population, I’d have expected it to be far higher. Starmer’s hardly high profile at the moment, is he?

Compare the blogs

twitter.com/jwiechers/status/1264953956758884354?s=21

Why compare the government with football clubs?

I didn't make up the poll!

You quoted it. Why bother?

April 9th they issued the advice for people with autism being able to drive, or be driven by carers, to quieter locations for exercise.

Just watched Kay Burly and Michael Gove, Gove kept saying that DC had done what was right for his family. As a nation we were asked to do what was right for our country not for us personally.

Also, even when we could drive to exercise, it was "if you need to", ie if you live in a flat in a densely populated unsafe area and cannot exercise safely nearby. It was never meant to allow someone staying in a house with extensive grounds to drive out for a jolly and sit on a riverbank.

There is doubt about whether his son has autism or not, but either way, in a house with extensive grounds, what need did he have to drive to another town to find quiet?

I don’t think there’s any actual evidence his son has autism.

There was a tweet the other day from a random that was deleted. That’s it.

Duncin I even like the "what's the word we're using" which could be interpreted as "oh shit, what was the party line?"

He didn't quite finish his lie either, it turned into not being an authority because he failed his test 7 times

what need did he have to drive to another town to find quiet?

But that isn’t why he went, it was to test if he could see well enough to drive.

Yes something came out about his son being autistic. It may or not be true. It may or may not have been a bot judging whether this would change public opinion if they used it. Especially as the "right kind of childcare" had been used an excuse.
But many people just said "and?" Because it hadn't changed the situation because loads of children and adults are autistic and still had to follow the rules.

So as far as this bit of the story goes it's a non starter and not really worth including or speculating about because it's not relevant.

There's plenty of actual untrue stories they've agreed are true to focus on!

MPs Saturday morning and other people on social media: look, Cummings self-isolated once in Durham, and didn't leave the house, so in that respect what was the difference between him self-isolating there or in Islington?

Me: but he didn't know he'd manage to do that. What if he or a member of his family had needed hospital treatment for it at his second home and so introduced the virus to the community around his second home? This is what happened in Italy. This is why we were all asked not to travel from London to second homes with lower infection rates even if we were all currently well.

Grant Shapps and social media: but that didn't happen. He self-isolated.

Social media this morning: leave Cummings alone! His child needed hospital treatment while they were in Durham.

Me:

Oh I wondered why he kept banging on about "I blogged about the risk of coronaviruses, you can go and read my blog"!
Which he'd just edited to include a bit about coronaviruses

From Metro -
"But the Wayback Machine–a digital archive showing what webpages looked like at specific dates–shows this quote was added between April and May this year. As recently as April 9, no mention of coronavirus is made."

However, this rather weird article about Dominic Cummings was published on the 6th March, not April/May. Is this a different blog?

"Did Dominic Cummings predict killer virus outbreak a year ago?"

news.nestia.com/detail/Coronavirus-shock%3A-Did-Dominic-Cummings-predict-killer-virus-outbreak-a-year-ago%3F/3656618

I'm waiting for Johnson's quavering resignation broadcast after the country makes it clear he can't keep his svengali and keep his job:

"I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility, and to discharge my duties as Prime Minister as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the man I love."

Finally read the transcript of DCs speech yesterday.

One of the reasons he went north was security.
If he was well enough to work, his wife and son would be safer there than in London as people knew where he lived and there had been some problems earlier.
But is that not something the police would have addressed.
Also, he then brought his wife and son back down with him - so he changed his mind re security?
What changed?

That LBC interview with Gove is a classic. You almost feel sorry for them (but not quite).

“Have you ever taken a 60-mile round trip to test your eyesight....”

“Er, I have on occasion with my wife taken... er, a trip to ensure.., er.... I’m not sure what is the right way if putting it.... “

Because it hadn't changed the situation because loads of children and adults are autistic and still had to follow the rules.

To be fair there is some leeway here as well - 9th April;

www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/media-centre/news/2020-04-09-guidance-on-exercise-coronavirus.aspx