DS statement on Cummings is shameful

[SouthWestmom]

Basically I am sceptical about how terrible this could be to get for all of us - the mild illness stuff has been dropped as not helpful to the general lock us all up thing.

Regardless as a law abiding person I've stuck to the rules.

Which I thought meant you had to self isolate if you had symptoms and no, you couldn't go somewhere easier. If you had kids you all stayed in together, relied on deliveries or the local council support schemes and 111 if it was bad.

So I'm sickened by the knot tying in getting Cummings off the hook.

I was just having a look at twitter to see what govt ministers are saying and I'm blocked by Dominic Raab! I've never looked at his account before, certainly never commented on it. Can't figure out why I'm blocked, is anyone else?

Tim Montgomerie
@montie
Interesting that Tory MPs’ “defences” of DC have stopped since the second @PippaCrerar
story.

Ah, now the message is clear. Silly me.

End of story.

Ah that tweet didn't age well, turns out it was only chapter 1.

I don't support lockdown (I abide by it but don't 'believe' in it), so I can't think what DC did was so terrible.

otoh, I dislike hypocrisy. And I dislike DC. So I can revel in the public skewering DC is getting when he can't even acknowledge what he did was totally against the spirit of the rules. Durham constabulary sounds furious, too. It's the best piece of political theatre we've had in weeks.

Even Kuenssberg has stopped defending him.

Sophy Ridge on Sunday
@RidgeOnSunday
On tomorrow’s show @grantshapps
will be responding to the Dominic Cummings story on behalf of the government.

He may understandably not know all of the details we ask for. So we’re taking the unusual step of flagging in advance some of the questions @SophyRidgeSky
will ask

Chapter 1

Think by the time BH is over we will be on the sequel!

What I cannot fathom is that the government and ministers are defending him. Are they really that stupid they cannot see they are making it worse for themselves.

Tide had already turned and difficult questions asked.

I'm no way a Tory supporter but even I had been saying they were doing their best under difficult circumstances in an unknown.

They literally all hung themselves. What ever Cummings has over them all it's clearly worse than death.

Even Kuenssberg has stopped defending him.

Ouch, that's got to hurt.

Sophy Ridge on Sunday
@RidgeOnSunday
·
42m
So @SophyRidgeSky
will ask @grantshapps
:

When did Mr Cummings first display symptoms?
On what date did he travel to Durham?
Did he stop on the journey? If so, did he comply with the 2m rule at all times?
When was the Prime Minister made aware that he had made this journey? (3/4)
Sophy Ridge on Sunday
@RidgeOnSunday
·
42m
Did Mr Cummings remain in self-isolation for the duration of his time in Durham?
Did he only make one trip, or multiple?

We hope that this will give Mr Shapps time to find out the answers if he does not know them. (4/4)

Television
#Ridge starts at 8.30 on @SkyNews
tomorrow morning.

Even Kuenssberg has stopped defending him.

Rats and sinking ships.

Having been strong-armed by the whips into signing off Tweets written for them, those ministers will now want to say they were misinformed and horrified to learn that, etc....

Grant Shapps will be raging he's on weekend duty this week

Think by the time BH is over we will be on the sequel!

Until today my BH plans revolved around a bit of gardening. I'm fine with neglecting this in order to read the sequel.

It gets better

Pippa Crerar
@PippaCrerar
UPDATE: Durham Police contradicts Downing Street’s claim on Dominic Cummings that “at no stage was he or his family spoken to by the police about this matter

How sickening for all the people who haven't been able to go to funerals of loved ones, hold their dying hands and see their grandchildren. I'm still coming to terms with the damning calculations that shite, had Dominic Cummings allowed lockdown to happen a week earlier, there would have been a quarter of the deaths. A quarter! There's blood on their hands. Now this? It was his mother's birthday whilst he was on his jolly!! They have a nanny and his brother in law lives in London. They did this because they don't care about the rules they wrote for 'others'. His wife wrote an article about their 'lockdown in London'. He has to go and that rotten lying cabinet need to go too. There should be a vote of no confidence and an interim, competent government brought in. Enough.

