It’s no surprise he doesn’t believe rules and laws apply to privileged gits like him. The truly awful news is that he’s fond of ABBA. Surely, that must spell the end of their ‘revival’.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/22/dominic-cummings-durham-trip-coronavirus-lockdown
madfox says
He needs to just fuck off. He’s not even a member of the party whose leader he’s advising.
The response from the Cummings camp is full of lies and double speak. If it really was a genuine visit for childcare purposes they should have said so at the time. They’re just making shit up now they’ve been rumbled.
Somebody should give him a good “talking to”.
Paul Wad says
I just find it quite funny that the great unwashed elected a bloke who campaigned to get rid of the ‘unelected beurocrats’ that tell our country what we can and can’t do, but who himself is told what he can and can’t do by an unelected beurocrat.
Jackthebiscuit says
👍
dai says
I think it is his kids who are fond of ABBA.
Tiggerlion says
He’s a terrible parent as well, then.
dai says
What’s wrong with Abba? Perfect pop music.
Vincent says
Abba are real “Young Conservatives Disco” fare. Note the other kinds of acts Conservative like; Eric Clapton, Spandau Ballet, and Phil Collins after he left the weirdo stuff and jazz behind. Kids, just say “no”.
Slug says
David Cameron did once profess a fondness for The Jam’s ‘Eton Rifles’ though. When told, Paul Weller remarked, “What bit didn’t he get ?”
Carl says
On Gillian Welch’s last tour David Cameron was sitting a few rows in front of us at Hammersmith Odeon, having been encouraged by former MP Louise Mensch to go to the gig. She was with him.
With respect to Eton Rifles, it was one of his Desert Island Discs selections.
retropath2 says
Frank Turner, folkie heir to Billy Bragg also want to Eton. https://youtu.be/Cjc9UJk2v6w
Nicely self deprecating in the vid above.
Rigid Digit says
Frank is proof that not everyone who come out of Eton in to public Consciousness is a complete Bell End.
He’s a big Iron Maiden fan too
(if that makes any difference to anything)
Uncle Wheaty says
A love of Iron Maiden proves that a chap has a full awareness of the boundaries between hard rock and prog and is therefore a good ‘un.
I would give him a job!
Tiggerlion says
You and I are on opposite sides of the ABBA divide, apart from The Day Before You Came, a properly spooky song, and Lay All Your Love On Me, their only genuine dance number.
dai says
Take a Chance on Me, The Winner Takes it All, Knowing Me Knowing You, The Name of the Game etc etc. Extremely surprised you can’t recognize their greatness. Bizarre given your generally decent taste otherwise.
Vincent says
“Chiquita”? “Eagle”? “Fernando”? This is ironic squarecore. “Dum Dum Diddle”? That was a good one.
If we are going for mainstream melodic, give me Barry Manilow, any day. Tunes, and show tunes, no less.
I don’t mind people liking Abba; we all have our idiosyncratic tastes. I just think talking about their pop genius is gaslighting (see similar regarding Eurovision).
Diddley Farquar says
🙄
dai says
Well ok. I think there is a snidey attitude towards Abba by some rock fans. Apart from the obvious, Abba cannot be compared to Eurovision.
They made life affirming pop with wonderful melodies, superb production and great singing. Later they got more serious and still hit it out of the park more often than not. Like The Beatles they broke up at the right time too, leaving a near perfect pop legacy. Of course the albums have a fair amount of filler but when it comes to their singles they are just about as good as anyone ever was.
And Chiquitita is glorious.
retropath2 says
Where is our erstwhile ABBAphile , disappointing bob, to chide us (me) for a snappy description I once made of the grinning swedes? Plinky plonky ersatz anodyne juvenilia pap, was it?
dai says
There we go. An attitude about as snidey as one can get.
Kid Dynamite says
hang on, I haven’t had a go yet
“worthless disposable conformative pap for hen parties”
I can probably get snider if required
dai says
Try really listening instead of just being dismissive.
Vincent says
“Yeah, well that’s just your opinion, man”. But good luck to the fans of Abba. We’re all different.
That said, if I want life affirming pop with wonderful melodies, superb production and great singing, give me Prefab Sprout any day.
dai says
That production is way more dated than Abba. The songs are great, the production less so, all sounds way too synthetic.
Slug says
@dai is probably Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s brother in law, and I claim my £5.
dai says
I admit I am surprised and actually a bit disappointed by the atittitude of some here.
I expect that can be expected from Genesis and Yes fans though. People who listen with serious expressions and furrowed brows, rather than dancing and having a good time, even though serious listening can be applied to (later) Abba too.
Tiggerlion says
You can’t dance to ABBA. People think they can but once they get to the dancefloor, whooping and punching the air, they discover they can’t (exception named above). They make Pop music, which is fair enough. However, the melodies, the singing, the outfits, I find much too saccharine for my taste.
Each to their own, though. At least we’ve both got Exile On Main Street, eh? 😉
Diddley Farquar says
Those pissed up guests at the wedding disco don’t care that you can’t dance to Dancing Queen, they love the song and stagger around singing at the tops of their voices, having the times of their lives. It’s not the disco dancing championships. That Abba don’t really do dance music (maybe Voulez Vous?) doesn’t detract from their oeuvre in the slightest for me. It’s not a failing in them as a pop act.
Tiggerlion says
I know they don’t but I do. They aren’t much of a source of fun for me.
Wedding discos generally don’t play much actual dance music (you might get lucky, uptown funk, crazy I’m love, hey ya, boogie wonderland or something by the chic organization or madge but that’ll be it).
garyt says
your hole
retropath2 says
Well, I for one, resent being called a rock fan, Genesis, Yes etc, even if I open some, but I’ll go for it, just to see @dai showing such spunk. You can take the boy out of Tonypandy etc etc.
mikethep says
This is Classic Dom…if I mention Abba those Afterword lads will get caught up in a pointless argument and completely forget about what it is that I’m supposed to have done. Result!
I’ve never listened to the albums much, but AFAIC Abba Gold is one of the great pop albums, along with Queen’s Greatest Hits and Eagles Same. It’s not just Young Conservatives, it’s humans. Watch the dance floor at a wedding when Dancing Queen comes on. OK, they’re all pissed, and they’re civilians so have no appreciation of the finer things in life, but still.
I’m guessing the ABBA haters don’t like Muriel’s Wedding either. I rest my case.
Vincent says
Queen, Eagles, and Abba Greatest Hits albums? What is this, Alan Partridge’s glove compartment?
I don’t like discos at weddings; they seem to ruin the fun with all the enforced jollity. I’ll get me coat.
[Slinks back with a sense of superiority and puts on PFM.]
mikethep says
Apparently it is, yes. So sue me.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
There really is only One AfterWord. Where else could today’s most important story be interrupted by a debate on whether Abba is good or bad (especially when the answer is bad)?
Mike_H says
The same old boring arguments, endlessly recycled on The Afterword.
“Abba are shit”. “Oh no they aren’t” “Oh yes they are”.
“The Beatles are wonderful”. “Well I don’t rate them”. “You have cloth ears”
“The ’80s were the peak of pop perfection”. “Fuck, no”. “You are a sad old dinosaur with no sense of fun”.
It’s one of this blog’s negative aspects, IMO, that these spats keep getting rehashed and regurgitated, taking up so many column inches. Boring as all fuck.
