"Downing St. considers the Dominic Cummings matter closed". AIBU that that statement, more than the actions of Cummings himself, makes my blood boil?

[JovialNickname]

I'm assuming the "so you can all fuck off" at the end of the statement is implied.

@heartsonacake

I wouldnt take gaslighting and rewriting of history from a partner (in fact i didnt take it from a friend. I ended the friendship) so why should i take it from the Government.

It’s really rude and also wrong to suggest we who still care about this issue are all being manipulated by the media. I’ve been watching what our government is actually doing and they are making a laughing stock of themselves whilst treating the public with contempt.

Particular highlights of the circus so far-

Cummings saying he drove to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight.
Cummings again for saying he blogged about coronavirus a while ago but he actually recently edited that blog.
Cummings’ wife’s article which strongly implied they were in London.
Shapps saying the PM knew Cummings was staying put in Durham when he was actually driving to hospital and Barnard Castle.
Gove saying “I wish the bishop well” rather than addressing his argument.
Gove again for starting to say he has driven to test his eyesight but then pointing out he’s not an expert on driving because he took 7 goes to pass his test.
Hancock for refusing 6 times in a row to say whether he thought Cummings was right or not.
Hancock again for saying fines would be reviewed and the next day that was rescinded.
Johnson for preventing his medical advisers from answering on what they thought of Cummings.
Johnson again for saying the media have made false accusations but refusing to say what they are.

All of the cabinet for coming out and tweeting in support of Cummings on demand, doing what they are told. The obsessive protection around him suggesting either the government can’t cope without him or he knows where the bodies are buried.

The sniggering, chuckling and giggling that’s been going on live on tv from the people responsible for providing a national response to a pandemic that has killed around 60,000 people in this country.

The lack of any apology other than “I’m sorry for how people feel” copying a line previously used by Patel.

Ridiculous to suggest that once somebody has been democratically elected they must be assumed to be doing no wrong. A lot of people voted for the current government in good faith, only to find their good faith shoddily repaid. Democracy is not an exact science. The wrong guy can get in, or there is no right guy to choose, or all sorts of variants. That's why you don't just vote and then sit back for half a decade. A heck of a lot can go wrong in that time. Besides, I don't believe for one minute that if the last General Election had gone the other way, the usual suspects would say "I am no longer terrified of Jeremy Corbyn; he was duly elected and that's good enough for me. See you in five years".

It's been a very long time since I last voted Conservative (some of you were not born then), but if I were still kind of on the right of centre I would be tremendously insulted to be assumed to be cool with law-breaking, rule-ignoring and downright barefaced lying. I thought rather a lot of Right-wingers were fairly keen on honesty and social conscience. I'm even old enough to remember when the Tories represented themselves as the party of law and order. Now it seems they're the party of please-yourself and whatever-you-can-get-away-with. That's not a good basis for a civilised society.

I sent an email to my MP at the weekend and received a reply on Wednesday I was very impressed (Labour MP)

I haven’t been manipulated by the press he clearly felt the guidelines and what the government told us over and over again that we are all in this together didn’t apply to him as I heard from him on Sunday

I am a single parent, without any support working in an environment where I was at risk of catching covid. I prepared just in case I became ill (food/milk in freezer) and I certainly am not in a position of influence and power where I would get supported needed IF I became ill. Him traveling was all on an IF if became ill

And then the pathetic story of testing his eyesight which the police have said broke the rules

It’s utterly disgraceful to treat the public with such contempt when so many have suffered, haven’t visited dying loved ones, when we have all had to make sacrifices that for many has been a terribly painful time, when so many have followed the guidelines so we could all be safer

This will not be dropped and by Boris Johnson telling is to move on only adds anger to how so many of us are feeling (everyone of my nhs colleagues is absolutely livid) and so is everyone of my friends (regardless of the politics)

I think this is all very convenient for the government. The media, and a load of Mumsnetters, are obsessing about DC while under all the coverage and excitment about him they are sliding about all over the place with 'citizens may meet 6 people out of doors' and 'x may re-open in y' and 'schools will go back with ... pupils' and so on and so forth. A bit of golf here and fishing there. No clear plans at all for normal people's lives.

@AlternativePerspective the press weren’t ‘camped outside his house’ before he went to Durham. That’s another lie, he’s asking people to conflate what’s happened since with the time he travelled. If they had been, they’d have photographed him lacking the car (I assume they took clothes etc for 2 weeks away) and driving off. It would have come out a long time ago.

the press weren’t ‘camped outside his house’ before he went to Durham. That’s another lie, he’s asking people to conflate what’s happened since with the time he travelled

Its more gaslighting.

it's nowhere near over. Any stick will do to beat a dog.

They can device its closed all they want, infuriating as it may be. I don't think the public or press are going to let it go though.

