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.

Spelled incorrectly and #sackcummings trended

Barnard Castle trended.

Adding the other two because I think they sum up his actions

I will move on when Cummings and Johnson move on. Hopefully won't have to wait too much longer. Although the prospect of who/what comes next is a worry!

Shame Johnson didn't u-turn on keeping Cummings as pretty much everything else he's said in the last 6months he's then ended up doing the opposite. Let's not forget a fortnight ago in PMQs, Johnson dismissed calls from Keir Starmer and SAGE for a 'miserable' national 'circuit breaker'. Inaction until beyond tipping point yet again from the PM.

I forgot about the weird goings on on twitter.

@DuncinToffee

I forgot about the weird goings on on twitter.

A lot of SM gaming going on in Westminster. As I said previously, if they put 1% of the effort into fighting Covid they did into shit like this, we'd not only be Covid free, we'd be managing other countries responses as well.

I think Cummings knows far too much about all the shady contracts and other stuff that is going unnoticed right now. He is most likely part of that gang really.

SerendipityJane
A lot of SM gaming going on in Westminster. As I said previously, if they put 1% of the effort into fighting Covid they did into shit like this, we'd not only be Covid free, we'd be managing other countries responses as well.

Well said.

I totally agree with you op.

Boris and Gove both said that he didn’t do anything wrong and used his common sense and acted as any caring parent would.

I was at a very difficult stage in my life, going through bad health, abuse, divorce etc but had still stuck to the rules. The Government made me feel stupid, like a mug, for following the rules and not following my own instinct. They said that I could have followed my instinct all along. This really affected me. I stopped fully sticking to all the rules after that.

@SerendipityJane

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 !" ????

Two words Jeremy Corbyn.

People were/are very angry(myself included) about Cummings Ferguson Farrier et al breaking the rules but i dont think that was the turning point that has made a few more people start questioning things. Because a lot of the public are quite desensitised to the behaviour of politicians and advisors and collectively our expectations of them are very low. I think it was incidents like what happened at the funeral of Craig Bicknell"s father that proved to be a bit of a catalyst moment.

@MercyBooth

People were/are very angry(myself included) about Cummings Ferguson Farrier et al breaking the rules but i dont think that was the turning point that has made a few more people start questioning things. Because a lot of the public are quite desensitised to the behaviour of politicians and advisors and collectively our expectations of them are very low. I think it was incidents like what happened at the funeral of Craig Bicknell"s father that proved to be a bit of a catalyst moment.

That was awful. Absolutely awful

I've always stuck to the rules, and intend to keep on doing so.
When he did what he did though it made me think "Why the fuck should I bother?"
So can see why others may have took the stance not to take it seriously.
No way should it ever have been defended or dismissed.
Think it's done a lot of damage as to how people treat the lockdowns.

Tota'lllly agree Quaagars. i'm not changing my stance, and I'm following the guidelines because I think I'm not a self serving lowlife like Cummings, I won't lower myself.
He did more damage than we realised. To wheel out a SPAD who sits in front of the cameras for 40 mins, lying, smirking and wriggling out of a wrongdoing like that, was unprecedented and I think we will look back on that press conference as the moment that people lost trust in the Tories and the covid message. I hope Johnson thinks he's worth it..
I was prepared to listen to the government message in a 'we're all in this together' way. Now I listen to Vallance and Whitty, but despise anything coming out of Boris's mouth.

I know a lot of people have experienced symptoms other than the main three but have yet to hear anyone else mention weird vision. Maybe Dominic Cummings has exceptional physiology?

I can't listen to the Covid Chronicles on R4's Today anymore either. I remember listening to Dominic Cummings wife read out that complete pack of lies she wrote in the Spectator with the title Getting Coronavirus does Not Bring Clarity that portrayed them as both in London struggling to care for their son while they had covid.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/getting-coronavirus-does-not-bring-clarity

It's not just Boris and Cummings that think we're fools. There's a whole swathe of Tory/capitalist types that really despise the public and think they are all stupid children only interested in Strictly and football. Their contempt for the proletariat could not be more obvious.

What is really worrying is that in that press event in the No 10 garden Dominic Cummings was held to account in the way that only an elected official should be.