And don’t get me started on our current state of listmania.
What I would like is a complete ban on banging on, regarding those three subjects illustrated, as a starting point towards a brighter, better Afterword, with further tired old bickerfests to be added to the AW Shitlist as necessary.
It’s perfectly valid to have opinions on musical subjects that are like holy writ to you, but if you can’t restrain yourself from getting all aeriated and typing how very mistaken you think they are, when someone contradicts your hallowed opinion, perhaps you ought to try sitting on your hands for a while.
Diddley Farquar says
Maybe lighten up a bit? 😉
Mike_H says
I’m so lightened up I’m nearly hovering.
dai says
He started it, sir! A snide remark about Abba.
In general I find the need to make negative comments about music one doesn’t like here is unnecessary. I can be guilty of it too (see above), but try to avoid it, staying off threads where the wonders of traditional English folk music, Jethro Tull etc are discussed.
johnw says
It’s instinct isn’t it? The law is now that the poster makes the rules… even when the rules are very clear.
Mike_H says
Do not get involved, even if you have to sit on your hands to prevent yourself tapping out an entirely wasted response.This is the approach I have learned to use, having learned the hard way.
These constantly-recurring arguments are pointless, because nobody has their entrenched opinion changed by being called names, because they’ve said something you disagree with.
We now all know that the subjects of all these arguments are both shite and gold dust at the same time. Sort of Schrodingers musical performers, the lot of them.
Jorrox says
Great records but not necessarily great songs. I think they fall apart without the studio gloss.
deramdaze says
The slaphead’s kids?
The slaphead himself?
It still f***** Abba.
How many different ways are there to hate, born 1971 – great timing – “Dom?”
The mere mention of his name on the radio has me up slapping my forehead and shouting “Slaphead, slaphead, slaphead” in increasingly higher and weirder tones (think Vic Reeves), reminiscent of the old “Jimmmeeee”/chin stroking phenomena of 40 years ago.
Try it.
It works for me.
Tiggerlion says
You are awful, but I like you!
dai says
I think you need help
mikethep says
“A close friend of Cummings gets in touch: ‘Dom isn’t remotely bothered by this story…there is zero chance of him resigning.'”
That close friend of Cummings has been really busy this morning. It seems Neil Ferguson’s friends sat on their hands when he nipped out for a shag.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Neil didn’t nip out, his shag came to him. If Dom had one ounce of….no idea where I’m going with that.
mikethep says
Old Holborn?
Tiggerlion says
The Ferguson breach of guidelines involved two people with no symptoms breaking the social distancing advice. Cummings had been exposed to the virus. He should have been isolating for 14 days. Instead, he exposed his parents to the disease and anyone else he encountered at the petrol station or during the toilet breaks for his young child on the 250 mile journey. I don’t know how old his parents are but I’m guessing well over sixty. They must be very close to, if not actually in a high risk category.
Tory grandees were quite happy to pour approbium on Ferguson’s head but they are strangely quiet now one their leader’s advisers has been shown to have done far worse.
MC Escher says
And Ferguson’s indiscretion had been known about for a fortnight, until it was deemed a useful distraction story. It was time to bury some bad news, clearly.
Barry Blue says
As if a further whammy was required here, Cummings was caught out in the redwall constituency that had, for the first time ever, elected a Tory MP. All on the back of the getting Brexit done we’re all in this together bollocks.
Admittedly I’ve skin in this game, having attended the same school in Durham as the misshapen scrotal sac, so do forgive my bile, but the contempt/fear that so many in that cloistered college have for people from the surrounding former pit villages is bloody awful.
Gatz says
The Conservatives and their tame press are really trying to circle the wagons on this one aren’t they? I don’t think it’s going to go away though. Too blatant, too cynical, too egregious.
Twang says
Unpopular opinion. I think Cummings is quite an interesting bloke and if I were Johnson I wouldn’t dream of sacking him because he’s doing a good job as an advisor. I wish he’d been involved in the remain campaign.
I think a lot of the outrage is more to do with non specific hating him rather than what he actually did which was stupid and against the rules but hardly the end of the world. It’s more relevant in the “one rule for them” narrative which the tabloids love.
OOAA
Tiggerlion says
According to his wife, a journalist for The Spectator, Cummings was so ill he collapsed and spent ten days in bed. He and his family were actively spreading germs during their trip up North and back. He was also fully aware of the science behind the guidance imposed on the country and the consequences of ignoring because he was privileged enough to hear it first hand when he sat in on SAGE meetings.
Advisors have been sacked already for doing far less. Sorry ‘resigned’. This is more than double standards. Mr Cummings is so special an advisor he can do far worse than any other and still keep his job.
hedgepig says
Well said, this isn’t some partisan bicker. The cabinet in standing behind this man’s actions are green lighting everyone to do whatever they want.
The guidance was clear and millions haven’t seen family for months because of what we were instructed. Children were buried alone after dying without their mothers being able to visit them, people have been unable to attend loved ones’ funerals. It’s not just confected outrage, people are justifiably and really angry.
hedgepig says
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-essential-travel-guidance
“ Essential travel does not include visits to second homes, camp sites, caravan parks or similar, whether for isolation purposes or holidays. People must remain in their primary residence.”
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/what-to-do-if-you-or-someone-you-live-with-has-coronavirus-symptoms/staying-at-home-if-you-or-someone-you-live-with-has-coronavirus-symptoms/
“ If you or someone you live with has symptoms of coronavirus:
– do not leave your home for any reason – if you need food or medicine, order it online or by phone, or ask someone to deliver it to your home”
MC Escher says
Spot on.
hedgepig says
Also there’s no way he didn’t stop at services. It’s a 4-5 hr journey, how many did he infect while the rest of us did our bit and locked down as instructed?
If he’d just apologised and said he acted out of desperation but the PM said he didn’t see it as sackable that’s one thing. But the cabinet are out in force saying he did nothing wrong and was in fact acting honourably as any good father would, that’s so so dangerous in my eyes.
retropath2 says
Hey, @Twang , all for contrarians but, give or take the potential for Covid related manslaughter potential , don’t laugh, it’s there enshrined for less contagious diseases, is it a bit of a peculiar view to say you wish Dom had been pro- remain. Bit like arguing what if Thatcher loved coal, inherently daft. Soz and all that, you’re a nice fella, but jings!
Twang says
I mean he’s a really effective campaign leader which remain sorely needed. I’m not laughing BTW, and I’m not defending what he did but the same outrage should apply equally to the thousands of dickheads who went to the seaside yesterday.
deramdaze says
No, that’s wrong.
If Man. Utd. lose 6-0, you look at the manager or the players, not the programme seller.
Slug says
You might. The rest of us would be dancing in the streets if Man U got thumped like that.
Tiggerlion says
I am also annoyed at the dickheads who went to the beach yesterday. However, they were told last week they could travel as far as they liked to ‘exercise’. Mr Cummings breached the guidance when the restrictions were at their most strict and the pandemic was at its peak.
Looking at today’s graphs, the number of tests have remained steady over the last week but am I the only one seeing a small increase in positive cases? Keep your eye on that. More positive cases today mean more hospitalisations over the next two weeks and more deaths a week or two after that. And where is the tracking and tracing?
Then, you have boneheads like Cummings muddying the message. Stay Alert, indeed!
