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Original poster

Cummings evidence today

999 replies

Dirtystreetpie · 26/05/2021 09:57

Anyone listening?

OP posts:
Bluethrough · 27/05/2021 10:57

@Fishandhips

If it was all genuine he should have become a whistleblower a year ago. He's a liar, disloyal and untrustworthy.

Quite.

Also this is likely to jeopardise an impartial and independent review into the handling of covid, perhaps he is doing bojo a favour after all, the snake.

If he had, he wouldn't have been around to tell us of other failings plus, whistle blowing at the height of the pandemic and he'd have been accused of dragging the country down, it was also an unprecedented situation, with a government of unknowns and inexperience, hypnotised by Brexit.

I think he is telling a version of the truth, these things happened but perhaps he has spun them to suit his agenda.

Tory voters don't believe him because to do so, means they voted for a bunch of clowns and no one likes to admit they got things wrong.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 27/05/2021 11:02

I do not believe there will ever be an independent impartial review of how the Government handled the pandemic

Spot on

As long as the government are paying for it and influencing who'll actually do the reviewing there's no such thing as independence

Emilyontmoor · 27/05/2021 11:13

Sirius99 Cummings may have doctored his blogs, or added it in from something he had written elsewhere Hmm but the whole of Asia knew that the world got off lightly with SARS and another more transmissible coronavirus was highly probable. When that hit, all the scientists were saying this could be “the big one” an aerosol transmitted highly infectious deadly virus like the 1918 epidemic. It took a couple of weeks to work out all cases had actually been transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids (the reason there was so much emphasis on surface transmission at the start of this one. So not only did Asian countries have a plan in place that they implemented but there had been research worldwide into Coronaviruses.

This did not come out of the blue and if the west had not basked in its own exceptionalism and followed the example of Asian countries (and don’t come out with the we don’t do as we are told like Asians do racial stereotype, we did in first lockdown) there would have been tens of thousands less deaths.

Emilyontmoor · 27/05/2021 11:15

Several thousand less deaths and a lot less economic damage, most Asian economies are in growth

Fishandhips · 27/05/2021 11:19

If he had, he wouldn't have been around to tell us of other failings plus, whistle blowing at the height of the pandemic and he'd have been accused of dragging the country down, it was also an unprecedented situation, with a government of unknowns and inexperience, hypnotised by Brexit.

If you're implying he hung around to heroicly tell everyone about the failings then hahaha.

SpindleWhorl · 27/05/2021 11:21

Which liar will we choose to believe?

Never, ever Johnson, that I do know.

jasjas1973 · 27/05/2021 11:24

@Puzzledandpissedoff

I do not believe there will ever be an independent impartial review of how the Government handled the pandemic

Spot on

As long as the government are paying for it and influencing who'll actually do the reviewing there's no such thing as independence

Whether any inquiry is fair or independent doesn't matter, go for the most through review and wait 7 years for it to be published.

By which time (unless you lost a loved one) no one could care less.

Which is how long the Iraq war inquiry took and i would argue any Covid one is far more complex & will take even longer.

tenredthings · 27/05/2021 11:25

The gall of Cummings saying how crap Johnson and half the government are when he designed the campaign that put them in power. The person down the thread who says he's a historian making sure his version goes on the records has made a good point. It's all a game plan for him.
The bigger problem is that this country is now a one party Tory state and they have been exposed as self serving idiots utterly unsuitable for the economic and environmental crisis which face us.

Bluethrough · 27/05/2021 11:30

@Fishandhips

If he had, he wouldn't have been around to tell us of other failings plus, whistle blowing at the height of the pandemic and he'd have been accused of dragging the country down, it was also an unprecedented situation, with a government of unknowns and inexperience, hypnotised by Brexit.

If you're implying he hung around to heroicly tell everyone about the failings then hahaha.

Don't be ridiculous.

But then again, you might actually have a point, if your going to take down your enemies, then you need the most amount of ammunition!

The idea Cummings would do anything heroic is a crazy one.

My point is that due to who he is, whenever he blew the whistle (so to speak) he would always have his detractors & its pretty obvious they were all best buddies last year, so why would he resign?

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 27/05/2021 11:32

@TheoMeo

We had a plan but I suspect austerity put paid to it - and Brexit
Johnson disbanding the pandemic planning committee in oct 2019 probably didn’t help. Neither did the recommendations from the 2016 simulation being ignored.

Hancock in the commons is a farce. Apart from the whole thing about trying to investigate lying without being able to use the word lies, I’m pretty sure we’ve decided the ministerial code is optional anyway.

DuncinToffee · 27/05/2021 11:40

Hancock in the commons is a farce.
It's like the PMQs, gets away with not answering any questions and receiving compliments from fellow Tory MP's

He didn't explicitly deny any of Cummings claims regarding care homes testing.

