Do you think Dominic Cummings broke lockdown rules?

[KenDodd]

Quick poll.
Yabu = yes, he broke the rules
Yanbu = no, he didn't break the rules.

Amazing that anyone thinks the media are "scum" for drawing attention that yet again

one law for those in charge, another for ordinary people

Those who make the rules should not get away with breaking them

That's the most important job of the media:
holding the government of any party to account when they get too big for their boots

If the government really meant that everyone should decide for themselves about travel,

then they shouldn't have passed laws to Stay Home

Laschet and Spahn - do these names ring any bells? No thought not. These are the Ministers who, in spite of their errors/successes, were able to do their jobs in Germany without the distraction of every action or word, micro-analysed and pawed over by the media.
Well said. I don't care about what Cummings did. We need to focus on what happens next without hysteria.

Did good old Laschet and Spahn have CV and travelled?

Yip. Accountability is one thing. Feeding the beast of 24 hour news via the worst excesses of social media is another entirely. Yes what a waste of fucking oxygen. So many self important arseholes sitting in front of their bookcases.

Yes what a waste of fucking oxygen. So many self important arseholes sitting in front of their bookcases.

But not NEARLY as arrogant and self important as DC in front of the rose garden.

Definately broke the rules. I think if he had said yes I broke the rules and I'm sorry this might have mostly blown over by now. Its the arrogance of them defending him and refusing to admit to any wrongdoing that is making people angry. The eye test story is utter nonsense and insults the public's intelligence.

Tabu, who cares, please stop

But not NEARLY as arrogant and self important as DC in front of the rose garden. Maybe but I was agog. So many uninteresting people wheeled out to give their opinions now. And they're all so angry about everything. I love Grayson Perry's Art Club and his quiet musings about the pandemic.

Well said. I don't care about what Cummings did. We need to focus on what happens next without hysteria

Fortunately enough of us do care when an advisor to the PM lies and breaks the rules and is supported by the OM for doing that. A blistering display of arrogance and of double standards. Utter corruption.
Thank goodness for an investigative press!

Has Greyson Perry dutifully self-isolated with children until everyone was clear of symptoms, going to some lengths to get deliveries dropped off on the doorstep, because he didn't want to pass it on to anyone else in the midst of the crisis?

Because if not, that might be why he's so calm.

clearly his priority is DC though and has less concern about spreading a highly contagious disease that kills people
If he cared about the children he would not have them in a confined space in the car with a Covid infected person (or even if he thought he was infected!
Nor would he put them in a car and drive 30 miles if he wasn’t sure he could see properly!

He is lying - simple as that. (major coincidence it was his wife’s birthday on his day out to Barnard Castle?)

"Laschet and Spahn - do these names ring any bells? No thought not. These are the Ministers who, in spite of their errors/successes, were able to do their jobs in Germany without the distraction of every action or word, micro-analysed and pawed over by the media."

I live in Germany

Yes, those ministers aren't critiicised much - precisely because they got on with their job and didn't have one law for them and another for the rest of us

Respect is earned by competence and by deeds

Germany locked down early on - the main reason why we have far fewer deaths than the UK,
so we have been able to relax lockdown weeks ago and restart the economy.

That's what brings respect

If they'd screwed up as badly as Cummings, then the press wouldn't need to "hound" them

• Merkel would have booted them out on their arses

Yes he did. But whats worse is the way it was first covered up and then when exposed has been reverse engineered as somehow perfectly fine. Its Kafkaesque.

@tttigress

Tabu, who cares, please stop

Well I care obviously

The prime minister and cabinet ministers are going on record repeatedly stating that it’s complex and exceptional, so he was being completely responsible and acting within the guidelines.

Even though every single parent in the country having to plan what they were going to do if they got ill without being able to travel for childcare and most of them with less resources than Dominic Cummings...

But then expecting the country to also plan for them in an international crisis situation.

It completely undermines them - they could easily have gone with the truth of yep, he didn’t do what he should have, but we understand why and are going to stand by him... and it would have been the party politics issue they’re treating it as.

Any German minister who carried out an "eye test" by driving with his spouse and small child would be laughed out of office
... and probably face a motoring charge too

Editing his past blogs to pretend he predicted the Coronavirus would also be career-ending
Such flagrant liars survive only within the AfD and the anti-vaxxers.

Of course he did and he thought his shit story would fool the British people, he clearly thinks we’re a joke (and tbf, he got away with it with Brexit so I don’t blame him for thinking that).

Thank goodness for an investigative press! Yes indeed but they shouldn't be standing outside DC's house like a pack of baying hyenas.

"Who cares ?"

The polls show a large majority of people in the country think Cummings broke the rules
This matters, if we want people to follow rules:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2244461-behavioural-science-advisers-express-concern-over-cummings-crisis/#ixzz6NdfdOh6W

Members of a government behavioural science advisory group have expressed concern
that the revelations that Dominic Cummings appears to have broken the UK’s coronavirus restrictions and the government’s subsequent handling of the crisis
has undermined the government’s authority and could encourage people to break the rules themselves.

“The literature on why people obey authority shows very clearly that a critical factor is the sense that one is trusted, respected and listened to by authority,”
he says.
Adherence to restrictions is “critically undermined when this is replaced by a sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ – one law for us, another for them.”

"they shouldn't be standing outside DC's house like a pack of baying hyenas."

The press are always like that with a big story
At least it's not about which sleb slept with another

Those in politics and top adviser roles know what happens if they massively cock up - and then don't apolgise & step down:
Two other people - who were far more useful in a pandemic than the No 10 Rasputin - admitted they were wrong and resigned, which is the right thing to do

Yes indeed but they shouldn't be standing outside DC's house like a pack of baying hyenas.

As I tell children, saying "but look over there! Jonny did Y" when we are discussing you committing X is a distraction technique beneath both me and you.

Maybe but I was agog. So many uninteresting people wheeled out to give their opinions now. And they're all so angry about everything. I love Grayson Perry's Art Club and his quiet musings about the pandemic.

Oh give over. you're so above it all.

Everyone else, not half as interesting as you and Grayson and so "angry".

How more patronising could you sound about people genuinely horrified about elected officials lying and making shameful fools of themselves and us.

You crack on with your sketching and yes I agree the press scrum around Cummings's door is a disgrace.

But no more than he himself.

The press are always like that with a big story That's OK then

Well said. I don't care about what Cummings did.

Well @derxa that's OK then

Does the Pope wear a funny hat..does Def Leppard's drummer swim in circles?