The Dominic Cummings file

[Lord Camomile]

I know we've kind of moved on from it, but it just occurred to me that the 60 mile round trip plus the hospital visit were all supposedly done on the same tank of petrol that took them the 260 miles from London to Durham and at least some of the way back, right? So probably around 350 miles in a Land Rover, on one tank?

I know next to nothing about cars, but that's surely one of those where it's almost too easy to prove false?

 

[two sheds]

This could be interesting: a lawyer dissects Cummings' carefully lawyered statement. I've not listened all through yet, but the word 'damning' is being used on legal twitter...

Interesting. Does take it apart to make the whole episode look very suspicious. No real gotchas I don't think, although he points to a possibility that further evidence might show him to be lying.

[my notes in square brackets although of course I'm not a lawyer]

He points out that Cummings really needed an excuse for Barnard Castle [which makes it look like it really was a jolly]. He refers to photos and data on phone that prove he was not in Durham on 19 April, nowhere else mentions his phone so he can say media reports of this date are false [although I'd imagine this opens up any prosecution to be able to examine his phone for more evidence].

At the end there was no sorry, no regret so is claiming he did nothing wrong.

He says it was clearly written by a lawyer. with each sentence having at least one function: to explain evidence, explain away evidence, to show reasonable belief, or to show that certain decisions were made on the best possible basis.

 

[maomao]

I know we've kind of moved on from it, but it just occurred to me that the 60 mile round trip plus the hospital visit were all supposedly done on the same tank of petrol that took them the 260 miles from London to Durham and at least some of the way back, right? So probably around 350 miles in a Land Rover, on one tank?

I know next to nothing about cars, but that's surely one of those where it's almost too easy to prove false?

These people did 530 in a similar car:

Real world fuel economy: how far can you go?

How far will a car realistically go on a full tank of fuel? Most fleet operators will know it isn’t as far as manufacturers lead you to believe in their advertising.

www.fleetnews.co.uk

 

[Badgers]

Let's post a feel good tweet to gee up the nation and make them feel solidarity about the poverty and hardship we're all facing.

A cunt endorsing a cunt business

 

[equationgirl]

Oh bloody hell, this is like a prosecution barrister cross examining someone who's obviously as guilty as hell.

My favourite part so far is where he describes the eyesight test drive reason as 'preposturous'. Awesome

 

[teuchter]

To be fair my work whatsapp group is very impressed by this.

I'm guessing your WhatsApp group is a bit less snobby than urban75 politics people. And maybe a bit more in touch with reality.

 

[Roadkill]

I know we've kind of moved on from it, but it just occurred to me that the 60 mile round trip plus the hospital visit were all supposedly done on the same tank of petrol that took them the 260 miles from London to Durham and at least some of the way back, right? So probably around 350 miles in a Land Rover, on one tank?

I know next to nothing about cars, but that's surely one of those where it's almost too easy to prove false?

He claimed not to be sure whether he'd stopped for fuel on the way back.

I don't know what engine his Land Rover has or how big the fuel tank is, or how heavy-footed a driver he is for that matter, so difficult to say whether he could do 600-odd miles (Durham and back plus the 60-mile jaunt to Barnard Castle and back) on a tank, but some cars do have remarkable range. About fifteen years ago Jeremy Clarkson drove a bloody great supercharged Jag from London to Edinburgh and back on one tank - near enough 800 miles - for a Top Gear feature. I don't think it's necessarily implausible that Cummings didn't need a fuel stop, but the fact he couldn't or wouldn't confirm whether he'd made one or not is very telling...

 

[cupid_stunt]

I think this is the first newspaper article picking-up on how his wife's published version differs from his, I doubt it will make much different, apart from slightly adding to the doubt about their honesty.

How Dominic Cummings' wife's coronavirus account differs from his statement

The article made no mention of the family travelling to Durham during the lockdown

inews.co.uk

 

[2hats]

Its good but nowhere near as good as the housing minister (jenrick? I can't be bothered to check) using the daily corona virus briefing to promote Wimpy homes amazing offer of 5% off new homes for key workers. That's right an amazing 5%! Now other to Chris Whittey to tell us how many hundreds needlessly died yesterday.