Sirius99 · 27/05/2021 11:51

Emilyontmoor
Yes there are many things the government could of done differently, I would hope they will do in the future, if there is another pandemic, western countries were very complacent, high movement of people didn’t help, in Asian and African countries, they have more recent experience of viruses and the people are more compliant with use of government force, You only have to read on these sites the people who think it’s not real or people that are not going to comply with the lockdown anymore, it’s against or freedom or human rights, people seem to be suggesting that people in government willing and deliberately killed people, innocently Im not excepting that, but yes, mistakes have happened and I’m sure the government with hindsight now would do things very different

Bordois · 27/05/2021 12:06

I've no doubt he is telling a version of the truth, but a carefully curated version that makes him look less bad than everyone else. By getting in first he gets to have more control of the narrative and deflect from his own shortcomings.

The best lies are based on the truth after all.

newnortherner111 · 27/05/2021 12:10

@Notonthestairs the best independent review would be by a jury response to Mr Johnson and perhaps Mr Hancock appearing in court charged with corporate manslaughter and possibly corruption charges.

the80sweregreat · 27/05/2021 12:21

The vaccine and its roll out has really saved their bacon.
They won't face anything more than a few reviews and a ' lessons will be learnt' mantra.
The opposition are not great ( plus they didn't push for an earlier lockdown either ) and mostly went along with all the decisions made ( such as eat out to help out etc)
If labour back these claims people will just say they are now making a former liar appear to be credible. It's a bit of a ' gotcha' moment.
If anyone thinks this will bring anyone down , well I'd be really shocked to be honest.

newnortherner111 · 27/05/2021 12:25

@the80sweregreat sadly you will probably be correct. Contrast the lack of government accountability with France where the Prime Minister Eduoard Philippe was removed for his initial response, and two former Prime Ministers have been convicted of offences committed whilst in office.

viques · 27/05/2021 12:27

@Bordois

I've no doubt he is telling a version of the truth, but a carefully curated version that makes him look less bad than everyone else. By getting in first he gets to have more control of the narrative and deflect from his own shortcomings.

The best lies are based on the truth after all.

And by not saying mean stuff about Gove and Sunak he has kept his career prospects safely on life support.

If he manages to avoid secluded alleyways after dark I am pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of him.

Blossomtoes · 27/05/2021 13:02

If he manages to avoid secluded alleyways after dark I am pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of him

I think we have. Any appointment of him would be political suicide.

Cailleach1 · 27/05/2021 13:16

[quote newnortherner111]@Notonthestairs the best independent review would be by a jury response to Mr Johnson and perhaps Mr Hancock appearing in court charged with corporate manslaughter and possibly corruption charges.[/quote]
Cummings backed off on what he was saying when the Committee mentioned manslaughter. It would get too real then and Dom may be scrutinised himself.

TruelyStruttingHotpants · 27/05/2021 14:37

He is an idea for you

What if it is a all a double bluff

Whatever is said about Boris never sticks or surprises anyone

Hancock was always the fall guy. Newspapers were saying that at the start of the first lockdown. Though he does now seem to have got a bit of Boris teflon. People feel sorry for him as often looks a bit lost. So anyone saying he had no idea what he was doing. Doesn't surprise people at all.

The main players that could be damaged are not pointed out at all.

So is Dom still secretly working with Boris? Is this yet again the governments new ploy of chucking the worst accusations out there before anyone else can. Then spending the following weeks watering it all down. Think institutional racism report and their handling of the release or newspaper reports given to the press before the local elections.

Grin
TruelyStruttingHotpants · 27/05/2021 14:37

*Here is an idea for you

the80sweregreat · 27/05/2021 14:41

The 'double bluff ' would not surprise me at all.
Nothing surprises me anymore about politics or politicians.

FloppyHoldsNoTruckWithFrontedA · 27/05/2021 14:49

yes yes to the double-bluff.

The whole thing smacked of Dominic thinking we are all stupid and he can stage-manage us.

Leonardsgirl · 27/05/2021 15:12

What surprises me most of all is that so many people seem to be taking Cummings' words as gospel. A proven liar, who made fools of us all last year, yet all of a sudden he's speaking the truth and everyone else is guilty. Utterly bizarre.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 27/05/2021 15:54

@Leonardsgirl

I'm surprised so many people are now treating Dominic Cummings as some sort of hero. The man is a self serving snake. This is all about the transfer of power to Sunak and Gove and people are falling for it. He's a manipulator and gives not a shit about anyone else.

If it was all genuine he should have become a whistleblower a year ago. He's a liar, disloyal and untrustworthy.

Boris is just a fool. An utter fool. We deserve better.

This ^