MC Escher says
My wife and I went to the beach yesterday in order to swim in the sea, as we’ve done since around March. Social distancing was observed by nearly everyone. Don’t believe every photograph you see.
Tiggerlion says
OK. But be careful out there. Just like in The Walking Dead, it’s other people who are the problem.
MC Escher says
There were a couple of groups but there’s going to be in any large statistical population, I guess.
dai says
The numbers of positive results per day have increased the last few days in Ontario, some say that it was because of mother’s day which was 2 weeks ago. Mainly centered around Toronto. Only 2 new cases in Ottawa today (but 8 deaths).
thecheshirecat says
The thought crossed my mind that Johnson might have dumped Cummings before now, as a liability. He got Johnson to where he wanted to be, job done, now he has less purpose. Or is it that, without Cummings, Johnson would have no policy or direction whatsoever?
count jim moriarty says
Cummings is the brains, and maintains the ‘leave’ clique which runs the government. That’s why they are defending him so desperately. Johnson wanted the job only for the sake of having it. Without Cummings and a gang of cheerleaders he is utterly clueless. The way Kier Starmer has repeatedly eviscerated him at PMQ’s is ample evidence of that.
Diddley Farquar says
Apart from the leave campaign where is the evidence of Cummings brilliance? Since in power the government has stumbled from one fuck up to the next. Maybe it’s Trumpian distraction strategy akin to 4D chess. Cock up rather than conspiracy though, I feel. I don’t see a great mind at work pulling strings. I guess past acheivements mean they are indebted to him, for a certain period at least.
Black Type says
But…nothing else could save him, SOS. That’s the name of the game. In a world ruled by money money money, the winner takes it all. However, he may just have met his Waterloo.
Tiggerlion says
😆😆😆
salwarpe says
I think Johnson gets bored very easily, and Cummings is the sort of shit stirrer the absentee landlord of No.10 likes to see finding ways to distract people from the fact that he is useless at showing substantive leadership and giving clear direction.
deramdaze says
Gove’s just said “Looking after your wife and child isn’t a crime.”
In 2019, maybe not.
In 2020, what slaphead did, “IS,” you pint-sized f*ckwit.
Thank your lucky stars you weren’t in a regiment with any of these 60s-dodging pieces of puss, they’d have shot you in the back as soon as look at you.
I tell you this, 10% of my attention would be focused on the Nazis, 90% would be focused on them.
You’d have a better chance of surviving the war that way.
MC Escher says
How is World War II relevant to this discussion?
dai says
I can’t work out if it is an act or he believes what he writes.
Barry Blue says
I read some of Cummings’ blogs a few months ago, having read one too many pieces about what an enormous brain he had, and what came across was the sort of hyper-energised ‘thinking’ that people would come out with in TV and advertising meetings in the 80s and 90s. None of it came to anything back then, or if it did it probably looked like Duran Duran’s video for The Reflex, but at the time it can seem appealing, the energy contagious. Trouble is, when something genuinely contagious comes along, like at the moment, that ADHD type of thinking is useless: what’s needed is the measured thinking of people who’ve put the yards in, year after year, consistently, boringly even. They’re called experts.
deramdaze says
The Government Press Conference is on now.
It is a disgrace.
I shall be very, very unhappy if Cummins hasn’t been sacked by tomorrow morning.
It is non-negotiable.
Tiggerlion says
Well. All bets are off. Test, track & trace stands no chance of working if we can all fuck off halfway across the country when we are sick, simply because we have children.
Diddley Farquar says
The defence put forward doesn’t stand up. Travel while sick to another home that’s empty where friends/family drop off food. Could have done that back in London. The justification sounds like bullshit but such is the arrogance he doesn’t really care how it looks. They’d rather make a mockery of lockdown than admit what he did was wrong.
Tiggerlion says
This is the problem for me.
We, the great unwashed, have to observe self-isolation and social-distancing guidelines in order to stop the virus spreading and save lives. Dominic Cummings, the PM’s most senior adviser, doesn’t.
deramdaze says
The control freak himself would surely advise that something like this be nipped in the bud … it hasn’t been … not even slightly … and there are clearly more questions than answers.
The irony is that his chief ally, Johnson, doesn’t seem to “do weekends,” and the story broke on a Friday evening. Doh!
Perhaps if he’d been listening to Prince Buster or Otis Redding instead of Abba, he’d have been more “alert.” Probably have better clothes as well.
Sit back and enjoy the next 24 hours.
Gatz says
A possibility – as Cummings’ road trip was a while ago but is only in the open now, could there be a bigger story for which this is a smokescreen?
Black Type says
Incoming…New witnesses cast doubt on Dominic Cummings’s lockdown claims
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/23/new-witnesses-cast-doubt-on-dominic-cummingss-lockdown-claims?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard
Gatz says
Nicely done – announce the ‘main’ story, see how deep a trench the government is prepared to dig to defend him (answer – deeper than anyone would have predicted, including identikit tweets from cabinet members), then spring the actual main story which is that his initial defence (‘I was being reasonable and anyone who didn’t see a dying relative due to obeying the rules which I ignored didn’t love them enough’) was bollocks.
He could still survive though. As a source close to Twitter earlier remarked asking Johnson to sack Cummings is like asking Emu to sack Rod Hull.
What a squalid, squirming heap of vermin we have at the top of government.
chiz says
I think that actually weakens the case against him. Someone saw a baldie chap on a riverbank. Someone else who doesn’t want to be named said ‘his family seemed to match.’ The media machine churns out stories when sometimes silence would be better
This is a pivotal moment. He should go. He has to. But he won’t, despite only having one friend in the entire country. So what do the rest of do?
Tiggerlion says
Let’s recap.
Mr Cummings is the chief adviser to the PM and attends SAGE meetings. His wife became unwell with symptoms at the peak of the pandemic in London when looking lockdown restrictions were the most severe since the war, backed by law. Instead of isolating within his household and getting help from his many friends and family nearby, he chose to drive 269 miles to Durham to his parents’ estate. While there, he was seen and reported to the police who spoke to him and his father on the phone. There are other reports that he was seen out and about some 30 miles away. One witness took the trouble to search for his number plate online, a search that can be independently verified. His wife, a journalist, vividly described their encounter with coronavirus, saying that Mr. Cummings was so ill he collapsed and was in bed for ten days. Mr. Cummings claims he travelled in order to ensure childcare for his four year old. He states that he did the right thing and will not resign.
The public has sacrificed a lot adhering to the guidelines. People have died and been buried almost alone. Childcare is proving difficult for everyone, especially those without a family estate to fall back on. The lockdown was loosened only last week. There were street parties last Friday. Where I live traffic has more than doubled. Stay Alert means nothing compared to Stay Home. People will give less of a shit about social distancing now they are aware number 10 doesn’t either. It won’t be long before the R number starts to rise above one.
This is important. The actions of the likes of Cummings have consequences. How can the police enforce track and trace, for example, if the guidelines are so open to interpretation by those in positions of responsibility? Cummings blatantly flouted the rules that he knew were put in place to save lives, including those who are key workers, employees of the government. He knew exactly what he was doing was wrong. His claim that he was merely being a responsible father is simple arrogant nonsense.