I’d like to thank today Taylor Wimpey, who now have now got construction safely underway on the majority of their sites and have started removing staff from the furlough scheme and getting back to work on full pay.

They are offering a discount of 5% for NHS staff and care workers on new homes – a great way to recognise the contribution that our front line heroes are making to the country.

Housing Secretary's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 13 May 2020

The Housing Secretary on the government’s response to COVID-19 and the plan to safely restart, reopen and renew the housing market.

www.gov.uk

 

[Mogden]

This could be interesting: a lawyer dissects Cummings' carefully lawyered statement. I've not listened all through yet, but the word 'damning' is being used on legal twitter...

That is really bloody interesting. I'd like to see a slowed down version of him reading it out so I could look for more gives. There were a few I spotted during the broadcast but that with the information about the statement, fascinating. Gets my psychological juices all riled up.

 

[kenny g]

Let's post a feel good tweet to gee up the nation and make them feel solidarity about the poverty and hardship we're all facing.

Let them eat chicken.

Come on chaps. It's not all bad. You can come and have some chicken.

 

[Smangus]

He claimed not to be sure whether he'd stopped for fuel on the way back.

I don't know what engine his Land Rover has or how big the fuel tank is, or how heavy-footed a driver he is for that matter, so difficult to say whether he could do 600-odd miles (Durham and back plus the 60-mile jaunt to Barnard Castle and back) on a tank, but some cars do have remarkable range. About fifteen years ago Jeremy Clarkson drove a bloody great supercharged Jag from London to Edinburgh and back on one tank - near enough 800 miles - for a Top Gear feature. I don't think it's necessarily implausible that Cummings didn't need a fuel stop, but the fact he couldn't or wouldn't confirm whether he'd made one or not is very telling...

Well if it's a diesel he would have topped it up (illegally) with some red from the farm....

Possibly , allegedly, with all legal caveats etc

 

[Roadkill]

Well if it's a diesel he would have topped it up (illegally) with some red from the farm....

Possibly , allegedly, with all legal caveats etc

Pretty sure I've seen that suggestion already. He was hardly going to admit duty evasion on top of everything else though, was he!

 

[DaveCinzano]

Well if it's a diesel he would have topped it up (illegally) with some red from the farm....

Sorry, agricola beat you to that punchline a mere 1,217 posts ago

 

[equationgirl]

Pretty sure I've seen that suggestion already. He was hardly going to admit duty evasion on top of everything else though, was he!

Oh I don't know, might have admitted evasion of duty to stop the investigation uncovering something worse...

 

[cupid_stunt]

I think this is the first newspaper article picking-up on how his wife's published version differs from his, I doubt it will make much different, apart from slightly adding to the doubt about their honesty.

How Dominic Cummings' wife's coronavirus account differs from his statement

The article made no mention of the family travelling to Durham during the lockdown

inews.co.uk

And, so it starts to spread...

Wife says Cummings was in bed for 10 days while he 'picked up son from hospital'

Holes are being blown in the couple's stories.

metro.co.uk

 

[Smangus]

Sorry, agricola beat you to that punchline a mere 1,217 posts ago

Oh well, doesn't hurt to reinforce the point though

 

[Lord Camomile]

He claimed not to be sure whether he'd stopped for fuel on the way back.

I don't know what engine his Land Rover has or how big the fuel tank is, or how heavy-footed a driver he is for that matter, so difficult to say whether he could do 600-odd miles (Durham and back plus the 60-mile jaunt to Barnard Castle and back) on a tank, but some cars do have remarkable range. About fifteen years ago Jeremy Clarkson drove a bloody great supercharged Jag from London to Edinburgh and back on one tank - near enough 800 miles - for a Top Gear feature. I don't think it's necessarily implausible that Cummings didn't need a fuel stop, but the fact he couldn't or wouldn't confirm whether he'd made one or not is very telling...

I thought he said in response to a question that he stopped on the way back, making the point that they were both beyond the 14 day limit.

I saw that Top Gear episode! Should have remembered; ok, totally plausible.

 

[maomao]

I'm guessing your WhatsApp group is a bit less snobby than urban75 politics people. And maybe a bit more in touch with reality.

Grounded in reality is pretty far down my list of descriptions for my colleagues.