@Alsohuman
The death of democracy in this country is fundamental to your children’s future and will affect them a lot more than a few weeks out of school will.

I might agree with you if i thought we lived in a democracy to start with, and that was suddenly about to change. As it is i think the risk to childrens' mental health from not being allowed to play normally with another child for 6 months at such a formative age is more important than whether the prime minister (who everyone knew was a bullshitter when they elected him) has bullshitted us again.

He pro-rogued parliament straight after the summer recess to avoid democracy, and got voted back in a couple of months later in a landslide victory? If more people had cared about democracy then, he wouldn't be prime minister now. No wonder they take us for fools!

Also my son's future will depend more on his own choices than on the whims of the government. And he's less likely to be reliant on them if he has good mental health and a good education... hence i think it's important to get him back at school and playing with his friends.

I’m praying that some CCTV footage of him driving to Durham on an additional date comes to light.

I’m praying that some CCTV footage of him driving to Durham on an additional date comes to light.

Because that will change ... what, exactly? Imagine praying for something so ridiculous!

🙏

Have you no sense of humour ?

YABU
There is something very 1984 dystopian when a government bureaucrat can:
-in the course of his job cause the death of thousands of disabled people (PIP scandal), and the homelessness of thousands more (Universal Credit Rollout Scandal) and be promoted. All without a whimper from the good bourgeoisie citizens and media of the U.K.

-but because of technically legal but questionable actions in his private life that harmed no one at all, there is a baying bourgeoisie mob demanding he resign or be sacked.

So, we have a World here where you can be the worst possible person for a job, even causing death and misery to the people your agency is supposed to support and not only keep your job, but get promoted. You’re untouchable unless you step slightly out of line of etiquette in your private life. Should not your job performance decide if you keep a job, not your private life?

You all turned a blind eye when he so badly performed his job, he was killing people. Why? Because it was just the poor and disabled, no impact to you. Now he makes a few stupid decisions in his private life that harmed no one at all, but all of a sudden its drama llama outcries of “democracy has been overthrown” and “the death of democracy” and “we’ve been hurt, lied to, gaslighted, etc”.

What this is really about, and a few have hinted at it, is you don’t like being viewed as one of the “plebs”. It was all ok when DC was killing and making homeless the real plebs, but now that your safe bourgeoisie world has been affected by the implied insult of his private actions, you’re going into frenzies of outrage.

It’s disgusting that you care more about your perceived status and being treated as a pleb than the actual lives of the plebs that DC killed.

Good points plandeR about his past behaviour (I totally agree with you re PIP and UC) but:

1. I didn’t turn a blind eye before. I’m politically active all the time.
2. His ‘technically legal’ actions (the drive to BC wasn’t legal) and the Government’s subsequent handling of it, will cause far more harm than he has already by undermining government advice during a global pandemic. More deaths, more grief and more suffering.

That’s why we have a duty to keep pressuring the government and not be told to ‘move on’. We, the people, will decide to move on.

Anyone who votes in a Tory government and is then surprised by this shit is being manipulated by the media.
There are very few words unpleasant enough to describe Dominic Cummings. Up there with Murdoch.

Keep up the pressure. Downing Street are hoping that people will get bored, forget about this and "move on", but if people keep contacting their MPs, the MPs will continue to raise questions and speak out against Cummings. If this is still on the front pages at the weekend, he will have to go.

It's not about someone breaking the rules - it's about someone who wrote the rules deciding they don't apply to him, showing utter contempt for people who dare to question this, and unashamedly lying on live TV about it.

It's about an unelected advisor pulling the strings of a PM who has no idea what he's doing. It's about deciding there's one rule for all of us who respected the guidance because we don't want more people to die, and another rule for the elite who don't fancy following it.

I can't understand why some people aren't outraged. It is literally outrageous.

They are definitely hoping we'll move on. Mail today says he'll leave in 6 months. So are we meant to stop pressuring it because he "may be" going anyway?

Not for me! He doesn't get to decide. Neither does Boris. This is still a democratic country.

I woke up and smelt the flowers in that Rose Garden. I've learnt I have far more of a voice in politics than I knew. I am and will use it.

Those saying "I'm upset because I've been following the rules and apparently there was no need to..." I really don't understand this stance. Of course there was and still is a need to socially distance. It's to try to prevent the spread of a virus, it's not so we can get a pat on the head and a gold star from government for being good girls and boys. The actions of one man don't change that any more than the actions of my dog does. Pretending you don't think there is any point in trying to stop the spread anymore because of this is incredible stupid, petulant, and dangerous.

So yes, the sooner we move on from this the better.

I'd love if if we were able to move on because Cummings had resigned or been sacked. Until then, Johnson has to be stopped from brushing it all under the carpet and pretending none of it ever happened.

I would like someone to ask Matt Hancock why he was speechless about Neil Ferguson but has no issue with Dominic Cummings.