to think Dominic Cummings should go/thread 3

[SophieB100]

Third thread!

[merrymouse]

As per my PP its orchestrated perfectly to take the spot light of what they are pushing through.

I think you are assuming a degree of competence in government that doesn't exist.

[PotholeParadise]

It's not so much about his actions anymore. It's their reaction to the situation. The plebs!

Yip. When this started, I was a tad amused to be honest, because he'd got caught. I fully expected that he would step down and be rehired within a month just as Calderwood and Ferguson stepped down.

I stopped being amused when the government tried to take the moral high ground, and kept trying to position his case as The Only Parent in Britain.

[solieltoday]

What would have happened if DC has actually been seriously ill and ended up in a Durham hospital for weeks? Did he think nobody would notice?

[Clavinova]

Can I ask as a matter of interest, what version of it do you believe? Mary's version in the spectator...

I don't believe Mary's version - she's a journalist/columnist - they exaggerate - otherwise their articles would be boring and not worth reading. I believe that DC was very unwell, but perhaps not for 10 days - I don't know whether he had coronavirus or not. I do know that Boris Johnson was very unwell with coronavirus and I think we can safely assume that DC was telling the truth about his son spending the night in hospital. The trip to Barnard Castle could well be Dominic Cumming's version of the truth even if his wife persuaded him to make the trip because it was her birthday - her birthday doesn't necessarily mean he was telling a lie about his motives for the drive.

[SophieB100]

We are now the laughing stock of Europe's papers - the cartoons, whilst funny, depict a PM jumping to the tune of an employee.

The Star (I know) is giving away a free mask with today's issue: It's got DC's face on it. They suggest you wear it and do what ever you want, the slogan is, "I can do what I want, and sod the rest of you" or some such message.

[chomalungma]

I think you are assuming a degree of competence in government that doesn't exist

#classicDom

[NoMoreReluctantCustodians]

@Clavinova if you're saying you believe his version mary hasn't exaggerated. She downright right out and out lied. To cover up for a top government employee. And that government employee didnt correct her until he was caught out. It stinks whatever way you spin it. You know it's all bollocks anyway. No one who can write.as artuculately as you is stupid enough to believe that convoluted hastily concocted pile of shite story in the rose garden.

[merrymouse]

just as Calderwood and Ferguson stepped down.

I would have been happy with an apology from Calderwood and Ferguson and I would have been happy with an apology from Cummings. People make mistakes. It isn't always necessary to resign.

The thing I can't accept is the gaslighting, the attempts to retrospectively change the rules and the trashing of virus control strategy going forward.

[NewYearNewTwatName]

I think you are assuming a degree of competence in government that doesn't exist

They are not competent to run a country, but most of them are very very competent of lining theirs and their chums pockets.

DC is and evil little turd, who wants utter chaos so he can do as he pleases with the figures on his sheets. AKA people and society.

[2020notQuiteAsPlanned]

I agree @merrymouse
Get it wrong. Apologise.
Move on.
Cover up, not so.
There's an almost 100 year old legal quote

“Justice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”.

It's not enough for those in or close to power to twist the rules to their own purpose and then pretend they didn't or they don't apply to them.

[Clavinova]

if you're saying you believe his version mary hasn't exaggerated

I haven't got time to read her article again at the moment (stuff to do) - she certainly implied they were in London without actually saying it - 'stepping out into London lockdown' or whatever she wrote could be described as figurative language (English teachers will probably correct me here).

[merrymouse]

I don't believe Mary's version - she's a journalist/columnist - they exaggerate - otherwise their articles would be boring and not worth reading

I think you are right - she was just turning in her x number of words to earn a living, and her job as a columnist (as opposed to a journalist) is to entertain.

On the other hand I care very much about the Trump like way that Cummings has blamed the media for the hurt that he has caused.

The journalists from the Guardian and the Mirror followed up on leads and reported what they were told. Most of their story turned out to be accurate. Cummings and the government had ample opportunity to clarify stories about the second trip, but refused to comment.

[solieltoday]

“The thing I can't accept is the gaslighting, the attempts to retrospectively change the rules and the trashing of virus control strategy going forward.”

