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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
TheWordWomanIsTaken · 28/05/2020 09:24

@Hiddenmnetter

What I really don't get is why he didn't just stand up and own it and apologise?

All he had to do was say "I'm really sorry- it was, in hindsight, a bad idea, but feeling feverish and worried about how we would cope we made what is in retrospect a terrible decision. I have paid the fine as a donation to the NHS and apologise for what was an error of judgement while I felt unwell."

Then the whole thing would have blown over in a day or two. The problem is the lies about the lies about the lies have now become the story...Does anyone else want to see the whiteboard with all the brainstormed ideas about what lies we would accept about the drive to the castle? I mean if 'to test his eyesight' was the best they could come up, there must have been some real piles of shit on there...

Except he wasn't feeling feverish. In his own Rose Garden words, his wife was vomitting, he went home, she felt better, he returned to work. And when he went home that evening they made a decision to go to Durham in case they both became ill. There is no excuse whatsoever for his actions.
QuentinWinters · 28/05/2020 09:27

Why did his wife write that spectator article about him being so ill then? Was it just fiction?

tabulahrasa · 28/05/2020 09:33

@QuentinWinters

Why did his wife write that spectator article about him being so ill then? Was it just fiction?
Well it kind of was as it says they emerge to lockdown London... but...

He drove to Durham late at night feeling fine and woke the next morning unwell, apparently...

Hillary4 · 28/05/2020 09:50

‘Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive'

Give it up, it's a fair cop

Shoo....shoo!!!

GetOffYourHighHorse · 28/05/2020 09:51

'There is no excuse whatsoever for his actions.'

Fine if that's your opinion and many agree. The fact is the media are relentlessly reporting on this, ironically saying it detracts from the crisis and government plans. Yes it does detract, because it is all the MSM are going on about!! If they cared about the health of the nation rather than political point scoring they would think right it's been 5 days, we've made our point let's get on with unbiased reporting now.

SabrinaThwaite · 28/05/2020 09:53

It’s worth listening to David Allen Green’s analysis of the Cummings statement. He’s a former government lawyer and his view is that it was a carefully crafted witness statement produced by a lawyer.

www.ft.com/video/e82b5a00-3ad5-4d2c-9703-ff14942aa5b1

Also worth comparing the difference in vocal style and body language between Cummings reading out the statement (calm, in control, no stuttering, feet on the floor) and answering questions (lots of stuttering and repeatedly wrapping his feet around the legs of the chair, uncomfortable) and the duper’s smile as the presser ends.

itsgettingweird · 28/05/2020 09:54

The word you're missing the important point. They decided to go to Durham in case they both got ill because that would have been "an exceptional circumstance"

That's right. People catching Covid in the height of the epidemic in Britain during a worldwide pandemic is - exceptional.

MarshaBradyo · 28/05/2020 09:55

The media are reflecting the public atm. As will MPs.They will be getting a lot of incoming pressure to ask a direct question.

Which they do, as per MH this morning, but there is no answer, just deflection.

FliesandPies · 28/05/2020 10:06

The fact is the media are relentlessly reporting on this, ironically saying it detracts from the crisis and government plans. Yes it does detract, because it is all the MSM are going on about!!

The 'media' aren't in charge of the crisis and government plans. Think you'll find that's supposed to be the government's job which they had massively failed at well before this scandal. Gov had a choice to at least try to difuse the situation by making a decent apology and not increasing pp suspicions that Barney Castle is in charge by allowing him to make a shit speech full of lies in a space reserved for the PM.

FliesandPies · 28/05/2020 10:08

If they cared about the health of the nation rather than political point scoring they would think right it's been 5 days, we've made our point let's get on with unbiased reporting now.

If our government cared about the health of the nation they would not allow incompetent egomaniacs to take charge of the crisis.

And the reporting isn't biased - it's the plain truth but you just don't like hearing it.

lilgreen · 28/05/2020 10:10

Will Boris and Cummings clap for carers tonight when they approve of taking the virus to paramedics in another part of the country.

GetOffYourHighHorse · 28/05/2020 10:10

@MarshaBradyo

The media are reflecting the public atm. As will MPs.They will be getting a lot of incoming pressure to ask a direct question.