Black Type says
I’ll just leave my earlier post on Facebook here…
“I’m so thankful that Classic Dom was able to get the help he needed despite being so desperately ill. Such heroics certainly put my self-indulgent worries about not seeing my dying mother into perspective, and no mistake.”
madfox says
Cummings’ arrogance over the past two days has been breathtaking. His pants are enormously on fire.
In addition, his disdain for media scrutiny is despicable. Apparently he is accountable to nobody, despite his potential influence on the present and future of this country.
Sitheref2409 says
Let us also add that the Attorney General, who is in charge of the CPS, has offered an affirmative defence for him.
It is not unreasonable to believe someone will try that in court, quoting her.
The whole government is corrupt.
salwarpe says
Suella Braverman – chaired the ERG. Unsurprising that she defends him. The Vote Leave cabal stick together.
Vince Black says
Signs of cracking. Steve Baker who was also I think a chair of ERG, has declared this morning that Cummings needs to go
salwarpe says
I saw that. ‘Brexit hard man’ Steve Baker. ERG Chair, before and after Suella.
When he stopped the first time, I wonder if he said “it takes a Braverman to lead this group”?
deramdaze says
I’m in Operation Jackson mode (Michael Jackson dies, bed down for three weeks, tune all channels to BBC 4 Extra – worked a treat in 2009).
That’s no news … tune in to BBC 4 Extra … only listen to 60s L.P.s by The Impressions and Otis Redding … utterly sick of the people who run this country.
Has slaphead gone yet?
Lemonhope says
Dominic ‘Fat Tony’ Cummings explaining to Boris ‘Bart’ Johnson how to spin
Tiggerlion says
Yes. Twists on words are now accepted as a normal part of every day politics. The police didn’t speak to any member of the family, only if you define ‘family’ as Cummings, wife and child. His wife described emerging from the illness to a chaotic London, suggesting they had been there the whole time. Then, today, the latest revelations are ‘inaccurate’, presumably because there are accuracies in them, such as the trip to Barnard Castle.
I wonder who it was exactly that came up with the slogan: “Stay At Home: Protect The NHS: Save Lives”? I bet Cummings was intricately involved.
chiz says
Johnson has to sack him today, or tomorrow will be a Bank Holiday massacre. A lot of people will adopt the Classic Dom interpretation of the current rules, and do whatever the hell they like, so there’s a second spike, more deaths, another lockdown, and more long-term economic damage.
He must know this.
Gatz says
Conservative MPs are tweeting that he has to go now. With no unified support from the party he’s toast, but he’ll be back in some role. He won’t be going in the front door any more, but he’ll be there in the background.
chiz says
I wonder if Gove is thinking this might be the time to sharpen that ol’ back-stabbin’ knife of his
Gatz says
Well he was one of the high ranking Tories who shared that identikit tweet from central office, the one about how if you haven’t seen family in trying circumstances it’s because you’re not reasonable enough, so he’ll feel pretty daft if Cummings does go. He could try the ‘personally misled’ card.
hedgepig says
Even that card is pretty limited given how totally clear the law and guidance was, and how obviously against it even the first trip was.
Carl says
Surely Gove wouldn’t be so naive, so soon into this Parliament.
The Tories don’t like backing losers, but with Bozzer having delivered a thumping majority only a few months ago, I would think they will stick with him for another couple of years at least.
If he’s looking like a loser within 2 years/18months of the next election, then would be the time.
Kaisfatdad says
Completely agree, Chiz. But does Boris have the cojones to do what has to be done?
If he does, I will actually respect him a little. I won’t be holding my breath.
deramdaze says
Still no sacking?
I bet the Dancing Queen isn’t so cocky today.
Smudger says
The former chief of the Durham police isn’t mincing his words.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/24/defence-of-dominic-cummings-is-shameful-says-ex-durham-police-chief?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
deramdaze says
5.06 p.m.
24th May 2020.
I hate this country.
I have contempt for it, and it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that the rest of the world has contempt for us.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I feel as if you and I could be Jack & Victor, supping at the bar and wondering gently why everyone else in the place seems to think they are in some sort of wonderland, when anyone with any sense at all knows damn well that we are in a fucked up little place, incoherently lost in its own self deception.
David Kendal says
Don’t think much of this spokesman Cummings has put up.
Gatz says
So there we have it. The strict instructions which millions have obeyed for months, and which have led to suffering and sacrifice for huge numbers, were, in retrospect, actually just guidelines to be interpreted as people saw fit. Truly despicable.
deramdaze says
Siittng on a time bomb here re: public disturbance.
Gatz says
Got a hamper here for you Tiggs, pick up from Barnard Castle OK for you?
Tiggerlion says
Fine by me. It’s a few hundred miles away and I’ve got a bit of a cough but who cares?
attackdog says
Jeez, the gall. Boris really is thick if he thinks the British public will swallow this whilst acting responsibly, being lert’s, etc.
It still allows for Cummings resignation once he observes/is told his actions are becoming a distraction to the day-to-day ambitions of this shower of shits in the cabinet.
Uncle Wheaty says
I have seen a lot of political bollocks spoken in public over the last few decades but this exceeded anything.
deramdaze says
If we’re to act on “instinct” rather than following rules now, is it alright for me to travel to London to (a) headbutt Johnson, and (b) shove Dominic Cummings’ Abba records up his arse?
Because that is my instinct.
hubert rawlinson says
Well I shall be wearing my ‘Get Out of Lockdown Mask’ when I next leave the house.
Martin Hairnet says
Johnson just went full Trump with that press conference.
Gatz says
How to contact you MP
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/
I used the phrase ‘hawked a bolus of Covid riddled phlegm down the nation’s gullet’ in my letter to mine, a colourful expression which you are welcome to borrow if you feel the need.
Rigid Digit says
Done. Couldn’t find a turn of phrase like yours, so I just said I’m a bit pissed off.
Never contacted an MP before – I feel quite radical now.
Smash The State!
(or maybe just inconvenience it a bit – change the opening hours of Marks & Spencer or something)
Gatz says
Check your email – you may have to click a confirmation link in a message before it is confirmed as sent.
Rigid Digit says
Thanks for that – just checked, and now sent.
mikethep says
My (Tory) MP has broken ranks for the first time since I’ve been his constituent. I sent him a well done, keep it up message.
MC Escher says
Also done. First time ever for me too.
Marwood says
Done.
Never written to a MP before – but this act of arrogance has made my blood boil.
Lemonhope says
Mine took a little longer to reply and I feared the worst. Imagine my surprise when he said he understood my anger, agreed with my opinion, confirmed that he would not have made the journey Cummings made and has written to Johnson saying just that.
Mike_H says
One thing that puts me off this Write To Your MP stuff is that I wrote to my previous Tory MP once and for years after was on his mailing list, informing me of pretty much every single thing he did short of his toileting habits.
Having looked what MPs in my local area are reported to have said:
Dean Russell, the MP for Watford (my MP) has been somewhat mealy-mouthed about the Cummings saga. He said he would pass on the concerns of his constituents to Cummings but was much more interested in letting it be known that he personally had followed the guidelines and only left home strictly within the guidelines and for his volunteering duties.
Gagan Mohindra, MP for South-West Herts was at pains to avoid giving an opinion at all on the matter. He praised his constituents for sticking to the guidelines and thanked them for it.
Oliver Dowden, MP for Hertsmere, however, tweeted “Dom Cummings followed the guidelines and looked after his family. End of story.”
thecheshirecat says
Done, though I already regret having given the loathsome woman my email address.
thecheshirecat says
Good heavens, and she has replied promptly. I eat some of my words. She is clearly not toeing the Dominic Cumm … sorry, I mean … party line.
mikethep says
Mine replied smartish too, with a long email restating his opinion that Cummings should go. Obviously I wasn’t the only one he sent it to, but still…definitely wasn’t the usual glib brush-off.
Mike_H says
I have a feeling Cummings wasn’t very popular with Tory MPs anyway. If only because he wasn’t elected and therefore not one of them.
There would have been those carrying knives intended for his back even before this shit show.
Gatz says
Let’s not forget how he sling a couple of dozen MPs out of the party just before the last election, some of them very senior and / or longstanding, such as Ken Clarke. No wonder the sensible ones don’t trust the weasel.
My MP finally got back to me today, making it obvious she wasn’t going to raise any fuss but without giving an explicit personal opinion.
hubert rawlinson says
Difficult for him to be elected as he is not a member of the conservative party.
salwarpe says
A lengthy article in the Telegraph reviews parts of his career, particularly since starting to work for Gove. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/24/dominic-cummings-advisor-boris-johnson/
It’s behind the paywall, but someone posted the text into a FB group. One quote struck me as such an understatement, but testiomony to what he is:
“Cummings designed the Vote Leave campaign to eschew conventional wisdom”.
When I first came across him and his lengthy blogs, I thought he was an interesting character, and some of his professed motives intrigue and merit thought, not complete disdain – anti-bureaucratic inertia, pro-science, anti-overcentralisation. And it may be that he sees the power that underpins such ‘blob’ inertia as justifying his any means necessary approach to get where he wants to go, but I don’t, and his chosen path stinks, frankly.
For Vote leave, he left no stone unturned in pursuit of manipulating data and truth to get the result he wanted. Since way before Brexit, (Business for Sterling, Gove’s shenanigans at the Edcation Dept) he’s been the dark rotten heart infecting and infesting the British body politic, and now he sits squat inside the empty carapace of the current cabinet of cretins, crooks and creeps.
You don’t make valid, long term positive change by opaque manipulation and deceit. You destroy the culture of the country and see everything of value crumble.
Tiggerlion says
The word that caught me in my throat was ‘integrity’.
This man treats us all as fools and he made Johnson look a fool today. The notion that he had a child care emergency when he was well enough to drive five hours is clearly nonsense. Everybody else understood what Stay At Home meant, except, apparently, the man who put the slogan together. If every household with small children had travelled to relatives when they got ill, there would have been a much bigger spike in cases and deaths.
Since then, of course, number ten has been ducking and diving avoiding questions and concocting stories, while acting with ‘integrity’.
So much for the essential public health message as the pandemic continues on its merry way. Boris Johnson’s inaction today and Cumming’s lack of respect for the intelligence of the general public will have a price. Let’s hope it’s not too high.
salwarpe says
Nothing, absolutely nothing about Johnson’s career has been about integrity (the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles). The country has had to exist without effective leadership of any meaningful description for far too long. I watched a bit beyond the Cummings excusing until I couldn’t stomach any more lies, obfuscations and pabulum.
The word you and Johnson are looking for is arrogance, Tig, not integrity.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Don’t think I’ve ever been so angry at a politician – and boy have I been angry at many a politician.
And still nearly five years of this shit show to go. Next up, No Deal Brexit.
deramdaze says
I implore anyone who feels strongly to write to their M.P.
However, I think there is a sizable chunk of the population (it only needs about a quarter) – manipulated by the tabloids, an “I’m Alright, Jack” mentality, and constant reminders of the war that fuels a Little England narrative and its bedfellow, racism – who are happy to let the most appalling behaviour and lack of judgment go by.
Sadly, like Johnson and Cummings, they simply don’t care.
They are the real problem, and Johnson et al have their number.
Lemonhope says
https://www.writetothem.com
If you would like to contact your MP
Blue Boy says
Except they’ve lost the Daily Mail now. Suspect that may be the nail in his coffin.
Rigid Digit says
Scrolling through Facebook this morning, I find a message from UK Government under the title “If You’re Planning A Day Trip”. Un-fucking-believable.
The whitewash and back fitting of the guidelines to suit has now changed the message to “Stay At Home. But You Can Go Out Of You Want (Careful Now)”.
Paul Wad says
I’ve just written to my (Tory) MP. The arrogance of Johnson and Cummings is staggering. They just bluster and bully their way through all of this, avoiding any scrutiny (did Johnson answer any of the questions put to him last night?), just as they have blustered and bullied their way to get where they are. They rely on the stupidity of the general public to just move on and forget about any indiscretions, but this time I think they have totally underestimated the mood of the country.
I imagine that Johnson is dreading Tuesday’s PM question time even more than he usually does. Will some ‘home emergency‘ prevent him from attending? Starmer will be given the privilege that none of the questioners at last night’s briefing were given – the opportunity to press Johnson to actually answer the question that has been put to him. His actions last night will cost lives. It was looking pretty inevitable anyway that the R number and death rate we’re going to increase, as more and more people start ignoring the lockdown rules, and this is only going to worsen after the weekend’s revelations and excuses. The opposition parties will then be able to stand in Parliament and hold Johnson personally responsible for the loss of British lives (he is already responsible for this anyway). Surely that is going to make Cummings and Johnson’s jobs untenable?
Gatz says
Isn’t the House in recess for a couple of weeks?
chiz says
Yep the next PMQs in June 4, a Wednesday as usual
Gatz says
Some much needed humour from Twitter
Apparently Dominic Cummings is a very slow driver. He drove 260 miles and it took the contagious.
Beezer says
An unelected adviser is to make a public statement from a podium on Downing Street.
Much like Churchill’s used to do, then. We’ve all seen the black and white newsreel footage. It’s on the. ‘Yesterday’ channel all the time.
Gatz says
While also directly contravening section 14 of the SPAD guidelines
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/832599/201612_Code_of_Conduct_for_Special_Advisers.pdf
David Kendal says
Yes, that is definitely the way to kill off the “them and us” argument.
By the way, I am told that Loose Women turned against Johnson over this today. Not exactly the “Westminster Bubble”.
deramdaze says
Talk, talk, talk, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Just R.E.S.I.G.N.
The country is more important than you.
F*** off back to Durham with your Abba Gold.
I forbid you to listen to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Blue Note or anything from the 60s.
Rigid Digit says
Where can I get a Range Rover that does over 500 miles on a single tank?
mikethep says
Honest John managed it.
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/miscellaneous/2016-07/real-mpg-challenge-range-rover-evoque-covers-530-miles-on-a-single-tank/
dai says
This suggests it can be done
https://www.landrover.ca/en/vehicles/range-rover-sport/specifications.html
86 litre capacity combined 9.6 litre/100km fuel economy, suggests motorway driving might be better, say, around 8.5litre/100km . Therefore one tank could manage 1000km = 621 miles.
davebigpicture says
I tend to use petrol stations where I can pay at the pump these days. Admittedly, usually supermarkets* but it is possible to refuel without close contact.
* Don’t use Asda if you need a receipt, their machines are crap and fail to produce a receipt about 30% of the time necessitating a prolonged in store encounter.
dai says
In Canada (and the US), there are still a number of petrol (gas) stations where you get full service. you don’t need to get out of the car.
Sitheref2409 says
In some States, it’s against the law to fuel your own car.
Freddy Steady says
Does his wife drive?
chiz says
That’s the question the journos should have asked. Short, factual and easy to check, plus the witness can’t claim not to know. Starmer would have asked this
Gary says
She wrote in an article in The Spectator in 2012:
“I drove for an hour every morning, slaloming past the road-rage wrecks of battered trucks, up the 135 from Dallas to Denton.”
deramdaze says
My God, I haven’t heard as much self-serving snivelling since Tottenham and Arsenal last played each other.
deramdaze says
Johnson.
Press conference.
7.00 p.m.
If he doesn’t sack Cummings, might be looking for a new Prime Minister by Wednesday.
chiz says
That would be something, wouldn’t it? Johnson gives his best mate a two hour head start, has a look at how his excuses go down, and then does the thing he should have done in the first place and comes out of it claiming integrity.
I think he’ll double down though
mikethep says
Unpopular opinion alert: I experienced odd and unexpected stirrings of sympathy. Clearly he broke the rules as framed by the government, but afaik the rules don’t mention what parents who are both displaying symptoms are supposed to do with a child who isn’t. Hoist by their own petard.
I suspect that the govt was expecting people to break the rules anyway. They’ve been taken aback by how faithfully the citizenry has followed the rules, apparently.
I switched off when Laura K kicked off – the woman is such a pill – so I don’t know how the rest of the presser went. But I think he might have got away with it. And the government really really has more important things to worry about. So do we.
davebigpicture says
Brexit was back on The World at One today. “Kills self”
Gatz says
I completely agree with your middle paragraph, and hoist by his own petard is a phrase I have used myself. Had he issued a full mea culpa when the story broke that could have been it. Instead we got ‘I don’t beg your pardon / that’s why I. Standing in the Rose Garden’, and I have no sympathy whatsoever.
Don’t you think that anyone else would been out by now? Instead Johnson has thrown the whole government strategy under the bus to save the job of a spad.
Blue Boy says
Kuennsberg’s questioning wasn’t great but the usual allegations of proTory bias simply don’t stand up to scrutiny.
The best questioning I saw was from a journalist who managed to extract from Cummings confirmation that even though Johnson knew about this trip weeks ago, he only actually asked Cummings for a full account late last week when the media was piling the pressure on. In other words his only interest was his own political position, not whether or not his closest advisor had broken the lockdown rules.
thecheshirecat says
Not faulting you for its use, but God I hate that expression ‘double down’. It only seemed to appear last year, then suddenly it was everywhere, without an adequate definition. The closest I could get was ‘repeat the lie you’ve just told until it becomes accepted as the truth’.
Diddley Farquar says
The bollocks about driving to another town to test if his eyesight was good enough for driving was pure Trump.
Diddley Farquar says
The wife could drive by the way. She mentioned it in one of her Spectator articles.
johnw says
Trump wouldn’t have bothered though. His eyesight is perfect, people are saying it’s better than perfect. Testing is overrated.
Diddley Farquar says
Uses bleach eye drops I expect, keeps the eyes clear.
yorkio says
Barnard Castle is a good 30 miles away. How were they planning on getting back if his eyesight hadn’t been good enough?
Rigid Digit says
Foot down, and Golden Shot type instructions (left a bit, right a bit).
The raods should be clear as most people will be staying at home
hubert rawlinson says
It appears that due to his bad eyesight he misread Bernard Cassel (optician) anddrove to Barnard Castle by mistake.
attackdog says
Either that or he’s taking the pish.
mikethep says
“Should have gone to Barnard Castle” – (C) somebody on Twitter.
Also on Twitter, this:
Tiggerlion says
He faced a child care crisis when he felt well and his wife was suffering symptoms suggestive of covid 19. He anticipated the worst and concluded that the only child care he could reasonably access, bearing in mind the symptoms take some days to develop, was 260 miles away in Durham. So off he set, but only after first nipping back into work to clear a few things up, presumably carrying the virus with him. Both the car’s tank and the child’s bladder lasted the five hour journey without pause. All three of them became ill and his child spent a night in hospital. He was unable to stand that day but managed to pick him up in the car the next. Later, he had problems with his vision, so drove to a nice market town to test his eyesight. He felt a bit sick and his child’s bladder finally gave out, which was why he was spotted by a member of the public. The following day he drove back to London. He has to do the driving because, well, he’s the man, and, no doubt, he wanted to maintain control of the stereo to continue playing ABBA. Only the child was tested, found negative.
This is the fella actually in charge of the country!
Lemonhope says
The journey to the market town was on his wifes birthday…
Diddley Farquar says
Let’s face it, we’ve all done it.
dai says
Not defending him, but what is one to do about child care for a small child should both parents be in hospital and any close relatives are not in the town/city where you live?
Diddley Farquar says
Plenty seem to have managed that situation and worse without breaking the rules. His wife had family in London I believe. Assuming we believe the childcare angle. A useful reason to come up with to help gain sympathy and understanding.
dai says
How did “plenty” manage it if they lived away from family/close friends? I don’t see an easy solution if travel is banned.
Diddley Farquar says
Well they did. I’ve read accounts of such situations. They took the rules seriously. There was no option.
dai says
Well, I still don’t get it. It must be allowable for people to travel from city to city in such cases, otherwise there exists the possibilty that children will not be cared for, especially in the case of single parents. They could be several hundred miles from where other family members are, having moved for work or something.
Sitheref2409 says
My understanding from the guidelines was that should be the situation, parents should contact the local authority.
Except DC clearly won’t slum it.
Tiggerlion says
I know few families where both parents had a stay in hospital. In one case, a relative travelled from Huddersfield to Runcorn to stay in the family home with offspring. It’s rare because those with under eleven year olds generally are young themselves with small risk, much like Cummings and spouse. More common is one gets really sick but then, until recently, the other wasn’t able to visit.
Mr Cummings predicted a catastrophic future in his mind. If he just said he panicked, I’d understand better. His story is a perfect illustration of someone not thinking straight.
This man is mega powerful. He could have all sorts of gofers going for him, including a driver to bring him back from Durham.
dai says
As I mentioned above, there are many single parent households. My child is in that situation. If her mother was sick and went to hospital, I would have to travel almost 100 miles to get my daughter. she could be alone for a little while as she is old enough, with small children that is completely different. Neither of us has any other family anywhere close.
Tiggerlion says
Friends, neighbours, then local authorities.
dai says
And that would be considered preferable to the child being with his or her other parent in such a situation? (If other parent is some distance away).
Gatz says
Preferable to risking spreading the virus to another area of the country, yes.
dai says
Well I disagree. A child needs a parent. Of course adequate measures need to be considered to keep social distancing.
Tiggerlion says
Yes. Other parent is fine, providing safeguarding is taken into account. This is the exception Cummings is claiming. However, its purpose is to protect the child if the debility of the single parent exposes that child to a dangerous other. Travelling to arrange child care then is fine.
Gatz says
Well quite @dai – that’s Cummings’ argument and he is being backed up at very high levels. The great majority of us think he was wrong and should pay the price. The regulations as clearly stated were that in his circumstances he should not have left his London home. If you’re a UK citizen by all means write to your MP to voice your support or him; I’m sure said MP would find it a refreshing change from the bulk of opinion.
dai says
I am a UK citizen, but do not have an MP as I don’t live there (thankfully it seems).