He is a glorified civil servant and should have been disciplined or fired.

It was Boris Johnson who should have answered to the public because it is us, the public, who appointed him to his job. We didn't elect Dominic Cummings.

You are not wrong OP.

We stuck 100% to the rules in the spring but after reading about Professor Neil Ferguson and Dominic Cummings blatantly breaking the rules and lying about it, we thought naaaaahhhh, we'll ease our approach and do what we feel is right for our family. We will take exactly this approach during lockdown 2.

I am fed up with seeing Ferguson in the media after his illicit lockdown meet with his lover. Now the hypocritical professor is warning us that there may be a national lockdown in January if people don't behave. Does this little man have no shame?

I’d have had more respect for Johnson and Cummings if Johnson had said, “DC has apologised for his actions and offered his resignation. I have chosen not to accept his resignation.”

We’d have grumbled for a day or two, but ultimately it would have been forgotten if both parties had owned their actions and decisions.
Having a SPAD have a press conference in the Rose Garden was a mistake, even more so with all the lies DC spewed and expected us to swallow. That’s what makes people angry. I could have forgiven his (selfish) actions. I will never forgive the lies.

Absolutely agree op there was a definite shift in my perception of what was acceptable before/after.
I was absolutely compliant to the letter- since then I gave weighed up benefits to mental health, social aspects to my wellbeing etc and have ‘broken the rules’.

@KarmaNoMore

The government never wanted lockdowns, their wish was to foster herd immunity even when there was (and there isn’t yet) proof that covid immunity is nothing more than short lived and SAGE had advised them otherwise.

What better way to get people on their side, fighting off lockdowns, refusing to do as told than sending the most hated person in the country for an eye test to Barnard Castle to see bluebells at the time there are none and pretend they do nothing care?

We fell for it beautifully, it was all planned.

I have idly wondered about this myself, but I'm just not sure this lot are capable enough. With Boris at the helm, I think the default assumption has to be incompetence over successful exercise of dastardly plans. If it were deliberate they'd probably have outsourced Barnard Castle to Serco or something.

Which is not to say they don't want herd immunity by the back door, of course. But I don't know that they'd have done something that was going to inevitably cause a massive drop in Tory support if it worked well enough to deter public compliance. Especially not when up against a new Labour leader they're clearly scared of.

We've always followed the science - so not doing things if legally permitted sometimes. Cummings either did this deliberately or the government are totally incompetent and corrupt. Either way I'm not going to change how I respond to the virus for them.

I will possibly join the Labour party and will certainly be giving them money for their next election campaign because another 4 years of this shower will finish the country off.

[quote GrumblyMumblyisnotJumbly]@Fleabagster

Despite not voting Tory, I was supportive of the Government and had sympathy for there position until that point. It all went out of the window from then. I was furious.

This ^
When Johnson told us what Cummings did was ‘reasonable’, when so many people had been making massive sacrifices, they basically told us to eat a shit sandwich.

I will never ‘move on’ or forgive any of the Cabinet members or other Tory MPs who put keeping Cummings in post over and above maintaining trust and compliance in the public health message during a pandemic. Exceptional circumstances looking after your own child ffs!

He will never live down his ridiculous eyesight test drive. Total pillock.

Well done vipers for not letting them pull the wool over your eyes![/quote]
This. When there were parents who weren't allowed to be by the side of their dying children and so many people died alone it was a massive fuck you and a finger up the size of a fucking tectonic plate.

To make matters worse, Cummings has been pushing for tougher covid fines...

www.ft.com/content/15f485b9-955c-4955-8bb4-ca93918f5d4c

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/the-hypocrisy-cummings-pushed-for-10k-fines-for-covid-rule-breakers/21/10/

Well hypocrisy and a fuck you plebs attitude from Dominic Cummings is nothing new:

Happy to take £235,000 in EU subsidies
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/inews.co.uk/news/brexit-adviser-dominic-cummings-farm-took-235000-in-eu-subsidies-325110/amp

And his £50,000 in unpaid council tax could have funded 23,000 free school meals

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/westminster-news/cummings-unpaid-tax-could-feed-thousands-of-kids-evening-chronicle-4559284