Is thicko toffboy's 16:00 parliamentary grilling going to be on the telly then? It's parliament so it's likely to be on time unlike that twat Cummings' disgraceful tardiness the other day.

 

[Mogden]

Grounded in reality is pretty far down my list of descriptions for my colleagues.


Is thicko toffboy's 16:00 parliamentary grilling going to be on the telly then? Its parliament so it's likely to be on time unlike that twat Axl Rose Cummings' disgraceful tardiness the other day.

FTFY

 

[maomao]

I thought he said in response to a question that he stopped on the way back, making the point that they were both beyond the 14 day limit.

He said he didn't remember if he stopped on the way back or not iirc

 

[Roadkill]

I thought he said in response to a question that he stopped on the way back, making the point that they were both beyond the 14 day limit.

I've not gone back and checked but my recollection is that he did say he'd stopped somewhere, but claimed not to remember whether he'd bought fuel or not. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

Oh I don't know, might have admitted evasion of duty to stop the investigation uncovering something worse...

That's a point. He might have admitted it if it was true, but then that's easily checked because red diesel stains the fuel filter, so it's probably safe to assume he was driving on normal pump fuel.

That's assuming the car is a diesel to start off with, of course - if it's a petrol engine he must have been using pump fuel, and probably a lot more of it too...

 

[planetgeli]

Can someone remind me why the news of the desperate drive to Durham didn't arise until Friday, and why it arose then? ISTR The Guardian and others were asking about the reported Durham sightings repeatedly for weeks without getting any answer - so what happened? The earliest accounts I could find were the Guardian 'exclusive' on 22 May and the Mirror 'exclusive' on the same day as a result of a joint investigation, but it's not clear what triggered them to act at that particular point. Was it simply competitive journalism because others were on the verge of picking up the story? Once they'd started asking politicians for reactions it would be impossible to keep under wraps. But how had Downing St managed to keep a lid on things for so long?

I think the trigger was the police admitting they'd spoken to Cummings. Whether the Guardian knew this before they say they did - who knows? But it was certainly that revelation that prompted Downing St. to speak other than 'no comment' for the first time.

 

[two sheds]

He claimed not to be sure whether he'd stopped for fuel on the way back.

I don't know what engine his Land Rover has or how big the fuel tank is, or how heavy-footed a driver he is for that matter, so difficult to say whether he could do 600-odd miles (Durham and back plus the 60-mile jaunt to Barnard Castle and back) on a tank, but some cars do have remarkable range. About fifteen years ago Jeremy Clarkson drove a bloody great supercharged Jag from London to Edinburgh and back on one tank - near enough 800 miles - for a Top Gear feature. I don't think it's necessarily implausible that Cummings didn't need a fuel stop, but the fact he couldn't or wouldn't confirm whether he'd made one or not is very telling...

Clearly thinks it looks damning if he did stop but wants not to be shown to be a liar by denying it and it comes out later that he had.

[Particularly if he stopped on the way up, fuelling up for a long journey. Eta: Roadkill below remarks he does say he didn't do this]

 

[klang]

Let them eat chicken.

Come on chaps. It's not all bad. You can come and have some chicken.

View attachment 214962View attachment 214962

did you really have to post it twice?

 

[teuchter]

Grounded in reality is pretty far down my list of descriptions for my colleagues.

Not incompatible with my suspicions though.

 

[equationgirl]

Surely he must have stopped for fuel at some point on the way back, if only to make sure he had sufficient fuel in the car for other purposes, like going to the shops, in London.

 

[chalkhorse]

I think the trigger was the police admitting they'd spoken to Cummings. Whether the Guardian knew this before they say they did - who knows? But it was certainly that revelation that prompted Downing St. to speak other than 'no comment' for the first time.

The press articles are certainly written that way, but the police wouldn't have volunteered the information without being asked, presumably by the press, and it was the press that revealed it. AFAIK the police didn't make it public first.

 

[two sheds]

My favourite part so far is where he describes the eyesight test drive reason as 'preposturous'. Awesome

It's also really good because he adds in the dates of everything.

 

[equationgirl]

It's also really good because he adds in the dates of everything.

I did enjoy the whole thing. He basically called him a lying liar who lies