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

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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.

I have been banging on about this for weeks OP and agree 100%.
For me it was the turning point in all of this and it changed the mood and perception of the general population and was the thin end of the wedge that is going on now.
I voted tory. The way this was handled is making me not want to do so ever again. If DC had been honest it would have been terrible but to then spin it in the way he did and got away with it was absolutely disgusting and treats us all like ignorant proles. I think if that whole thing hadn't happened, a lot more people would feel more like listening and complying right now. I am also angry that in 2016 the tory party ran an exercise to find the weak points if/when we got a pandemic. All the issues that have happened were raised (lack of PPE etc) but fuck all was done about it so what was the point of having the exercise if they are going to take away nothing from it.
I'm so angry and let down by this government.

I'm so angry and let down by this government.

Not really sure why ? What was it in the Tory handling of anything 2017-2019 that made you say to yourself: "You know what ? This is exactly the sort of government I need to run my country !" ????

Interesting SerenityJane, seems to me the best thing all round would be not to make assumptions in that case. And particularly not to use SN that may or may not exist, in a ham fisted attempt to excuse illegal behaviour that potentially endangered the child in question.

It is somewhat worrying that a man who wields so much power over our lives thinks that he should test his eyesight by driving rather than visiting the optician.

I agree. It changed my view. I didn't behave any differently personally but I was far less judgy about others breaking/ bending the rules.
I'd be interested into see if anyone challenges a fixed penalty ticket based doing their best for their family like Cummings.

@cupofdecaf

I agree. It changed my view. I didn't behave any differently personally but I was far less judgy about others breaking/ bending the rules. I'd be interested into see if anyone challenges a fixed penalty ticket based doing their best for their family like Cummings.

I remember at the time seeing some information on the number of fixed penalty tickets that had been issued on that basis, and there were solicitors and barristers on twitter offering to take cases pro bono for anyone wanting to challenge on that basis. But I'm not sure if any of the challenges to lockdown fines have actually come before a court yet, as there's such a backlog.

Totally agree, not sacking him was fatal, Now everyone feels justified in finding loopholes, it just completely destroyed the sense of everyone being in it together, which may always have been fleeting but would, I think have held longer. Also destroyed all the support that Boris seemed to gain whilst ill (whether he deserved to win it or not).

Also destroyed all the support that Boris seemed to gain whilst ill (whether he deserved to win it or not).

To the extent that it's not hard to say if he was ill to not much controversy ....

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

^ This 100%. We were treated like absolute idiots. And the way he tweaked the .gov site after to suit his little jaunt to Durham made me sick.

As for someone who has a politics graduate labour voting son who has not heard of Dominic Cummings.... I'm beyond shocked actually. How on earth can he not have heard of him? He's the Alastair Campbell to Tony Blair, the most important person in Government unfortunately. He is SPAD to Johnson and runs the country, unelected and unwanted. I would be seriously concerned if I had a politics graduate adult child who hadn't heard of him.
My DCs are still incensed about the whole thing, as am I.

the thing is, he has completely failed to give an adequate account of what he did- his 'reasons' were flimsy excuses that wouldn't stand up to even modest scrutiny and I'm still not sure why the press just all basically shut up about it. I just don't believe that in a city the size of London a man with loads of money couldn't solve the same kind of problem that the rest of us with little or no money were having to just cope with.

'it's OK everyone I've talked to him and he explained it all to my satisfaction so you'll have to just trust me on this one'
well no, I don't, and nor does anyone else

Completely agree OP

I'm still not sure why the press just all basically shut up about it.

Because they quickly needed the space for the fuck up after that. And after that. And after that. There's only so much room on a page.

Besides, I don't think the press has "shut up" about it. Even the fact it is still be discussed here shows it's an incident which has cast a very long shadow.

To be fair, the press did keep going for quite a few days at the briefings. It was all they questioned on.
And that was when the Head of Nursing never came back - she didn't show enough support and refused to back Cummings. She was not allowed at another briefing again.

what was even worse than him actually doing it was the blind i stand with cummings thing from the tory mps. bastards. they'd just spent ages reinforcing how we should all stay home and then turned around and completely destroyed that message.

what was even worse than him actually doing it was the blind i stand with cummings thing from the tory mps.

Actually it wasn't just that which made it so bad, but also the fact that Tory MPs that were trying to side with the decent person in the street were treated with such contempt. From that point it was clear that there was something going on, and we have no choice but to suck it up. Even (as we have seen) people who voted Tory.

It’s fine to break lockdown if your parents have a spare lodge in their grounds and their own wood. Duh.

I voted tory. The way this was handled is making me not want to do so ever again

Let’s hope it stays that way and there are plenty of others in the same boat.

I haven’t got much patience with the ‘but Cummings’ brigade.

Yes, he is a lying prick. Yes, he broke the rules. Yes, he’s a revoltingly arrogant wanker. But get over it and stop using it as an excuse to not follow the rules. Everyone knows now what a complete arsehole he is, so why others wish to follow in his unsafe, rule-breaking footsteps is beyond me. Take responsibility for your own behaviour.

I agree with you op. I have not moved on from Cummings.

I remember so clearly feeling so stupid. I had accepted so much personal sacrifice because I thought we were all in it together. The government's defence of Cummings happened and I felt like a mug.

I am still angry. I think Johnson has lost so much goodwill and will be remembered for his incompetence.

@Armi But Cummings hasnt taken responsibility for his.

But get over it and stop using it as an excuse to not follow the rules

I'm not. I'm following the rules as I've always done. i can say I did that.
He can't.
But that doesn't get away from the fact I'm pissed off and not moving on from it.

I’m long enough in the tooth to hold most politicians of whatever hue in low esteem. Every government I remember usually has a scandal or indiscretion of some sort leaked to the media who then apply maximum pressure for that particular politician to go.

Cummings was clearly wrong but a part of me does admire him for not kowtowing to the usual media BS, as what usually happens is the politician falls on his sword but if they are still valued, they then slivers their way back into the circle anyway from under their rock when the dust dies down.

All Cummings has done is do away with the token gesture resignation bit thus saving some time & energy

@Armi

I haven’t got much patience with the ‘but Cummings’ brigade.

Yes, he is a lying prick. Yes, he broke the rules. Yes, he’s a revoltingly arrogant wanker. But get over it and stop using it as an excuse to not follow the rules. Everyone knows now what a complete arsehole he is, so why others wish to follow in his unsafe, rule-breaking footsteps is beyond me. Take responsibility for your own behaviour.

It doesn't matter whether you have any patience with it, though. It's still happening even though we've had five months of carefully crafted arguments that it shouldn't be. Which in itself should tell you something about the pointlessness of telling people to suck it up.

I’ve just remembered something really odd about Twitter that day.

The story broke and at no point that day did Dominic Cummings trend on Twitter.
I was on it all day and not once did it trend dispute loads of people using his name.

Towards the end of the day various misspellings of his name trended. E.g. DominicCummins

How is that possible?

I took screenshots at the time, I was so weirded out by it. Barnard Castle trended, #sackcummings but not Dominic Cummings spelled correctly.
How is that possible?