Nick Baines, the bishop of Leeds, told the Observer:
“People have missed being with family members who have died. But, now we learn that there is one rule for the people and another for No 10 and the elite. Ministers have clearly been told to tweet support for Cummings. What price conscience? Or integrity? Or credibility? Or competence at a time when leadership can only be rooted in trust?”

This response sums up perfectly the hypocrisy and outright dishonesty of this shambolic government.

I bet they ride it out, nobody gets the sack/resigns and the Tory press and public sweep it under the carpet next week.
Worse case scenario, Cummings pretends to resign but doesn't really.

DEAR EVERYBODY

Write to your MP through their Parliament email
OK, Julian Lewis does not count
Get your mates to email
get your family to email their MPs

NOTHING wrecks an MPs ego as much as realising that their electorate are mobilising against them
even in this stage of the cycle

email
email
email again
NO MATTER who your MP is
they are only invincible if you let them think they are
cc your messages to your social media feeds if you get no response
pressure
pressure
pressure

If a couple are too ill to look after their kid, then they are not safe to drive 4 hours

MP's contact details can be found on Theyworkforyou.com

That said it's FIL and my Dad's birthday in the next month and if I can catch CV19 at the right time maybe we can visit them in time for their birthdays (for childcare). Obviously I'd need to visit more than once.

As it happens, I neither like nor dislike DC. I don't know him.

However, I loathe lockdown with a passion. I have no income as a result of it, so it can fuck off to the far side of fuck, then fuck off again some more. My transgressions are entirely related to this. If I am now supporting children (who should have been doing their GCSEs and A levels now) at home, it would be nice to be doing this on something other than thin air.

So I am grateful to anyone who is publicly showing it for what it is, namely a shit-show.

That said, anyone who comes up with this shit has to abide by it too. Otherwise, they can expect to have their arse handed to them.

DC has to go.

I've just emailed my Tory MP. Bit of a crappy, quickly typed email but hopefully it will be the first of many.

Just seen about Dominic Cummings multiple trips to the north east while infected with coronavirus and all the support the prime minister and other senior members of government have given him regarding making these trips. I'd just like to know your opinion on this and if you agree with the PM and other ministers that Cummings was right to make these journeys? Could people knowingly travelling to the north east while suffering with coronavirus be responsible for the spike in cases in the region? I have been looking at the high number of deaths there and the timeline seems to fit with Cummings visit, is there any chance at all the two could be connected?

PissOff sorry you find yourself in such a shit situation. I totally agree with your sentiment. This was forced onto people with the message clearly stating it was our civic duty to protect the nhs and save lives.
There's loads about how to persuade the public etc in the published sage documents.
FWIW I agreed with it because I believed it was necessary for EVERYONE. Admittedly I've been lucky to continue to be paid but I have continued to work.
But when I had symptoms I had to stay home. Home alone with my disabled ds. Home on the lounge floor for 3 days because I couldn't get up and walk far without struggling for breath and this is the central point of my house. My parents both shielding due to chemo.
And like you despite it being shit (for different reasons for us) we stuck with it because we were told it was for the greater good.

Well it was. Unless your DC (or a scientific advisor!)

DC's wife was ill from what could be a highly contagious disease. So DC could have been next. They have a 4 year old and wanted to ensure they are near family who can support them. If they made the 260mile journey without coming into contact with anyone else and went straight there, I don't see what he has done wrong.

The person showing symptoms and their family have to isolate from everyone else. If they got in their own car to travel elsewhere to isolate so that they can be supported and can access support for their child should either of them become too ill, I don't think that broke the rules.

Look how several posters feel about going back to work without childcare in place and how they wouldn't want to place their child with a stranger. Why can't you apply the same principle to this situation?

KenDodd
I've taken to copying MPs into client HMRC complaints
trust me
EMAIL YOUR MP
its like fairy dust

if EVERY PERSON on these threads did so
as did their friends
and their friends friends
politics would change

FPTP politics relies on apathy
take that away
and you have DEMOCRACY