Cummings evidence today

[Dirtystreetpie]

Anyone listening?

Jesus Christ, who gives a fuck what Jeremy bloody Corbyn might or might not have done?

He is a total irrelevance and anyone trying to bring his name up as some kind of gotcha in a discussion about the way Johnson et al have handled Covid is really embarrassing themselves.

@Leonardsgirl

People weren't sitting there spreading the virus during Eat Out to Help Out. It was well managed, and after months of people spending time at home unable to go anywhere it was nice to see friends and family enjoying themselves. We can't stay locked up forever and at the time, during the summer, people needed a break.

Depends which restaurant/pub you went to.

Oh and don't forget the fraud.

No driving hundreds of miles with a SN child because you might get ill, is not okay. The child had two parents. His sister lived locally and could help. He could have hired a nanny.
He drove there to celebrate his mum's birthday.

eat out to help out would have been a sensible scheme if it had included takeaways, excluded some fast food such as McDonalds and KFC, and not forced people to sit indoors spreading the virus

I agree and I also agree with a pp about the public being lured into a false sense of security about such schemes going ahead but a decision that you can choose to follow is very different to one enforced on you that you have no say in such as the discharging of patients back into care homes without tests. It is these decisions that need to be scrutinised, accountability apportioned to them and lessons learned from.

'At the moment he is coming across as a petulant child and a back stabbing one at that'

Exactly. I thought he was some kind of genius but he's just made himself look like a gossiping prat today. If he'd played it a bit more intelligently he'd have more credibility.

So all that he says is to be discounted, even though he was in the meetings?
I know he's a snake but I am not dismissing what he says.
Hancock and Johnson fucked up.
There is no getting away from that.
Just pick one statement..... Hancock promised that thoe sent from hospital to care homes would be tested. He didn't and we know that.

@JaniieJones

'At the moment he is coming across as a petulant child and a back stabbing one at that'

Exactly. I thought he was some kind of genius but he's just made himself look like a gossiping prat today. If he'd played it a bit more intelligently he'd have more credibility.

I disagree.

And tbh even if he was, everything he's saying is right. Which is what's important.

He has thrown them all under the big red bus he used for the leave campaign.
Especially Matt Hancock.

'So all that he says is to be discounted, even though he was in the meetings?'

No not discounted just organised and actually supported by evidence, other witnesses. I don't get how he couldn't remember if he'd attended any cobra meetings, it all sounded very selective and imo he didn't come across like a reliable source. He was senior! these failings were his failings and his very belated fake apologies seem a bit convenient and not convincing.

@Roussette

So all that he says is to be discounted, even though he was in the meetings? I know he's a snake but I am not dismissing what he says. Hancock and Johnson fucked up. There is no getting away from that. Just pick one statement..... Hancock promised that thoe sent from hospital to care homes would be tested. He didn't and we know that.

Absolutely. Believing someone isn’t dependent on liking them. It’s perfectly possible to detest Cummings and recognise the truth of his testimony. It’s the position in which I find myself.

It’ll be interesting to hear Hancock’s version in a couple of weeks, given the hammering today

I believe most of it as it ties up with what I was thinking at the time. The reluctance to face the fact that what was happening in Europe was going to happen here. Johnson not turning up for Cobra meetings and walking around shaking hands in hospitals. The advice that masks were no good. Remembering saying to dh “bet there is a shortage”.Protective equipment that hadn't been checked to ensure that it was in date and available for speedy access. The vaccination programme has been handled in an excellent fashion by Kate Bingham and the team she selected for the task force. Hancock and Johnson have benefited politically from her success and this has clouded the mistakes and shortcomings of the Government. However, these should be revealed and recorded so future pandemics and disasters can be handled in a more planned and efficient manner based on experience.

@the80sweregreat

He has thrown them all under the big red bus he used for the leave campaign. Especially Matt Hancock.

Hancock threw himself under the bus. Around about the time he stood at that press conference and blatantly lied about how we’d placed a protective ring around care homes. Anyone with any integrity would probably have seen that as a line in the sand.

Cummings timeline fits with a lot of the timelines about what we know was happening at the time. The fact that he’s a self interested liar and scumbag and he’s clearly got a plan in mind doesn’t necessarily make what he’s saying in this instance is less true.

He does need to stop saying he’s not smart though. It isn’t true.

@SoSadAboutMyDad

Seeing as Sunak is directly responsible for many deaths due to the ridiculous Eat Out To Spread It About scheme then he has blood on his hands as well. The whole lot of them should be in jail.

Funny how he couldn't remember much about all that though.......

Anything Sunak ; can't remember that .. vague.
Anything to do with Carrie or Matt H : it was the 14th March at 2.30 pm!
Selective memory loss.

Not just EOTHO though. Widely recorded that he was against 2nd lockdown in Sept/Oct IIRC. By some reliable and well respected journalists too.

Can’t wait for tomorrow’s front pages. Wonder how DT will spin it or will they just ignore it completely,

I always thought the problem with Sunak is too young and too inexperienced.

Someone with more experience would've known that health is wealth and wealth is health.

Sunak didn't seem to realise that containment of Covid was better for the economy.

I clearly remember that Johnson did not turn up for that crucial Cobra meeting. I also remember the first report when media reported that Johnson said ‘let the bodies pile high’. I think Cummings is telling the truth overall and Johnson et al. actually had form for all that he is saying.

Cummings actually said at one point that the stuff in the media about Sunak not wanting to lockdown because of concerns about the economy was false. He pretty much said at one point Sunak was the only one backing him regarding a lockdown.

@HappydaysArehere

Totally agree. Al that has come out was what I was thinking. I sourced masks early on and could not get my head around why we weren't encouraged to wear them, when for instance Italy was.
Borders I questioned big time..
Every lockdown questioned why we weren't doing it sooner.
India... the three days that we didn't shut down and it cost lives.
And so on...
And I'm just an ordinary person.

I loathe Cummings, I think he is trying shoehorn Gove in, (yuk) but that doesn't mean what he is saying is untrue. Of course Hancock and Johnson will try and discredit him as an aggrieved ex employee but there is no doubt whatsoever that a lot of this shitshow he related today is true.

@JaniieJones

'At the moment he is coming across as a petulant child and a back stabbing one at that'

Exactly. I thought he was some kind of genius but he's just made himself look like a gossiping prat today. If he'd played it a bit more intelligently he'd have more credibility.

...but surely that doesn't matter? His allegations are extremely serious and certainly based on what we saw in Care homes, true.

Thats what matters, not your views on brexit or whether you vote Tory or not, its whether the PM acted promptly and in the best interests of the country.

Highest death toll in Europe and then there are Johnsons recorded statements on Covid and border control.

If the Govt, rightly takes credit for vaccines, then they also have to be held to account for their failings.

Whether it's true or not I think it's quite likely a squirrel.

The autistic child was an absolute smoke screen.

@Blossomtoes I never agreed with almost anything Mrs Thatcher did but recognised on most matters but believed what she said. There was a plan for the miners strike, a reason and it was effective.

If Mrs Thatcher was Prime Minister now, I know the number of deaths would have been at least 20,000 fewer. If Mr Johnson had been Prime Minister in 1984 and 1985, the miners would have won.

Girlmama3

I don't understand the point. We all know they acted too late but it was over a year ago. Surely we need to move on and leave it in the past?“

Really? Even if people still in post lied to the Cabinet, the Commons and the Public. You think we should just “move on”, as they’re appointed to The Lords with its attendant benefits?