I am not just talking about this case I am talking about common decency regarding care of a child.
I fail to see that generally a (probably virus free) parent driving to pick up a child while practising social distancing is necessarily “spreading the virus to another area of the country”. Due diligence is required, but the proper care of a child is sacrosant.
Everybody has views on what the lockdown should and shouldn’t be, but common sense needs also to be applied, as I think Tigger explains in his last post.
One needs to put oneself in the position of others sometimes, rather than just judging.
Again am not defending Cummings, but considering what might need to be done when small children are involved.
I am now leaving this discussion and I think I will take a break from this site, no need for such holier than thou attitudes to previal.
“Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” Jesus said that.
Lynch mobs are no fun.
Tiggerlion says
Cummings was not in that position, Gatz. At no point were both parents incapacitated at the same time. If they had become so, there is no question he could have accessed child care in London and there’s the rub. We all know the journey was unnecessary and potentially dangerous. He’s been attempting to keep his whereabouts secret ever since, not to protect his parents from journalists (they already knew where to find them), but because he knew immediately he’d breached the guidance travelling up North, let alone the gallivanting around on his wife’s birthday,
deramdaze says
Well, there we go.
Johnson’s a fool for sticking by him (yeah, Stop Press!) – still don’t think this is over by a long way.
Peanuts Molloy says
Withnail discovers he’s come to Durham-in-the-North on holiday, by accident.
Quick, he says to his wife (who’s been feeling a bit poorly), we need to drive hundreds of miles back to London-in-the-South asap, without stopping. I think we’ve got enough petrol but the car will run on bullshit if not.
Well, says Mrs Withnail, I’m not sure if that’s wise because it is my birthday after all. What if your eyesight plays up on the journey?
Good thought says Withnail. We should test it. Let’s drive to a tourist attraction beauty spot that I know of. It’s just 30 miles away in a different direction. Strap the lad into the back and we’ll head off. Hopefully I’ll be able to see where we’re going. Oh, don’t forget the cake, candles and fizz.
30 miles later, Little Withnail pipes up in the back. Dad, I need a wee. Ok my Young Child, says Withnail, we’ll pull in here on the riverbank by this babbling brook and sit for 15 minutes or so contemplating what to do next whilst you pollute the river.
By the way, this cake’s delicious. Happy Birthday darlin’. Shall we head off back to civilisation then?
Ok says Mrs Withnail. I’ll drive if you like.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Brilliant summation!
deramdaze says
Get used to our own “Fake News” phrase … namely, “Is this just a Westminster bubble story?”
It’s a mantra that has been knocking around for a year or so, but right now, with this Cummings story, it is absolutely EVERYWHERE.
Nicky Campbell, always a good barometer on the bleedin’ obvious and the latest cliche, can not go more than half-an-hour without saying it at least once.
You have been warned.
Mrbellows says
It’s curious watching from abroad just how inconsequential these Dominic’s are in the grand scheme of things. It’s not like he cracked open from a Dragons Egg. He’s a dweeb. Get a Grip says the Stranglers.
johnw says
It’s the tip of the iceberg. Very much like Al Capone’s tax evasion. I’d like to think the thing that actually buries him is the drive to a beauty spot when he wasn’t certain he could see properly rather than the long motorway trip.
chiz says
That’s the bit that will bring the whole thing down.
Why did he get in the car if he was having issues with his eyesight?
Why did he take his child with him?
Why go 30 miles away if there was a chance his eyes would fail?
Why do a two-hour test drive for a three- hour journey?
Why couldn’t his wife drive them home?
bigstevie says
Is anyone likely to investigate his stories? Surely a check on his phone and his credit cards would reveal all. Google sends me a message every month showing exactly where and when I’ve been.
Tiggerlion says
Durham police have been asked to check his story. However, it seems there is an acceptance that he made just the one trip to Durham, a quick nip to the hospital and a round trip to Barnard Castle. It’s difficult to see what else the police can establish.
By his own admission, he broke the rules three times:
1. He went back to the office having been exposed to the virus.
2. He made an unnecessary journey to Durham – this is a rich, well-connected man, of course he could access childcare and support in London if both parents became incapacitated.
3. He made another unnecessary, certainly reckless, trip to Barnard Castle.
He took a car load of virus from London to Durham where there was very little and then used an ambulance and the hospital while there.
Lemonhope says
That comment he made yesterday, that he had been warning about corona virus? The only reference found in his blog is in an edit (Following from Faisal Islam, economics editor at BBC) – “edit that added “coronavirus” quote made “2020-04-14 T20:55:20”
So, same day he returned to work, after Durham
Vulpes Vulpes says
Look, Cummings knows where the Brexit bodies are buried. He can mock a Royal, torch Buck House and take a shit in Westminster Cathedral if he feels like it, they can’t touch him. Gove, Raab, Shapps, The Buffoon himself, all shitting bricks in case he squeals.
chiz says
What does he have on them?
David Kendal says
I’d say nothing. Johnson plays at being Bertie Wooster, and thinks Cummings is his Jeeves. The others are clearly the Drones.
Although I think they are both turning out to be Spode – the supposed strong man who is exposed as useless ( and runs a lingerie shop, although I wouldn’t go that far).
fortuneight says
What he has is the vision. Johnson just has ambition and a determination to be the front man. He and his cabinet are reliant on Cummings to guide them and ensure they can maintain their popularist edge. The irony is delightful.
chiz says
I get that, I was just questioning how Vulpes knows he’s holding half the Cabinet to ransom and that’s the reason he can’t be sacked. If there’s one thing we know about this lot, it’s that they think they can ride out any scandal. Most of the Vote Leave lies are public anyway. It’s not about skeletons in cupboards, it’s about believing with absolute certainty that they can get away with anything
Bargepole says
Last sentence absolutely spot on – lie big and keep on repeating it and eventually everyone will come to believe it – and they’ll soon forget about it anyway once the shops and pubs reopen and football returns.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I don’t know that of course, I’m being mischievous. I can’t, however, avoid imagining that arrogant slaphead stroking a white Persian cat and purring to himself with a twisted grin.
deramdaze says
Always thought that about stealing.
If you are going to do it, you are much better off stealing really big, because, bizarrely, there seems to be far less public humiliation in getting caught stealing millions from the public purse – doctors, nurses, schools, care homes, that sort of thing – than stealing one can of baked beans in your local Co-op.
Personally, I would throw the book at the former.
Perhaps you have to be a reader of the tabloid press to think the opposite.
Arthur Cowslip says
Mm, that’s an interesting point. I’ve never thought about that before. The public shaming is sometimes out of sync with the seriousness of the act itself.
fortuneight says
If you link the “size” of the crime to individual experience, you get a sense of why so many are up in arms. We’ve all experienced the lockdown and most have accepted it. Cummings transgresions are something almost everyone in the country can relate to.
Gatz says
It’s a truism that we judge others by their actions and ourselves by our motivations. That’s why if Cummings had been contrite early on he may have got away with it (he may still get away with it of course, given how untouchable the government is).
There is a considerably greater degree of transgression here though. The best comment I saw yesterday pointed out that by travelling from one of the most infected areas of the country to one of the least affected and attempting, unconvincingly to my mind, to reason that he was justified in doing so, he didn’t just break the spirit or the letter of the regulations, he broke the whole reason for their existence.
