I know I should have "moved on" but Cummings...

[1stV45]

I do think the government's handling of that sorry business is, in large part, responsible for where we are now.

I know there were always rumblings of complaints about "others" not following the rules but ever since we were told people must do what's right for their families it seems widespread. Before that the majority were complying and there was a general feeling of at least wanting to be seen to do the right thing. Even now with tightening restrictions, lots of people just simply seem to be saying they're not prepared to do it. People who want to stick to things to the letter face derision.

I don't understand why he didn't just say "I made a poor decision, I was wrong" which would have enabled him to stay in his job and everyone to move on, instead of that ridiculous justification which lead everyone to question why they had been stupid enough to follow the rules.

I get the feeling, from taking to colleagues and what's going in on SM, that it doesn't matter what the restrictions are, there won't be enough people sticking to them to make a difference. And I do think Cummings was the turning point.

He was a cock but the actions of the Scottish MP were even worse. She absolutely should have been fined for going on that train journey!

@mum2jakie

He was a cock but the actions of the Scottish MP were even worse. She absolutely should have been fined for going on that train journey!

I agree but I'm not really talking about his actions, rather the way he was defended and supported. No one has tried to support her, quite the opposite.

He made it all feel like a bad joke in which we’d all been had

This sums it up for me. I've never been able to take any of the rules seriously since.

I think dismissing the impact on public behaviour of what he did and the lack of consequences for him is too black and white

It's more insidious than that. It left an indelible stain on the idea that we could possibly all be "in this together" and weakened the govt's gravitas. Who could trust and respect them after the mealy mouthed, blatant wriggling around the truth they displayed. Clearly, they wanted everyone to simply stfu about it

Most people have stfu, but they have not forgotten.

@mum2jakie

He was a cock but the actions of the Scottish MP were even worse. She absolutely should have been fined for going on that train journey!

Of course one could (in fact, one is ) counter by saying that had the Cummings affair not happened, then Margaret Ferrier would not herself have broken the regulations. She is as responsible for her own actions as is Cummings was too.

Its not really what he did, its that Boris supported what he did, Boris put him on a stage to address a nation with his bull-shit.
The contempt they have for us is immense.

I agree that it was a turning point in public attitude to “rules”. He made them seem pretty optional. And then compounded this by swaggering into a press conference and making up bullshit to explain why he did what he wanted to do, regardless of rules. The whole thing snowballed from there. My ass are we in it together.

He made it all feel like a bad joke in which we’d all been had

Yes absolutely this. It made people change from thinking "well the rules might not make sense for me and my family but over all they're right for everyone so I'll comply"" to "fuck it, I'll do what's right for my family"

It says everything about Johnson that he kept Cummings after that.

His behaviour was indefensible, yet the government allowed him that press conference and accepted his defence of it. Every since, people have looked for Dominic-Cummings-type loopholes in any bit of legislation or advice that they would prefer not to comply with. So yes, it was definitely the turning point and has been undermining anti-Covid measures every since.

Spot on @1stV45. The way that was handled was appalling, I agree that people started being far less compliant around that time.

@Helmetbymidnight

Its not really what he did, its that Boris supported what he did, Boris put him on a stage to address a nation with his bull-shit. The contempt they have for us is immense.

And Google will remember that there were scores of Tory MPs who were calling for Cummings to go that were ignored, dismissed and told to fuck themselves with a free school meal.

The message to the nation was loud and clear. And it wasn't that the government cared a single jot about any of the citizens of the UK.

Bar one, that is: A Mr. D. Cummings.

Yes, OP, what you said.

Are you June, Op? :)

www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10157394074626570&set=a.10150409153016570

You’re not wrong OP. Since then I think the majority of people who otherwise follow the restrictions 99% of the time - they wear their masks, they keep 2m apart from people, they isolate if they have symptoms etc - feel very comfortable to fudge the rules just a little to accommodate their own family and make things easier/a little less shit for themselves.

People are just using his behaviour as an excuse for theirs.

This. The only person responsible for your behaviour is YOU.

The Prime Minister said his behaviour was acceptable. Family First. Everyone simply misunderstood the rules.

How anyone can think that is right or normal I don't know.

Of course he undermined the rules - when the rule givers break them then the rule givers defend them that's what happens.

I'm utterly bewildered by the people who are pretending not see that.

I'm not over it, OP :)

My DC's school sent out a letter a few weeks ago. The gist of one of the things it said (it was in relation to some students not social distancing in break areas) was "the fact that some students may have broken school guidelines and got away with it, will not be accepted as a valid excuse for other students to also break the guidelines".

If 11-18 year olds are expected to understand that; I do think that adults should be mature enough to look to their own behaviour rather than pointing at the bad behaviour of someone else as an excuse. We're only hurting ourselves by failing to follow the "rules". DC and his cronies don't care.

@RedskyAtnight

My DC's school sent out a letter a few weeks ago. The gist of one of the things it said (it was in relation to some students not social distancing in break areas) was "the fact that some students may have broken school guidelines and got away with it, will not be accepted as a valid excuse for other students to also break the guidelines".

If 11-18 year olds are expected to understand that; I do think that adults should be mature enough to look to their own behaviour rather than pointing at the bad behaviour of someone else as an excuse. We're only hurting ourselves by failing to follow the "rules". DC and his cronies don't care.

Surely the fact that the matter was sent suggests the 11-18yos don't get it?

People are just using his behaviour as an excuse for theirs.

It may come as a shock to some people, I know, but not everyone in the UK trusts the government unquestioningly. (Personally I can't imagine why on earth anybody might think that, but I guess people are allowed to have their irrational beliefs).

Such people might - given how serious Covid was turning out to be - have put their natural cynicism to one side, and been willing, able and actually following the law, believing that in this one case, the government was doing the right thing.

Until that twat Cummings gave them the opportunity very early on to show that wasn't the case and their initial cynicism was justified. Yes everyones actions are their own. But the data they work from changes.

Again it wasn't that DC broke the rules that caused the biggest issue. It was that the PM and multiple govt ministers said he was right to break the rules.

Leave Dom alone, he did nothing wrong.
As some Bishop said, he was clever enough to read the small print that the rest of us were too stupid to see.

The lesson he taught us was very much to use your own judgment and common sense, and to err on the side of putting your own family first.

This lesson was then explicitly endorsed by a series of government ministers.

This is useful stuff as I tend to find myself agreeing with them as we enter into this second lockdown and it is good to have the moral authority of so many leading public figures - gove, Hancock, raab etc etc to fall back on. I’m sure a lot of people privately feel the same.

This is the damage he did by being so brazen and Johnson did by failing to sack him.

Yes I totally agree. There are so many reasons why I am angry about it and the subsequent change in behaviours.

@Username1243

Leave Dom alone, he did nothing wrong. As some Bishop said, he was clever enough to read the small print that the rest of us were too stupid to see.

Quite, I think there will be much analysis of "should" and "must" this time around and anything that's "guidance" will be considered exactly that.

Leave Dom alone, he did nothing wrong.
As some Bishop said, he was clever enough to read the small print that the rest of us were too stupid to see.

Not sure if this is a joke.

But I think we did all suddenly realise how stupid we’d been. Since then we’ve all been looking for loopholes and reading the small print, as you say.