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Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 8:41 pm
by FlammableFlower
I've moved various Dominic Cummings in Durham related posts into a new thread (this one) seeing as it appears to be a topic of discussion in its own right. If you spot any I've missed please feel free to flag up with me - discovolante

Oh look, Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown to go visit his parents in Durham whilst he had symptoms.

Now, will ministers be demanding/welcoming his resignation as per prof Ferguson?

ETA- that's looking a bit like a dead cat...

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 9:02 pm
by Trinucleus
FlammableFlower wrote:
Fri May 22, 2020 8:41 pm
Oh look, Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown to go visit his parents in Durham whilst he had symptoms.

Now, will ministers be demanding/welcoming his resignation as per prof Ferguson?

ETA- that's looking a bit like a dead cat...
I presume the scientific advice was that only plebs needed to isolate

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 9:30 pm
by FlammableFlower
I'm assuming Cummings will not get fired (at least for a few days) - unless there is a sufficient groundswell against him and/or Johnson starts to think about Weds' PMQs...

cf. Waiving the NHS surcharge - no, no, no, no, no, we're not going to do that... ok we will.

Thing is, Cummings will just find another way to keep "advising government" (i.e. telling them what to do) - he's basically the equivalent of political herpes. Once contracted, there's no way to get rid.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 10:40 pm
by headshot
FlammableFlower wrote:
Fri May 22, 2020 9:30 pm
I'm assuming Cummings will not get fired (at least for a few days) - unless there is a sufficient groundswell against him and/or Johnson starts to think about Weds' PMQs...
No PMQs for a fortnight...

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 10:54 pm
by FlammableFlower
Then it's probably the best day for this to emerge (for Johnson and Cummings), by Monday it'll be a fading memory and no PMQs on weds to bring it back.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 11:02 pm
by Bird on a Fire
Cats have nine lives.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:31 am
by Trinucleus
Gove defends Cummi gs - apparently it's not a crime to care for your children.

Was that written into the legislation?

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:41 am
by shpalman
Trinucleus wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:31 am
Gove defends Cummi gs - apparently it's not a crime to care for your children.

Was that written into the legislation?
What about "it's a crime to not care for your other children?"

Johnson could be in trouble over that.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 12:24 pm
by EACLucifer
Trinucleus wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:31 am
Gove defends Cummi gs - apparently it's not a crime to care for your children.

Was that written into the legislation?
Too ill to look after their kids, but apparently safe to drive several hundred miles to Durham?

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 1:50 pm
by FlammableFlower
Trinucleus wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:31 am
Gove defends Cummi gs - apparently it's not a crime to care for your children.

Was that written into the legislation?
Which opens up the one rule for him, one for everyone else attack.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 2:40 pm
by jimbob
FlammableFlower wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 1:50 pm
Trinucleus wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:31 am
Gove defends Cummi gs - apparently it's not a crime to care for your children.

Was that written into the legislation?
Which opens up the one rule for him, one for everyone else attack.
Face it, he's managed to get Julia Hartley Brewer and Piers Morgan to agree with Alistair Campbell, James O'Brien and Phil Hammond.

another astounding success.

A bit like Johnson's public address on his new guidelines being mocked by Matt Lucas - not the most political of comedians.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 5:19 pm
by Vertigowooyay
shpalman wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:41 am
Trinucleus wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:31 am
Gove defends Cummi gs - apparently it's not a crime to care for your children.

Was that written into the legislation?
What about "it's a crime to not care for your other children?"

Johnson could be in trouble over that.
Not really. Every cabinet member has defended Cummings citing the ‘good parent’ argument - ignoring the fact that thousands have been in the same situation but had to do as government advice told them. We can also add a soupçon of implying that if people who did as they were told are somehow bad parents.

It’s all a bit Animal Farm really.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 5:21 pm
by shpalman
Exactly, and in at least one case, Johnson has been a terrible parent.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 6:41 pm
by FlammableFlower
Oo, the Guardian and Mirror are playing a good game. Put out done details, allow the denials to fly then add some more damaging details.

Now alleged that he didn't just dip the kids at his parents, but did some sightseeing too...

I wonder what else they've got up their sleeve to drop after the next round of supportive ministerial comments?

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:30 pm
by EACLucifer
So the Guardian are now reporting Covid Cummings was spotted sightseeing, while the Mirror have now revealed he did a second trip up north, after the first one.

This is after the Tory leadership all closed ranks to defend him, having rushed to condemn Ferguson when Ferguson was radically less risky.

And it remains the case that the li(n)e they are using is that Covid Cummings was too ill to care for his kids. Were this the case, he was also too ill to drive.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:36 pm
by sTeamTraen
EACLucifer wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:30 pm
So the Guardian are now reporting Covid Cummings was spotted sightseeing, while the Mirror have now revealed he did a second trip up north, after the first one.

