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AIBU?

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Original poster

If you were annoyed at Dominic Cummings before

999 replies

NoMoreReluctantCustodians · 26/05/2020 07:41

How has his performance in the rose garden affected your opinion?

YANBU it's made things worse
YABU its cleared things up for me

OP posts:
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17
HarrietM87 · 26/05/2020 14:05

I don’t know @derxa I was interested in your views on the topic that this thread is about. But I say WAS because based on your recent contributions I’ve changed my mind.

sleepingpup · 26/05/2020 14:06

Derxa you sound panicked.

One question = spanish inquisition 😁

Friendsofmine · 26/05/2020 14:23

I just emailed my MP sharing my anger. I really hope people don't put themselves or loved ones more at risk too out of some misplaced vengeance but some PP are suggesting it has already started.

Mittens030869 · 26/05/2020 14:31

His story actually illustrates why they should never have left because his son and wife ended up in hospital potentially spreading the disease to another area of the country.

^This! So many people have coped with far more distressing situations. I've been unwell for 3 months, but it's never occurred to us to travel across the country in case we wouldn't be able to cope with childcare. We just coped!!

Leicester5 · 26/05/2020 14:33

I haven't read anything about his child being in hospital, was this in Durham?

tabulahrasa · 26/05/2020 14:38

“I haven't read anything about his child being in hospital, was this in Durham?“

Yep, he said so in his statement yesterday, child taken to hospital with wife to keep him company because he was too ill with suspected covid to go, he picked them up in the car the next day.

Scarlettpixie · 26/05/2020 14:40

I have calmed down tbh after his press conference. There were a lot of lies in the press who created an almighty palaver and fuelled a lot of anger. I don’t agree with what he did but I do believe what he said and that he thinks it was the right thing to do.

I have some sympathy in that he was out of his comfort zone yesterday and has been hounded by the press. I don’t blame him for wanting to get out of London or for not telling the press where he was - particularly given how they have behaved these past few days.

I have sympathy for anyone who has had to call 999 and have their 4 yo go to hospital.

Did he consider the guidance first before deciding to go or consider it a few days ago in order to find a loop hole? Who knows.

Cummings isn’t an MP and so isn’t accountable to the electorate- just his boss. I don’t think what he did is necessarily a sackable offence. I think the government handled it badly overall.

I am happy to move on and hope it looses Boris a few voters.

Leicester5 · 26/05/2020 14:40

Thanks @tabulahrasa

itsgettingweird · 26/05/2020 14:45

Scarlett. I get that. Some was reasonable. Not in the spirit of the rules but you could see why he made those decisions in blind panic.

But do you really think an explanation he drove because he was worried about his eye sight was either wise, plausible or even the right thing to do?

And do you think someone who makes decisions that go against rules he's written because he's in a panic is the right person to be senior advisor to the leader of the country?

StarbucksSmarterSister · 26/05/2020 14:49

The eyesight test drive is so ridiculous it has to be true.

It's utter BS. They went out for a drive on her birthday.

Did anyone actually ask why she couldn't drive them home?

Lynda07 · 26/05/2020 14:49

Scarlettpixie Tue 26-May-20 14:40:07
I have calmed down tbh after his press conference. There were a lot of lies in the press who created an almighty palaver and fuelled a lot of anger. I don’t agree with what he did but I do believe what he said and that he thinks it was the right thing to do.

I have some sympathy in that he was out of his comfort zone yesterday and has been hounded by the press. I don’t blame him for wanting to get out of London or for not telling the press where he was - particularly given how they have behaved these past few days.
...
Voice of reason there, Scarlett.
People just love being incensed! So he's not perfect, who is?

tabulahrasa · 26/05/2020 14:49

“And do you think someone who makes decisions that go against rules he's written because he's in a panic is the right person to be senior advisor to the leader of the country?“

It’s not even just that though, it’s the insistence by the government that it wasn’t going against the rules at all.

StarbucksSmarterSister · 26/05/2020 14:51

Great Freudian slip

Talking of which, I noticed at one point Cummings said "illegally" when he patently mean to say "legally" . Wink

HarrietM87 · 26/05/2020 14:52

@Lynda07 he doesn’t have to be perfect though, he just has to abide by the rules he helped write and not tell outrageous lies about when he broke them (I’m thinking of the eyesight test drive here).

His position means he should be judged on different standards than “normal” people - he is the senior advisor to the PM of this country. When he behaves with hypocrisy, and is defended in that by our PM, we should be questioning it.

