If you were annoyed at Dominic Cummings before

[NoMoreReluctantCustodians]

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

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

'Please don't forget the Jenrick slime as well. No repercussions for him apparently.'

What about Kinnock and all the labour mps who actually did break lockdown rules and not for exceptional child care reasons? Keith Starmer didn't reprimand any let alone sack them which he was blustering about yesterday that he would do if he was pm.

GetOffYourHighHorse- I’m not aware of any of them having sat on SAGE committees or come up with the policies everyone was expected to follow at the time. Do you know something I don’t? So far as I can see, DC is more of a Prime Minister than the Prime Minister is, so his case should be viewed as a matter of public interest, and if he can’t behave appropriately and isn’t even elected, he should be sacked.

Come on Whitty! Now is your time. Throw BJ under the bus.

@GetOffYourHighHorse do you think DC didn’t break lockdown rules??

Even if you accept the trip to Durham was within the rules, there are no exceptions for testing out your eyesight I’m afraid.

The whole "make your own mind up" thing just means "we do not care what you think"!!! The eyesight story beggars belief..... and once again shows that we are to be treated like mugs!!!

The remote possibility of exceptional circumstances..... are not themselves "exceptional"

So I’ve made my mind up BJ, what do I do now?

He went back into office at Downing St after running home to see his sick wife. Lockdown rule broken before he even went to Durham.

DH and I both agreed that he didn’t come across as the smart genius we were led to believe. In fact he came across as as seriously average. He clearly spent ages with his team crafting his written account but there were more holes than Swiss cheese. He then tied himself in knots digging a bigger and bigger hole.

He also kept stating that he had warned about Coronavirus for a year in his blog but it was discovered today that he only updated an old blog post this month to mention Coronavirus. He’s supposed to be a tech guru, does he not realise people can check when blogs have been updated?

I think he’s been clever in some ways in that he’s clearly interested in tech so connected to some very bright tech people who’ve made a massive impact on this country through Brexit but he’s not this mega mind that we were led to believe. However, he’s dangerous because he doesn’t appear to be accountable to anyone.

'I’m not aware of any of them having sat on SAGE committees or come up with the policies everyone was expected to follow at the time. '

Oh I see! Labour Mps don't have to follow lockdown rules because they didn't sit in on SAGE. I must've missed that.

His Wikipedia is interesting.

“In 2012, a senior female civil servant received a payout of £25,000 in a bullying case she took against Cummings and a senior member of Michael Gove's team, when Cummings was a special adviser at the Department for Education.”

Nice guy.

The Guardian article on the mismatch between his and her corona blogs is interesting.

Just because Kinnock wasn't fined doesn't make what Cummings did right.

He should, and was, investigated by police. He also had the good grace to apologise and realised despite using medicines as an excuse no one really bought that he couldn't have got someone else to do it.

Cummings hasn't even had the good grace to admit it wasn't in the spirit of the rules.

I also think he and BJ have massively misjudged the public mood on this. They were probably mining data from Facebook to judge the mood as that worked for Brexit but many people are more savvy about social media since Cambridge Analytica. The entire lockdown strategy was built on trust. The vast majority of us did our bit but have been lied to by the people who convinced us to do it.

People were still giving them a chance despite us having the highest death toll on Europe, grumblings about the lockdown start date and even the missing PPE.

Many people have made serious sacrifices including dying alone to prevent the spread to other people. If BJ had sacked him or he had the integrity to resign straight away, a line could’ve been drawn and the trust could’ve remained but BJ has blown it. The British people will never believe a word that comes out of the mouths of his and his cabinets mouth again.

I've hardly seen much on FB re this. But my friends and I aren't the sort to publish our political views in anger that way.

I know some do. However my opinion has well and truly been stamped across MN the past 72 hours

@GetOffYourHighHorse just because others breached the rules doesn’t mean that it was ok for DC to do so, if that’s what you think. It doesn’t detract in any way from his behaviour.

Kinnock’s actions, for example, were less bad (he didn’t have corona). He also didn’t lie about them and he did apologise. And it does make a difference that DC is one of the architects of the rules - how are ordinary people are expected to comply with them when the rule setters themselves can’t or don’t? DC should be held to a higher standard than those outside government.

Who comes back from a dodgy trip, doctors their blog the morning they go back to work and then refers to the doctored blog when answering journalists' questions?!

I'd say someone who is trying to cover their back, with something to hide, covering their tracks: someone with such contempt for the rest of humanity that they think nobody is clever enough to spot the alteration.

Has he cooked the books or cooked his own goose? He really does think he's a superior article and everyone else is as thick as mince!

GetOffYourHighHorse - no, just that Labour MPs are not of interest to the general public! I certainly couldn’t give a toss about a few uninfluential MPs, unless I was a constituent of one of them. Are you deliberately obtuse, or do you genuinely think the general public should have as much interest in any old MP as the person who helped design the policies he didn’t even stick to himself?

I forgot to add that I think many people are becoming very concerned as to why he is so important that he can’t be fired. The PM is willing to pay back hundreds of thousands of pounds in fines and sacrifice his own reputation and possibly career to protect an employee who’s not even a member of his party.

BJ hasn’t even shown that amount of loyalty to his own ex-wife and kids. It’s quite sinister.

You wanna read his paper he wrote where he states genetics are 70% of what makes you intelligent or not. I told my Dgd day before yesterday ( 18) she sat and read most of that paper by this morning rang me up and laughed her head off. She said what a dickhead! And yes, she understood most of it but got bored with a historian going on about maths. She is off to Kings to study Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology in September hopefully. It's a 250 page document. He also believes surestart schemes for deprived children a waste of time and money. Well they have mostly been shut down before lockdown ☹️

Keith Starmer didn't reprimand any let alone sack them which he was blustering about yesterday that he would do if he was pm

Starmer wasn’t leader then, Corbyn was.

Truth of the matter is this:
His wife was not displaying COVID symptoms.
Dom fancied a trip up north while there was no traffic on the roads. And he did what he wanted.
They took a day trip to Barnard Castle and a trip to Bluebell Wood.
Despite having apparently one of the finest brains in the country, he can't remember whether or not he stopped for fuel.
He's a liar. And they're all lying for him.
I've written to my mp and to the prime minister. If you are angered please do the same.

Isn't it possible that Kinnock was wrong and Cummings was even more wrong given he's the one who helped design the very lockdown laws he then broke? Why does it need to be "oh but Labour" all the time? This isn't a partisan issue; I don't give a shit which side of the voting channel you stand on; you break lockdown and you get a public pasting.

Durham police just announced they have begun an investigation into alleged breach of lockdown after further information over the weekend and are investigating that information.... Sky news.

I have sent two emails to my MP but no reply.
I guess his in Durham or somewhere! 😀
I've no idea but he will just back Boris anyway.

Written to my MP this evening.