This is after the Tory leadership all closed ranks to defend him, having rushed to condemn Ferguson when Ferguson was radically less risky.
A lot of ministers and Tory MPs had to be reluctantly dragged out to parrot the "trip was necessary for the kid's safety" line on Saturday. They will not be so keen now that it has emerged that Cummings took another trip a week or so later.

What gets me about this is why Cummings apparently didn't imagine that anyone would recognise him. He's apparently not driven by fame and he certainly doesn't spend a lot on looking flash, but he is quite recognisable to anyone who follows politics. If I'd been in his position I'd have stayed in, got my wife to get the coffees and fill up the car with petrol, etc.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 7:14 am
by headshot
My usually very sensible brother has just texted me to tell me that his wife and kids are heading to a seafront to meet up with nan today.

When I told him that the rules only permitted two individuals from separate households to meet, he said “tell that to Cummings”.

This whole debacle will now just give everyone the excuse to break the rules with impunity.

Huge second wave by, what? July? August?

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 9:55 am
by Trinucleus
headshot wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 7:14 am
My usually very sensible brother has just texted me to tell me that his wife and kids are heading to a seafront to meet up with nan today.

When I told him that the rules only permitted two individuals from separate households to meet, he said “tell that to Cummings”.

This whole debacle will now just give everyone the excuse to break the rules with impunity.

Huge second wave by, what? July? August?
That attitude about going out is a complete misrepresentation of what Cummings did...... but surely he if anyone must know it's about the image not the facts?

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:31 am
by Pianissimo
The government’s increasingly tetchy responses to critical articles is concerning. Statement this morning looked to be straight out of the Trump playbook
BBC news wrote:”Today they are writing more inaccurate stories including claims that Mr Cummings returned to Durham after returning to work in Downing Street on 14 April.

We will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about Mr Cummings from campaigning newspapers.”

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:28 am
by lpm
Trinucleus wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 9:55 am
headshot wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 7:14 am
My usually very sensible brother has just texted me to tell me that his wife and kids are heading to a seafront to meet up with nan today.

When I told him that the rules only permitted two individuals from separate households to meet, he said “tell that to Cummings”.

This whole debacle will now just give everyone the excuse to break the rules with impunity.

Huge second wave by, what? July? August?
That attitude about going out is a complete misrepresentation of what Cummings did...... but surely he if anyone must know it's about the image not the facts?
How do you mean? Cummings travelled across the country while knowingly infectious. Absolutely criminal.

Nothing like going out to see your Nan while 99% sure none of you can be infectious, which is reckless and against the rules, but is far less likely to kill anyone.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:29 am
by shpalman
Pianissimo wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 10:31 am
The government’s increasingly tetchy responses to critical articles is concerning. Statement this morning looked to be straight out of the Trump playbook
BBC news wrote:”Today they are writing more inaccurate stories including claims that Mr Cummings returned to Durham after returning to work in Downing Street on 14 April.

We will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about Mr Cummings from campaigning newspapers.”
They'll probably move to "it's true but so what?" when flat-out denial stops working in the face of more and more evidence.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:51 am
by Vertigowooyay
EACLucifer wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 11:30 pm
So the Guardian are now reporting Covid Cummings was spotted sightseeing, while the Mirror have now revealed he did a second trip up north, after the first one.

This is after the Tory leadership all closed ranks to defend him, having rushed to condemn Ferguson when Ferguson was radically less risky.
This is because in some respects, journalism is like comedy. It’s all about timing.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:59 am
by purplehaze
Trinucleus wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 9:55 am
headshot wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 7:14 am
My usually very sensible brother has just texted me to tell me that his wife and kids are heading to a seafront to meet up with nan today.

When I told him that the rules only permitted two individuals from separate households to meet, he said “tell that to Cummings”.

This whole debacle will now just give everyone the excuse to break the rules with impunity.

Huge second wave by, what? July? August?
That attitude about going out is a complete misrepresentation of what Cummings did...... but surely he if anyone must know it's about the image not the facts?
It's not. It's totally understandable. Oh and by the way Cummings trip was done during lock down, not during the easing of lockdown.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 12:02 pm
by purplehaze
headshot wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 7:14 am
My usually very sensible brother has just texted me to tell me that his wife and kids are heading to a seafront to meet up with nan today.

When I told him that the rules only permitted two individuals from separate households to meet, he said “tell that to Cummings”.

This whole debacle will now just give everyone the excuse to break the rules with impunity.

Huge second wave by, what? July? August?
I would love to do things by the end of August.

Have a family party

Go to Northern Ireland, via Ireland to see my mum.

Seems that if there is a second wave during this time, my well longed for plans are scuppered. Thanks to Cummings.

Re: Dominic Cummings in Durham

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 12:10 pm
by lpm
purplehaze wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 11:59 am
Oh and by the way Cummings trip was done during lock down, not during the easing of lockdown.
There has been no change to that part of the rules. It was the same under the original partial lockdown as today's semi partial lockdown.