IntermittentParps · 26/05/2020 14:52

I have some sympathy in that he was out of his comfort zone Diddums. He likes to boast about his toughness and his disregard for the press (his 'it's not about what you lot think') makes his 'meek' and 'respectful' performance yesterday look utterly unconvincing.

I don’t blame him for wanting to get out of London or for not telling the press where he was - particularly given how they have behaved these past few days. So why was he so keen to get back to London once he was cleared for work, and so sanguine about his wife and child coming back too?

Cummings isn’t an MP and so isn’t accountable to the electorate- just his boss. That is very much the point. WE can't fire him, so his boss should. Others have been fired for lesser breaches of guidelines and haven't created a web of lies like he and his wife have.

Lynda07 · 26/05/2020 14:52

Not that far either, Starbucks, thirty miles is nothing when you are out of a city. They were in their car, then walked. There's no question of them getting up close and personal with other people. Having been unwell I expect it did them some good, I quite fancy it myself after being shut indoors for months. Nobody will be taking photographs of me though and, when I return home, my neighbours won't even have noticed. Thank goodness for not being famous!

StarbucksSmarterSister · 26/05/2020 14:55

Ibelieve the 19th April and 10th May trips also happened, but there's no evidence to prove them

Especially 10th May. Why would people comment on the actual date that they'd just seen him in Durham if it wasn't true? Nobody knew at that time he'd been out of London at all.

There is a slim chance it was a doppelganger but he's pretty distinctive looking.

sessell · 26/05/2020 14:56

Right up there with the Prince Andrew interview - farcical whoppers. No he didn't get away with it. There have just been mega-million bots, spineless-auto-MPs and a smattering of gullible idiots repeating their weird and senseless mantras. This story still cuts through all of that because it insults most people who made massive sacrifices and did the right thing - for the greater good. It also threatens ongoing public health and goes to the heart of the UKs shambolic 'leadership' that leaves us right at the top of the world leaderboard for per-capita deaths. We won't forget this. We are writing to our MPs and gradually they are cracking. Bojo and cunnings have tried to play us all for fools. Yes I'm livid and more so after the rose garden farce.

Lynda07 · 26/05/2020 14:56

HarrietM87 Tue 26-May-20 14:52:02
@Lynda07 he doesn’t have to be perfect though, he just has to abide by the rules he helped write and not tell outrageous lies about when he broke them (I’m thinking of the eyesight test drive here).
.
Not eyesight so much as some eye problems, it was probably badly phrased. I have to say I sometimes have sore and streaming eyes (I don't have coronavirus, have been self isolating for goodness knows how long). Hay fever can do that. A short drive out would be a test of , if he'd 'come over all bad', his wife could have taken over driving.

I'm not defending the man and I do not like this government one bit but why make a hate figure out of this fellow human being? Whilst spitting venom at him are we not in danger of ignoring more important issues?

IntermittentParps · 26/05/2020 14:58

So he's not perfect, who is?
There's a lot of ground between 'not perfect' and 'lied, misled, obfuscated, patently made up a story to fit the known facts'.

thirty miles is nothing when you are out of a city It's quite far when a) you've got 'weird' vision and have only recently started feeling better after a bad bout of Covid b) you've got to drive thirty miles back too and c) you've got your wife and child with you on your little 'test drive'.

IntermittentParps · 26/05/2020 14:59

why make a hate figure out of this fellow human being? Whilst spitting venom at him are we not in danger of ignoring more important issues?
Undermining government guidance on a pandemic is pretty important from where I'm standing.

itsgettingweird · 26/05/2020 14:59

There is no issue or even suggestion going to Barnard castle was during covid and isolation time.

The question is over whether he should have gone due to it being a non essential journey.

Mittens030869 · 26/05/2020 14:59

I'm sure he really regrets mentioning the problem with his eyesight now.

sleepingpup · 26/05/2020 15:01

People just love being incensed! So he's not perfect, who is?

who cares if we're perfect ffs? Who the fuck cares if he's perfect or not? I couldn't give a stuff.

This is chief architect of the lockdown breaking rules ( oh no sorry, he didn't Hmm ) and a parade of senior cabinet and the PM tying themselves in knots to justify it. What the fuck?

itsgettingweird · 26/05/2020 15:01

Well he had all day and an extra half an hour to come up with a better excuse. He should have used that Grin