DrewToo says
So as I am now a US citizen I don’t really have a horse in the race – however – I grew up in Durham and seeing it mentioned in the news I felt a curiosity to understand what had transpired.
Lock down and rules I’ll leave to others – its tough to understand the details but there an aspect of this I really don’t understand. He has risen to the top in his chosen career – a political operative /advisor. Employed by the PM partly to develop policy but also how to communicate that policy effectively and “win” an argument – I understand he was an architect of the “leave” strategy.
Yet – when he has to save himself – he comes up with a complex detailed narrative of trips to Durham and Barnard Castle. He should have done one thing yesterday – apologized, admitted it all got a little crazy – have we not all got a little crazy at times – forgive me and we have more important things to do.
That he tried so weasel out of it with bizarre detail JUST MAKES IT WORSE and an on-going embarrassment on social media- he did the very opposite of what he should have done as a professional message creator and giver. For that, FOR THAT, he should resign or be fired, surely.
David Kendal says
I think that’s exactly right – he’s a salesman who can’t sell himself. I’d add that from the accounts I’ve read of his character, he reminds me of a couple of people I met when I worked for a few large public sector organisations. Consultants who were in with the management and kept getting very well paid contracts but thought of themselves as being above all of those dreary civil servants, and saw themselves as rule breaking mavericks. In reality, they couldn’t handle all of the risks that go with that way of working.
Cummings is clearly desperate to hold onto his job. At forty eight and, let’s face it, cocking it all up so publicly, I don’t thinks silicon valley is going to come knocking. He might just about hold onto his columns in The Spectator.
deramdaze says
Agree with that.
Could he also have turned up on time, kept the speech down to ten minutes, even worn a smarter shirt (sounds trivial, but ….) ?
However, definitely apologize.
I believe that 33 Conservative MPs have now called for his resignation.
Can’t confirm that.
mikethep says
My MP, Damien Collins is one of them. He was doing good stuff on whatever committee it was trying to hold Zuckerberg to account, and gave Cummings a bit of a grilling when he appeared before them. I stopped following him on Twitter when he turned into a Get Brexit Done merchant, but I sent him an email yesterday congratulating him on breaking ranks. He hasn’t replied though…
Sitheref2409 says
Silicon Valley, remember, hired Nick Clegg.
Someone like Thiel would hire him in a heartbeat. Or Bannon.
Guiri says
Simple fact is that communications ‘genius’ Cummings would have long ago defenestrated anyone else drawing this level of heat.
Even a 16 year old on work experience in the PR dept might have clocked it by now. Don’t become the story etc. Complete sh*tshow.
On a lighter note, a nailed-on entry for a future Dictionary of Quotations from Marina Hyde today:
‘The thing about Johnson is that he desperately wanted to become prime minister, and he desperately wanted to have been prime minister. It’s just the bit in between he struggles with.’
Lemonhope says
They’re now looking at changing the law to exculpate Cummings.
Matt Hancock announces the Government will review all penalty fines issued to those families travelling for childcare reasons during the lockdown after the Cummings furore (after being asked by a man of the cloth during the daily No10 press conference).
chiz says
He didn’t announce that though, did he? He said he’d have to ask the Treasury and committed to answering the question ‘from this podium’
Sometimes we don’t help ourselves when we see what we want to see
johnw says
I understand that Hancock’s meanderings at the press conferences shouldn’t be taken that seriously but am I the only one a little insulted that he seemed to deal with the question with a bit more gravitas simply because it was a vicar that asked it?
Black Celebration says
This kind of thing is really good to point out, because this kind of (arguably unwarranted) deference goes unnoticed most of the time. A priest or a vicar saying something does have an undefinable edge to it. To give Hancock the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he would have been just as respectful to any man/woman of any cloth…I would hope so, anyway.
johnw says
But he actually used the word ‘especially’ as if he wasn’t dealing with the question equally. I struggle to accept that such deference could ever be warranted.
Gary says
Pie has his say:
deramdaze says
Why isn’t he Prime Minister?
Seems to “do detail” and presumably works at weekends.
Tiggerlion says
Yes indeed. We’ve just seen the PM unable to remember any of the detail regarding Track & Trace. Meanwhile, Matt Hancock has reminded us all that it is our duty to follow the guidance. The trouble is no-one is exactly clear what the guidance is any more.
Still, Dom is hanging on.
Gatz says
I watched the Committee this evening and was shocked to see his reply to Yvette Cooper who asked for a clear answer to a clear question and got inarticulate waffle in return. I knew he would be bad but I was shocked at just how bad. He had circles run round him even by the MPs who hadn’t particularly intended to do it.
Marwood says
I too was shocked at just how terrible he was.
He is supposed to be the great communicator, the classical scholar with a whiplash wit.
Instead, he appeared ill prepared, incoherent, confused, witless, tired and ramshackle.
Each member of that committee came across as infinitely more competent and credible than Johnson.
A shambles of a man. Anyone thinking otherwise is deluding themselves.
deramdaze says
Agree.
The less “classical scholar” someone is, the more I want them in power.
Classical scholars should be librarians. The bumbling, aristocratic and archaic meanderings of Johnson suit that environment, not a conference about a pandemic.
fortuneight says
I’m reading Sonia Purnell’s bio of Johnson “Just Boris” (99p Kindle copies at the moment folks) and it makes several references to how he could fold when subject to determined questioning. She credits Lynton Crosby with coaching him round it in the Mayoral elections. He has a quick wit but no grasp of detail and gets caught when he can’t joke his way out.
Tiggerlion says
Hmm. Nothing much to do this weekend.
*finger twitches*
bigstevie says
Get in your car and come to Scotland. We’re open now. The sun is shining. You don’t even need a reason to come……testing your eyesight is a good enough reason to come.
Tiggerlion says
Sounds perfect. Any B&Bs open?
fortuneight says
Go on, splurge on a copy. Wish it had been that cheap when I got it. It’s detailed, very thorough, the main drawback being it was written before he became PM. I’d hesitate to saying I’m enjoying it because he’s clearly a total and utter shit, but it’s very well written and very revealing.
johnw says
At one stage, I’m sure the person asking him about track and trace was trying very hard to stiffle a smirk because he knew he was asking questions that Johnson could not answer….. but would still try to.
My take was that the most important thing about track and trace was to wash your hands!
RobC says
Apparently our PM doesn’t ‘do detail’, along with weekends, or indeed anything much at all, apart from playing to his increasingly imaginary gallery with the usual posturing and blustering. At least he eased back on the irritating classicisms.
Malc says
David Allen Green’s take on the statement is worth a watch:
My local MP (Robert Courts) won’t be one of those registering their disapproval, in fact he’s gone on the BBC to defend him – he’s the one who looks like he spent all day in the sunshine. Racking up the brownie points presumably, since it’s one of the safest Tory seats in the country so he doesn’t have to worry about being voted out.
Mike_H says
Loads of Labour MPs thought they were in really safe seats before the last election.
RobC says
From June 15th on public transport you’ll be fined £80 for not wearing one of those masks that you were previously told not to wear. William Burroughs’ Extra Terrestrial who when landing on planet earth demands to see the manager springs to mind.
Tiggerlion says
The thinking of those running the show has been muddled from the start. Don’t expect anything different now.