Westminstenders: Magical Thinking

[RedToothBrush]

This week has seen reports of the government editing footage of Johnson to avoid embarrassing questions about the early government response.

We've been asked to accept that the rules were different to what we were told to excuse the law breaking behaviour of a senior government advisor. As Johnson said he was being a responsible father (as if Johnson knows what this is) and it wasn't as if he was visiting a lover (this Johnson would know all about). Let's be honest Johnson is the master of brazening out controversy.

We also have the ERG complaining they were lied to by Gove about the new Withdrawal Agreement and the border in the Irish Sea which surprises precisely no one else.

They appear to be a little upset by the Cummings debarkable too.

"They'll be FINE sweltering in unventilated boiling hot classrooms. It's all good."

The guidance is clear, Piggy. We have to open the windows. This will keep us safe from Covid-19.

At least, that's what they're telling childminders

Swedish I think one of the journalists asked him about the spectator article written by his wife & why no mention of the trip to Durham, can’t remember though if he answered the question.

Slight problem tanith ... I have no windows..

I was wondering if all classrooms have windows that opened

Same as in my old office - Petrie dish all sealed tightly shut

Surely open-air markets are the most socially undistanced form of retail imaginable.

Mockers I thought that's where all our current issues began

Mockers
Have you ever been to Borough Market
rammed with people sometimes
let alone the scavengers at boot sales and flea markets

I don't think Cummings answered the question about the article. He said his wife wrote it because she is a writer (which led the journalist to ask him why he also wrote an article about his experiences, since he is not a writer), and seemed to imply that he doesn't interfere or pay attention to what she writes.

Can I ask what other Y6 parents are doing re: school going back?

Ds2 very anxious and I'm really really torn :(

yoikes
Kids under 14 seem to pretty much immune to catching it
and nearly as immune to passing it on.

If your son is able to go and see his mates and enjoy his final half term of primary school, it will be much better for his mental health to get his own routine back.

My kids are older but both missing their friends A LOT

That's my view but he's so worried about "making granny and grandad ill" :(

"Slight problem tanith ... I have no windows.. "

Now you're just being negative, Piggy! Positive solutions, remember!

yoikes
Granny and Grandad are only at risk if he catches it.
If he is sensible and washes his hands and does not pick his nose or share drinks with random coughing strangers
then he's no more risk to them than anybody working in a supermarket

Right, so everyone is back on the Johnson and Cummings bus and those who tried to fight back against the ill mannered evil genius will be remembered and later punished and otherwise we carry on as normal.

However, it has thrown up some interesting aspects of their relationship and I can see why Johnson is not letting go of the man who massively strokes his ego and takes the boring day to day jobs of running a country off his hands.

They are each other's ying and yang. Johnson is Mr Personality, the gregarious, pay attention to me, king of the world but completely work shy. Cummings happy enough to remain in the background without any personality but loves being the power behind the throne. Sadly we are stuck with them both.

So, what next? I think Johnson is done with this pandemic. Everything back open. No more daily briefings. No more stats given. Medics being muzzled. Will we even be told about R going up? If we're not told, then it'll be like it's not happening. Full steam ahead to...? No deal brexit?

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g190814-d2048791-Reviews-Barnard_Castle-Barnard_Castle_County_Durham_England.html

They took down the reviews, but you can read the Q&A's. You gotta love the British sense of humour

What happens if the rate of infection goes up again? Will Johnson still be done with it?

he's so worried about "making granny and grandad ill"

He shouldn't be visiting granny and grandad at home. He should be socially distancing and not touching them if meeting (One at a time) outdoors.

I can't see where the risk is?

He's 11. And a worrier. I know there's little to no risk.

Newspapers had this slogan in Germany:

"Don't take Corona to granny"

Elton John: "sorry seems to be the hardest word"

So was the whole Cummings revelation just a distraction from the fact Boris has gone full on trump? That we won't get numbers.... except excess deaths 3 weeks later?

Sorry for not being can do tanith

Prof Reicher (SAGE) told Good Morning Britain:

"If you look at the research it shows the reason why people observed lockdown was not for themselves,
it wasn't because they were personally at risk,
they did it for the community, they did it because of a sense of 'we're all in this together'.

"If you give the impression there's one rule for them and one rule for us, you fatally undermine that sense of 'we're all in this together'

and you undermine adherence to the forms of behaviour which have got us through this crisis."

Beth Rigby:

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-boris-johnson-is-paying-the-price-for-supporting-dominic-cummings-11994163

One minister told me what they had witnessed at that press conference on Sunday was "the PM's authority with the British people draining away in front of my very eyes".

Tuesday papers: