The science has left the building (4)

[SouthWestmom]

New thread inspired by Whitty and Valance exiting stage right today

If his son is vulnerable in some way the right sort of childcare might be his mother, she was a special needs teacher I think. Just checked on google. The Sun says his mother was a special needs teacher and behavioural specialist. If that is true he can't say it can he as she is over 70.

41 Tory MPs now calling for DC to go

And it's I think 55 letters from MPs needed to trigger a leadership election.

If his majority is 80 and he loses 41 that's his majority gone. I realise that they probably won't leave the party but it is still something to think about eh Boris?

Sorrow

And what did they do up to now? Drive up to Durham every time they wanted to go to the cinema? Grab a Nando's?

I think they decided it would be nicer to lock down up there and went for it. Had they said that in some kind of formal statement and the guidance clarified we'd have been early days of lockdown and people would have been less furious.

Trouble is it would have opened the floodgates to loads of ill people driving round the UK

Sorrow

Didn't mean that to sound as arsey as it does typed out! Sorry!

I didn't understand why if there was a concern ver whether D.C. was fit to drive, his wife didn't drive back. Or at least share the driving.
Hadn't thought about her staying there and/or moving to parents.

If his son is vulnerable in some way the right sort of childcare might be his mother

IF that's the case (and we don't know) then I would be amazed at them not having a nanny engaged who could deal with their son's needs and who would get to know him and his needs well. They can absolutely afford it, and it would be a no brainer so that they know that if both their jobs are very demanding and a work disaster strikes, there is always a trusted carer on hand to look after the child. That's absolutely what I would do. I find the whole idea that 'they don't have childcare' one of the most preposterous bits of the whole story, and that's saying something.

He admitted he hadn't explored childcare options in London because his nieces offered. He said as they are 17 and 20 he felt they were in a low risk category should they need to come into a COVID household.

Bit the facts still remain he travelled 260 miles in case he needed childcare.

I have been thinking that he can't really use the "if you have children we understand these rules will be difficult to follow excuse"

Because he said himself neither had COVID when they moved. So there was no COVID and isolation rule in place. They moved "in case"

I've had a reply to the email sent to my Conservative MP yesterday, a very well written and sympathetic email saying that she 'will voice your frustration and mine to No10 and the wider government in no uncertain terms'

I suppose a nanny might have decided she wanted to have lockdown with her own family or maybe she was ill as well. Who knows, he isn't going to tell us anymore than he has to so it is all just what ifs.

But he did tell us. He said he didn't explore childcare options. His nieces had offered so he went to his second home in case.

He admitted he hadn't explored childcare options in London

I simply can't imagine he had no existing childcare options in place in London. His wife's now infamous Spectator piece mentions him working 16-hour days. Many people in that position have a SAHP as their partner. However, Mary Wakefield has her own job at the Spectator. I don't know if it's full time or what, or whether it's a kind of vanity non-job where it doesn't much matter if what she does gets done or not, so she can always do all the childcare. But that's not how it's been made to sound. And as I said, they're very rich people. They can easily afford help. Do we really think they'd decided they wouldn't look for any outside help because they Mary could cover it all?

I was very surprised that no other sightings have been made, I'd imagine a CCTV image or photograph that now completely exposes DC to be a liar would be worth quite a lot. I think the press are playing the long game.

Well they waited weeks to release this story after seeking a statement from No10.

I doubt they'll rush this now.

Never has Anne Reids speech from Years and Years been more poignant @PurplePansy05

FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/police-break-up-illegal-lockdown-22091335?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

Police break up illegal lockdown birthday party at Tory MP's house
EXCLUSIVE: There were balloons and banners outside the house of Rob Roberts, MP for Delyn in North Wales, marking a 40th birthday on Monday after he commented on the Dominic Cummings' row

Police broke up an illegal lockdown bank holiday birthday party at the house of a Tory MP, the Mirror can reveal.

Two people who were visiting the house of Rob Roberts, MP for Delyn in North Wales, were asked to leave.

There were balloons and banners outside the house yesterday marking a 40th birthday. It is understood that Mr Roberts' wife Alexandra turned 40 on Monday.

Superintendent Mark Pierce of North Wales Police told the Mirror: “In response to two reports of a possible breach of Covid 19 regulations we visited an address at Ty’n y Coed, Mold, yesterday.

When we called at the property two people visiting the house left following advice and no further action was taken

There has been no lifting of the lockdown rules in Wales where - as in England - you are not allowed to visit other households.

A spokesperson for Mr Roberts said: "Rob Roberts was not present at the time.

"His family have been reminded of the guidelines set out by the government

Mr Roberts, who recently came out as LGBT, is understood to have spent the bank holiday weekend in London and returned to the family home yesterday afternoon.

He has since tweeted that he and his wife "separated 6 weeks ago when I came out".

Mr Roberts tweeted on Monday morning that he wanted a "proper investigation" of the Dominic Cummings scandal.

He said on Facebook : "Of course it is right that we cannot have one rule for one and another for the rest ... If Mr Cummings has acted inappropriately according to an investigation, then he should go.

If an investigation concludes that he hasn’t, then he shouldn’t.

"The media doesn’t get to call the shots on who is hired and fired

But later he added: "Having watched the statement from Mr Cummings, I believe that he seemed to be entirely acting in the best interests of his child as a responsible husband and father .. It is now time for us all to move on from this issue.

Maybe we should ask them to have an amnesty on lockdown breaches and be done with it

I'm in Wales. We're still under the standard lockdown, hardly anything has changed since 23 March.

Interesting, if he goes, can Cummings stay? Or should this MP just get on with life as we've all been given an out of jail card by DC?

Are they going to call them red zones like they did in Years and Years.

twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1265384406203719680?s=20

I just don't see how, now, that will work.

People will just egg in their cars and go and stay with friends or family for 14 days citing childcare reasons in case they get it.

They need to decide if this message matters. If public health matters.

I don't think he specified whether they have any regular childcare in London, just implied that safest option in terms of infecting others was nieces.

He obviously thought at this point they he/any of them may have covid, that is the foundation of the whole thing. But he didn't think that a few hours earlier after Boris was diagnosed, his wife felt ill (with covid or anything else), and he went back to work? But somehow by the time he left work he realised?

He said that after recovering he spoke to a doctor to confirm he had medical clearance to return to London/work, and to hire childcare. I am not sure what that was referring to...is he talking about getting new help because he didn't want to leave his wife and son alone in the house due to security fears? If so wouldn't a security guard have been more help?

((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges
·
11h
My mum: “Are you going to be doing more stuff defending Cummings”. Me: “Yes”. My mum: “Then you’re an idiot”. So that’s going well then

For those that dont know His mum is Glenda Jackson.

Thoughts may have been, we probably have covid, Mary is ill and many people I work closely with have been diagnosed with it. But technically, collegues are not in my household and Mary hasn't got a cough or fever so I can go back into work to sort some things out before we leave. He probably didn't even think that at the time, just reached for those technicalities later when challenged. In how many different directions can you bend the rules over one 24 period?

I also had a reply from my MP. Well written. More sympathetic and lenient to DC than I believe is logical or appropriate but does say that the main point is how devastatingly this undermines the government and particularly their ability to ensure people do what's right for society not just themselves, and so he's calling for DC to be sacked.

A mothers open letter to DC after her son dies during lockdown.

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/mums-open-letter-dominic-cummings-18307170.amp?__twitter_impression=true