The Dominic Cummings file

[equationgirl]

Why would stopping for fuel on the way home be an issue? Presumably he and the family had already done their quarantine, that was the whole point of going up to Durham in the first place. You've always been allowed to go out and get fuel if you need it.

It all seems quite a simple story really. He and / or his wife got symptoms. They decided they'd prefer to spend their quarantine in a holiday home on the family estate. During that quarantine they got bored and fancied a day trip to a local picturesque town. Simple as that really, its amazing all the other shit that they've managed to shovel into the equation.

You either think his actions were OK, not OK or not OK but you'll defend it anyway because you perceive him to be on your side.

Not at a petrol station a couple of hundred miles away, mind, else everyone who's driven long distance and caught would be claimed they'd just popped out to fill up the tank.

 

[8ball]

It all seems quite a simple story really. He and / or his wife got symptoms. They decided they'd prefer to spend their quarantine in a holiday home on the family estate. During that quarantine they got bored and fancied a day trip to a local picturesque town.

This is a much better story. By which I mean it would have been better for Cummings, the Government etc.
But doesn't have the brilliant Barnard Castle Eye Test element which is everyone's favourite bit of the other one.

 

[Teaboy]

Not at a petrol station a couple of hundred miles away, mind, else everyone who's driven long distance and caught would be claimed they'd just popped out to fill up the tank.

So yeah. The problem is not whether he fueled up on the way home just why he was there in the first place which is not in dispute. If he had fueled up on the way there or say used the motorway service toilets that might be one thing. Fueling up on the way back is irrelevant because he's not denied being there.

 

[bimble]

 

[Dogsauce]

25,000 of them for you here

45,052 people signed and won this petition

Support for Dominic Cummings

www.change.org

We’re going to need a bigger boat for the South Atlantic transports. At least this saves someone the job of writing out a passenger manifest.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Well played fella

ETA @ auld fella bimble posted

 

[clicker]

So yeah. The problem is not whether he fueled up on the way home just why he was there in the first place which is not in dispute. If he had fueled up on the way there or say used the motorway service toilets that might be one thing. Fueling up on the way back is irrelevant because he's not denied being there.

He really would remember one way or the other though? He should have given a simple yes or no.

To say you're 95% sure you did stop was unnecessary and desperate. It's as though by applying a mathy answer, he thought it gave credibility to his account . When in fact it just made him look even more like a floundering liar.

Simple Dom check your credit card?

 

[killer b]

Well played fella

ETA @ auld fella bimble posted

it's cute, but I smell a rat. he only has two tweets to his name (those two).

 

[MickiQ]

This is a much better story. By which I mean it would have been better for Cummings, the Government etc.
But doesn't have the brilliant Barnard Castle Eye Test element which is everyone's favourite bit of the other one.

That was such a WTF moment that Mrs Q thought she had misheard what he said when he said that, I had to reassure her that I heard it too.

 

[Steel Icarus]

it's cute, but I smell a rat. he only has two tweets to his name (those two).

Strong Twitter game, though. Two tweets and huge numbers. Reminds me of the fake Lionel Richie account that just tweeted "Hello." and got thousands of RTs. (And posted nothing else for years until a single "Goodbye.")

 

[Pickman's model]

Yep, that looks like the Sainsburys on Essex Road at the top oh his street.

Someone I know with detailed knowledge of the street and area in question tells me that DC has an aide who lives a couple of streets away from him and his brother-in-law very slightly beyond that. In addition the street has a very strong sense of community, I'm told, so the decision not to seek help available locally seems increasingly perverse

 

[Dogsauce]

He really would remember one way or the other though? He should have given a simple yes or no.

To say you're 95% sure you did stop was unnecessary and desperate. It's as though by applying a mathy answer, he thought it gave credibility to his account . When in fact it just made him look even more like a floundering liar.

Simple Dom check your credit card?

Thing is, he’s (allegedly) been up and down the A1 like a yo-yo during lockdown, it’s possible that he can’t remember which trips he’s stopped for fuel on and which he hasn’t.

 

[two sheds]

Someone I know with detailed knowledge of the street and area in question tells me that DC has an aide who lives a couple of streets away from him and his brother-in-law very slightly beyond that. In addition the street has a very strong sense of community, I'm told, so the decision not to see help available locally seems increasingly perverse

Isn't that the discredited sister?

 

[8ball]

That was such a WTF moment that Mrs Q thought she had misheard what he said when he said that, I had to reassure her that I heard it too.

If I was him and that was actually true, I'd want to make up something else unless I was a very poor liar and would be spraying tells about the place.
You can rest stop every so often on motorways, so why not say you wanted to check your energy levels were up to it?

 

[two sheds]

If I was him and that was actually true, I'd want to make up something else unless I was a very poor liar and would be spraying tells about the place.
You can rest stop every so often on motorways, so why not say you wanted to check your energy levels were up to it?

It's almost so weird that it has to be true

 

[clicker]

Thing is, he’s (allegedly) been up and down the A1 like a yo-yo during lockdown, it’s possible that he can’t remember which trips he’s stopped for fuel on and which he hasn’t.

