Surely they’ll have to allow us to go to one other household now

[SpongeCake23]

Now that Dominic Cummings has done what he’s done and the government have supported him, saying he’s done nothing wrong.
Surely they’re going to have to allow us to mix with one household soon, otherwise it’s a huge hypocrisy.

Boris says Dom can stay because 'he wasn't visiting a lover' - so should we all have ignored Boris's speech about not seeing our parents on Mother's' Day?!

They can't "allow" what he did. He travelled and may (or may not) have stayed in another household with symptoms

What everyone seems to be missing is that a senior adviser, with access to ALL of the information, thought that the risk was minimal. What is he being told that the rest of the country isn't about how little threat this virus actually poses?

Really? What's more likely - that there is a massive and very confusing conspiracy to make us all poor that somehow hasn't leaked from the conflicted Tory leadership, or that a selfish twat just decided to be a selfish twat?

@emmcan all the information is in the public domain. Stats of how many have died, how many are in ITU, those that break down the risk by age, underlying health conditions, ethnicity etc.
What do you think he knows that we don't?

So perhaps his sister was high risk ?

He was self isolating near his parents in case his children needed looking after?

We are allowed out to excercise ?

So it’s ok for all the idiots on here who have said families are mixing all the time and having friends round for bbq, but not for someone who had the virus to try and prepare for the worst ?

He did not stay in another household . They dropped his shopping off ?

So it’s ok for all the idiots on here who have said families are mixing all the time and having friends round for bbq, but not for someone who had the virus to try and prepare for the worst ?

Apparently, according to new government guidelines released yesterday, it was always find to do fine to do whatever the fuck you liked as long as you were 'doing your best'.

'Prepare for the worst' by potentially infecting his elderly parents Susie?
So he may have visited 3 times in total?! Anyone tying themselves in knots trying to defend the indefensible is beginning to look really silly. Give it up now, the man is a knob who obviously doesn't think the rules apply to him!

He did not stay in another household . They dropped his shopping off ?

And nobody in his family talked to the police and he definitely wasn't making unnecessary trips to Barnard Castle, except for when he was.

According to the Guardian Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at Edinburgh University, has also called for Cummings to resign.

Speaking on the Ridge show, she said: “He undermined the core public health message which was to stay home, to make sure that children are not left with elderly relatives and also going from an area that was ahead of the country - London - to an area that was a bit behind, north-east England.

“North-east England is now one of the hardest hit parts of the country.

“So the clear thing is, yes, he needs to resign, but we also need to move on and bring focus to the key issues facing the UK.

“The UK now has close to 60,000 excess deaths, one of the worst death rates per capita in the world, we are in a lockdown.

“We don’t have a good way out of this lockdown because there is no testing and tracing infrastructure to let us safely lift the lockdown, and we have a lot of people suffering because of a lack of clear strategy of how we are going to move forward and get out of the deep hole that we are in.”

The government have made such a mess of this. It's demoralising.

But he must have risked other people when driving up there, I’m assuming they would have had to have a wee break on the way.

If you are ill and they were worried there was no-one to look after your DC, surely you stay put and arrange for someone to come to you if necessary.

Give it up now, the man is a knob who obviously doesn't think the rules apply to him!

Yes, this is the fundamental problem for anyone trying to defend him.

You can agree or disagree that DC is a brilliant strategist who thinks outside the box, but he really isn't somebody who made sandwiches, carefully filled his car with petrol while wearing a hazmat suit, drove 250 miles to Durham, stayed inside a separate house for the required 14 days, got in his car and drove home again.

'He was self isolating near his parents in case his children needed looking after?'

Yes and many would have done the same. No one knows how ill they will get, even if mild initially it's after a week or so that some deteriorate. I would want to be near family who could step in to care for a dc too.

The error of judgement he has made is not realising that it would get out, it would then become a focus and detract totally from current guidance. All this week on the Jeremy Kyle style morning breakfast programmes this will now be all they talk about. He is loathed by many for his Brexit involvement.

I wonder if any evidence of the walk in the woods and comment on bluebells will be produced today?

“We don’t have a good way out of this lockdown because there is no testing and tracing infrastructure to let us safely lift the lockdown.”

And even if we did, it would be pointless because the government have just told everyone that they don't need to self isolate if they think it will be too difficult.

Lifting restrictions on seeing family is going to have to happen in order to facilitate the population returning to work, given the number of people relying on relatives for childcare.

No one knows how ill they will get, even if mild initially it's after a week or so that some deteriorate.

And if everyone had done this the virus would have spread more quickly and more people would be dead.

The message was 'Stay at Home', but the government have now completely undermined their entire strategy with their new slogan 'Do What You Think, Whatever'.

Maybe they have changed their slogan so we can stay alert for knobs like Cummings.

'he definitely wasn't making unnecessary trips to Barnard Castle, except for when he was.'

If this is proven then he should be sacked, but every man and his dog seems to have spotted him in the northeast. Maybe the police could waste time and money on number plate recognition or phone tracking to prove where he was?

For staying in a separate house in case his son needed looking after if he or his wife needed hospital care doesn't seem to beak the rules, no matter how much Piers Morgan and Alistair Campbell wants it to.

For staying in a separate house in case his son needed looking after if he or his wife needed hospital care doesn't seem to beak the rules

The message was very clearly 'stay at home' and self isolate for 7-14 days. If this didn't apply to the many, many people who have caring responsibilities, they should have made this clear at the time.

What should happen is that Cummings should face a nice, big fine.

And just because that nasty little ferret dioes something will not mean. I would do something that would endanger my family.

Frankly, there are few things that Dominic does that I would do and I'm happy for it to stay the way.

For staying in a separate house in case his son needed looking after if he or his wife needed hospital care doesn't seem to beak the rules, no matter how much Piers Morgan and Alistair Campbell wants it to.

The rule - even now - is that you’re not allowed to stay overnight anywhere but your main residence. It’s very, very clear.

The rule if you have symptoms is that you need to stay home and isolate. He didn’t. Genuinely don’t understand how anyone could be so out of the loop that they think this didn’t break the rules?!

'The message was very clearly 'stay at home' and self isolate for 7-14 days. If this didn't apply to the many, many people who have caring responsibilities, they should have made this clear at the time.'

As the Dep CMO said when the welfare of a DC is an issue then that is a exception.

He shouldn't have gone I agree, but I think the MSM needs to move on. Hold him account, challenge it but to have a press conference and 24/7 rolling news taken up with it is wrong. We also want updates about the virus not what Bob might or might not have seen in Barnard Castle.

There seems to be more score settling going on in government and the media than genuine health or risk concerns.

I'm already doing that and have been for the past fortnight. My mother's household and my own are effectively now joint.

Obviously none of us have symptoms or are vulnerable/elderly.