Exactly merrymouse. It’s the blatant attempt to gaslight the public that makes me so upset here. It’s shows the sheer contempt they hold people in.

It’s like saying, “Yes I know you believed what you believed and thanks very much for staying in for weeks with three sick kids at the top of a high rise flat, but hey, you were wrong..., You should have used interpretation and instinct... Of course you could have taken them to family members if you’d been REALLY worried.... But anyway, never mind eh.., shops are opening soon. Haven’t we done well?”

[Choccyp1g]

'stepping out (of the car) into London lockdown'

Is it called ellipsis, when you miss a bit out of the sentence?

[PotholeParadise]

Well, this is their problem. Calderwood and Ferguson were forced to step down because of political pressure when they were actually useful people. That is the political standard the UK government set. There was a lot of talk about how the public couldn't be expected to comply with the guidance if their heads didn't roll. I wasn't sure about that, and there had been an opinion poll, I would have ticked 'don't know'.

But now it turns out Dom did something far more egregious, and the same quarters that howled for Ferguson's head are yammering "he was just a man... taking care of, of, of a sick child" as if it some kind of trump card. Telling us not to "politicise it" if we do so much as raise our eyebrows at the sheer audacity of such an excuse.

Among many other things, it proves exactly how out of touch they are with what lockdown means for a nation. Johnson has been reading speeches about appreciating the nation's sacrifices for weeks, and at the first opportunity he had to show that he truly comprehended any of his past verbiage, he failed. He wittered about how Dom had followed the instincts of a father as if none of us watching had faced the same decisions as Dom and done better.

[merrymouse]

'stepping out into London lockdown'

The relevance of her story is not that she lied, but that she clearly knew that going to Durham was wrong.

In normal circumstances the frantic journey north would have provided plenty of fodder for her column.

[chomalungma]

It's interesting re Brexit - because Cummings is famous for getting the message out to all those voters who were disenfranchised, thought they didn't matter etc - and getting a feeling about them and getting them on board to make Brexit happen

They seem to have done a massive 'fuck you' to all those people who were annoyed at the 'elite'

[The80sweregreat]

Brexit is the only reason his not history.

[itsgettingweird]

Cho for someone who did undoubtedly do a fantastic job of reaching out to to the disenfranchised and getting them on bored.
He had done a fabulous job of disenfranchising a whole society over lockdown.

[Clavinova]

Is it called ellipsis, when you miss a bit out of the sentence?

I meant she wasn't writing literally but using figurative language for effect to engage the reader - if that is the correct term.

[chomalungma]

He had done a fabulous job of disenfranchising a whole society over lockdown.

Exactly

[sleepingpup]

I meant she wasn't writing literally but using figurative language for effect to engage the reader - if that is the correct term.

She sure was 😂😂😂😂😂

All this ridiculous justification and tying up in knots.

[Potentialmadcatlady]

As someone who is shielding and has been since the 14th March to potentially save my sons life I despair at what our country has come too.
The bottom line is that man broke the rules that the rest of us are having to follow.
Rules he helped make.
If he had said ‘you know what I did what I thought was best at the time for my family, I see now how that could have caused a lot of upset and for causing that upset I apologise’

Then I might have said to myself ‘he is a total wanker but there are more important things to deal with right now’

But he didn’t.

And this week has been spent watching BJ tell us basically he was a better parent than the rest of us and listening to increasingly appalling lies.

I sit in my house shielding my son (for dear knows how long) and all I can think about is the mother of the 13 year old boy who didn’t get to sit beside him and say goodbye.
The Mother who Knew her child was buried alone.
All I can think about is how awful listening to this whole nonsense must make an already appalling situation even worse.

Our country is a laughing stock.
The lack of moral integrity and basic common decency is heartbreaking.

[The80sweregreat]

His job back in 2016 was different to now.
Yes he achieved what he needed to do.
Before this pandemic he probably had a much easier time of it : Boris was popular and elected to ' get brexit done' , 80 seat majority etc etc. This virus has messed up everything and they all had to do work a bit alien to them I guess.

[The80sweregreat]

Emily Matiss is in trouble now too.
It's like ripples on a pond.