Which they do, as per MH this morning, but there is no answer, just deflection.

The msm including prats like Piers Morgan are whipping some people into a frenzy. The whole reaction has been disproportionate. It happened, it needed addressing now they need to move on to focusing on the actual crisis, not Cummings.
MarshaBradyo · 28/05/2020 10:11

The media reflect the public pressure. We are still talking about it so so will they.

People are frustrated at being dismissed and that doesn’t make something go away.

MarshaBradyo · 28/05/2020 10:12

I pretty much get all the news from R4 and even that had me annoyed. Two direct questions to MH, neither answered.

If they could answer great, closure and move on. They can’t because they have painted themselves into a corner.

Michelleoftheresistance · 28/05/2020 10:16

Two tediously predictable strategies.

Brazen it out, refuse to answer and just wait until the public give up on accountability, fairness and justice out of sheer boredom.

Provoke the press by this ridiculous behaviour until as a sideline you can start angling for the oh bless, let it go now poor little sausage get out from the gullible.

Honestly, it's repulsive to watch.

Alsohuman · 28/05/2020 10:16

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'There is no excuse whatsoever for his actions.'

Fine if that's your opinion and many agree. The fact is the media are relentlessly reporting on this, ironically saying it detracts from the crisis and government plans. Yes it does detract, because it is all the MSM are going on about!! If they cared about the health of the nation rather than political point scoring they would think right it's been 5 days, we've made our point let's get on with unbiased reporting now.

This is about much more than point scoring. This scandal has revealed who’s running the country - and it’s not the alleged PM. Why do you think 61 Tory MPs are demanding he goes? They’re not scoring political points, are they?
If you were annoyed at Dominic Cummings before
LaurieMarlow · 28/05/2020 10:17

It happened, it needed addressing now they need to move on to focusing on the actual crisis, not Cummings.

It hasn’t been addressed, is the problem.

The public have been fed a crock of lies and bullshit and they’ve now got even more questions, which the powers that be refuse to answer.

You don’t just tell people to ‘move on’ that’s not how it works. You need to address their concerns properly. No one is ‘moving on’ until that happens.

SabrinaThwaite · 28/05/2020 10:18

It happened, it needed addressing now they need to move on to focusing on the actual crisis, not Cummings.

It hasn’t been addressed. Why should anyone “move on” when someone in power knowingly breaks the spirit, letter and law of the lockdown with no apology, no regrets and no consequences?

Plus it raises the bigger question of why is Johnson protecting his unelected bureaucrat to point where his and his government said approval ratings are through the floor?

Alsohuman · 28/05/2020 10:19

Johnson promised to unite the country. Be careful what you wish for!

MrsCollinssettled · 28/05/2020 10:21

If he can't correctly assess that his situation was far from exceptional (especially with all the support available to him at home in his role) and that there was no immediate threat to life, he shouldn't be advising my mum let alone the government. He should be sacked for incompetence.

BGD2012 · 28/05/2020 10:21

Germanys Covid death rate, I believe, is down to around 50 a day. They have effective testing and a competent leader. I'm certainly not a Piers Morgan fan but he has been gifted opportunities to stir the public up over the last few months.

Leicester5 · 28/05/2020 10:22

I can't help but feel that DC has got what he wants, to act as he pleases and by virtue of that encourage the populace to act in the same way and allow natural spread of the virus

FliesandPies · 28/05/2020 10:23

Johnson promised to unite the country Grin

Michelleoftheresistance · 28/05/2020 10:23

It's the excuse my teenager uses at times to get out of trouble. "Mum it happened last week. It's over. You need to move on."

Doesn't work for him. You'd think grown men would have more sense.

itsgettingweird · 28/05/2020 10:24

Get off if hasn't been addressed though has it? Boris was asked yesterday why he would allow an independent equiry.

So why won't he? If he, Cummings and the other front of house MPs who have been supportive truly believe he was right and so are they - why not jet an independent committee come to the same conclusion? The if the British people really do only hold their opinion thanks to MSM they'll change it. And maybe if someone other than BJ and Cummings himself says he's right people will move on.

Addressing it is allowing people to have some say and thoughts of their own. But constantly telling everyone they must move on.

We live in an democracy

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