But this was such an eventful trip. What with the vomit and bluebells and impaired vision. He'd remember.

 

[8ball]

It's almost so weird that it has to be true

That was my initial thinking. Now I'm wondering about a double-bluff.

Bit of game theory a la Cummings?

 

[two sheds]

I was actually just knackered but I'll make myself out to be a complete bozo and laughing stock by claiming I couldn't see. Tempting.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Some more entertaining news.

Graham Brady, the chairman of the powerful 1922 committee of Conservative backbench MPs, is expected to confront Boris Johnson over his decision to stand by Dominic Cummings amid a mounting backlash.

As the number of Tory MPs calling for Mr Cummings to resign continues to grow, Mr Brady is expected to raise the issue with the Prime Minister when the pair hold their next one-to-one meeting.

Speaking to The Telegraph, a source on the 1922 executive board said: “Graham has meetings with the Prime Minister on appropriate days. The nature of those discussions is absolutely confidential.

“But I have no doubt that Graham will be speaking to the Prime Minister, as he does on a regular basis.”

One senior Tory suggested Mr Brady would be forceful. "I imagine he will be telling him that the party is febrile, that there is, apart from a very core cluster, really no genuine support for Cummings at all.

“The truth is for Boris is he’s owned this and he's now got to explain to everybody why he is so reluctant to admonish or to deal with his adviser. I think what the 1922 will say is that this kind of loyalty will not last forever.”

The Prime Minister is due to appear before MPs of the Liaison Committee from 4pm this afternoon.

Boris Johnson says it's 'time to move on' from Dominic Cummings row and put 'national interest' first

Boris Johnson has said it is time "to move on" from the Dominic Cummings row "and make progress" fighting the coronavirus, during a 90-minute grilling before the Liaison Committee this afternoon.

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Smangus]

Thing is, he’s (allegedly) been up and down the A1 like a yo-yo during lockdown, it’s possible that he can’t remember which trips he’s stopped for fuel on and which he hasn’t.

All the twat has to do is check his expenses claims.

 

[Pickman's model]

Isn't that the discredited sister?

And her husband

 

[cupid_stunt]

Breaking news on Sky, the deputy chief whip has had a Zoom meeting lasting over an hour with up to 109 pissed-off backbenchers.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Bit of game theory a la Cummings?

The only game theory he's been playing has been the selfish cunt in a prisoner's dilemma.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Isn't that the discredited sister?

By ‘discredited sister’ do you mean in relation to the BIG PHARMA DEAL conspirosphere stuff?

Because the issue with that is that there is an Alice Cummings (no relation) who is a director of various private sector medical equipment/services companies, who was conflated by some with an Alice Cummings in the Durham area, and assumed to be Dom's sibling.

Which doesn't negate his actually having a sister (but not called Alice).

 

[8ball]

I was actually just knackered but I'll make myself out to be a complete bozo and laughing stock by claiming I couldn't see. Tempting.

There's something of the Brian Harvey / baked potatoes vibe about it.

 

[Orang Utan]

Strong Twitter game, though. Two tweets and huge numbers. Reminds me of the fake Lionel Richie account that just tweeted "Hello." and got thousands of RTs. (And posted nothing else for years until a single "Goodbye.")

Also, this:

Spoiler: Derail

'Rocky Horror' Fan Time Warps 5 Years to Complete a Tweet

'Rocky Horror' Fan Time Warps 5 Years to Complete a Tweet

mashable.com

 

[DaveCinzano]

There's something of the Brian Harvey / baked potatoes vibe about it.

Except Brian Harvey would make a more convincing witness.

 

[killer b]

Strong Twitter game, though. Two tweets and huge numbers. Reminds me of the fake Lionel Richie account that just tweeted "Hello." and got thousands of RTs. (And posted nothing else for years until a single "Goodbye.")

I'd imagine the person behind the account (not the old feller in the photo) is someone with a larger following who retweeted it early on. They changed the name of an account they registered last year for some other purpose, grabbed a photo from the internet of someone who looks like they might be called Bernard, retweet and off you go.

 

[8ball]

I'd imagine the person behind the account (not the old feller in the photo) is someone with a larger following who retweeted it early on. They changed the name of an account they registered last year for some other purpose, grabbed a photo from the internet of someone who looks like they might be called Bernard, retweet and off you go.

Ooh, fiendish!

 

[cupid_stunt]

This is hardly surprising, but also dumps more shit on Johnson, isn't it all going so well?

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson says officers are reporting people breaking lockdown rules and using special adviser Dominic Cummings' actions as an excuse.

Mr Jamieson told BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme that people are telling officers that "if it is okay for Cummings, it is okay for us" and "it looks like there is one rule for us and another rule for the people in No 10 Downing Street"

He said: "Now you can't... if the rules are flexible, and people seem to have interpreted them who are at the heart of Government, then it is almost impossible then for police officers to be able to carry out their job effectively.

Police commissioner says lockdown breakers are using Cummings as an excuse

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson says it's 'almost impossible' for officers to do their job

www.mirror.co.uk