The Dominic Cummings file

[Raheem]

A gale at sea.

A piratin' jolly Roger.

 

[Wilf]

Piers Morgan bans cabinet ministers who back Dominic Cummings from GMB

Outspoken telly host Piers Morgan has issued a blanket ban to all cabinet ministers who support Dominic Cummings after he was caught flouting lockdown rules

www.mirror.co.uk

I am sure the ministers concerned will be happy enough with that.

It's a sign of how desperate things have become that I have a nano-second of pleasure every time I hear phrases like 'Piers Morgan takes minister to task/calls on on boris johnson to/eviscerates minister' etc. A very desperate place.

But yeah, I agree, they'll be delighted to avoid that cunt on cunt action.

 

[two sheds]

It's a sign of how desperate things have become that I have a nano-second of pleasure every time I hear phrases like 'Piers Morgan takes minister to task/calls on on boris johnson to/eviscerates minister' etc. A very desperate place.

But yeah, I agree, they'll be delighted to avoid that cunt on cunt action.

They'll all be coming out in defence of him now

 

[Part-timah]

That petition is cumming along nicely. I wonder if itll break the 100k to get a debate.

 

[tim]

A piratin' jolly Roger.

He'll Be jolly-rogering Bo-Jo if Cummings doesn't walk the gangplank soon.

 

[Wilf]

Doing a line of coke together.

Unusual experience as neither of them will have a sense of smell at the moment.

 

[Roadkill]

It's Peston, so it might be kite-flying to test the reaction, but on the other hand...

 

[philosophical]

I would love to see in old Western Cavalry film court martial style, the Javid advisor he had frogmarched out, strip him of his phone, and give him a sachet of Daz for his manky stinking orange shirt, and have him wheeled out of number 10 on that childs bicycle he loaded into the back of his motor yesterday.

 

[Sue]

It's Peston, so it might be kite-flying to test the reaction, but on the other hand...

Cummings 'confident he did nothing wrong'. These fucking people.

 

[butchersapron]

That petition is cumming along nicely. I wonder if itll break the 100k to get a debate.

There doesn't appear to be one.

 

[Roadkill]

There doesn't appear to be one.

It's on change.org. The clicktivists have got confused.

 

[Part-timah]

There doesn't appear to be one.

Got my petitions mixed up!

 

[Steel Icarus]

Petitions don't have to be brought up in the commons once they get 100k sigs. Oft-repeated myth

 

[Wilf]

Cummings looks to be close to the exit door, but if they can divert this to a cabinet sec for a fortnight the lockdown will have virtually crumbled anyway. Everybody will be driving everywhere, while the sick and elderly remain stuck in their houses. Anyway, I'd say his chances, as of this afternoon are about 40/60.

 

[Wilf]

By the by, why has he 'gone to number 10'? I know that's the usual thing, but I thought we still nominally at 'work from home if you can'? I'd have thought talking to johnson and his other courtiers on some secure version of zoom or whatever would have been a piece of piss.

 

[Lord Camomile]

By the by, why has he 'gone to number 10'? I know that's the usual thing, but I thought we still nominally at 'work from home if you can'? I'd have thought talking to johnson and his other courtiers on some secure version of zoom or whatever would have been a piece of piss.

They've both had it, so they're feeling as immune to the virus as they do everything else.

 

[Roadkill]

Cummings looks to be close to the exit door...

Perhaps not:

 

[brogdale]

This is excellent; whatever happens or not before 5pm, Johnson looks weak.
Damage on damage that's cut-through well beyond any bubble.

 

[Lord Camomile]

This is excellent; whatever happens or not before 5pm, Johnson looks weak.
Damage on damage that's cut-through well beyond any bubble.

The weird thing is, to a certain section of society (unclear how large), it appears they still see him as an embattled hero under fire from the enemy within, leftys and their agenda-pushing MSM

 

[brogdale]

The weird thing is, to a certain section of society (unclear how large), it appears they still see him as an embattled hero under fire from the enemy within, leftys and their agenda-pushing MSM

Oh yeah, but I've been hearing very real anger about Cummings/Johnson from quarters that I don't normally. Important to remember that pretty much everyone has lived-experience 'skin-in-the-game' on this lockdown issue; the resentment seems pretty widespread tbh, although the die-hard, Get Brexit done fans will probably demonstrate a Trump-like loyalty.

 

[killer b]

The weird thing is, to a certain section of society (unclear how large), it appears they still see him as an embattled hero under fire from the enemy within, leftys and their agenda-pushing MSM

It was 28% on YouGov yesterday

 

[Roadkill]

Oh yeah, but I've been hearing very real anger about Cummings/Johnson from quarters that I don't normally. Important to remember that pretty much everyone has lived-experience 'skin-in-the-game' on this lockdown issue; the resentment seems pretty widespread tbh, although the die-hard, Get Brexit done fans will probably demonstrate a Trump-like loyalty.

I'm sure you're right there, and that might serve to alienate them from a much larger number of people who are disgusted at what Cummings has done and disappointed in BJ for not giving him the boot.

 

[tim]

Oh yeah, but I've been hearing very real anger about Cummings/Johnson from quarters that I don't normally. Important to remember that pretty much everyone has lived-experience 'skin-in-the-game' on this lockdown issue; the resentment seems pretty widespread tbh, although the die-hard, Get Brexit done fans will probably demonstrate a Trump-like loyalty.

Trump is not a man noted for his loyalty to beleaguered colleagues and supporters

 

[brogdale]

Trump is not a man noted for his loyalty to beleaguered colleagues and supporters

Yeah, could have worded that more clearly, meant that...well, you know what I meant.

 

[brogdale]

The gift that keeps on....

 

[vanya]

Cummings and Goings

If you have Coronavirus symptoms, the government's rules are very clear. You should self-isolate for a fortnight. No ifs, no buts, unless ...

averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com

If you have Coronavirus symptoms, the government's rules are very clear. You should self-isolate for a fortnight. No ifs, no buts, unless there is an obvious risk to life. Why then did Dominic Cummings, the "mastermind" behind the government's complacent and disastrous response to the covid-19 emergency, drive from London to Durham to drop his kids off when, by his own admission, he was showing all the signs of the disease? We know why. He drove there for the same reasons why Catherine Calderwood, Scotland's chief medical officer visited her second home, and why Neal Ferguson, author of the lockdown strategy, broke the rules to get his leg over. They did it because they could. They did it because the quarantine measures they proffered for others do not apply to them.

News of course for the rest of us. Those parents who were ill with children at home, people banned from the bedside of family members, the bereaved having to grieve in absentia because distancing rules applied to funerals, these sacrifices - which Boris Johnson has the habit of patronisingly congratulating us for - are for the likes of us, not the likes of them. Even when it means pointing people in harm's way, which is exactly what Cummings did. Cummings and his partner were both obviously ill with the bug, but thought nothing of dumping the sprog on the elderly parents. At least his lack of regard for the safety of the old is consistent. Still, given the opportunity to pick a side between the many and the few, true to form senior Tories have marched out to defend Cummings. Michael Gove said "caring for your wife and child is not a crime." Rishi Sunak and Dominic Raab said it was a justifiable action, and condemned political point scoring. At the daily press conference, Grant Shapps went as far to suggest Durham Police were lying about speaking to Cummings's family about the matter. You can find other ministers, MPs, and their social media satraps doing the same. Though, strangely, not our frequently absent Prime Minister.

Speaking outside his house Saturday morning, Cummings told the assembled press pack it wasn't about what "looks good", but "doing the right thing." He added it didn't matter what the journos thought. Typical of him, he's brazening it out. He's wagering that this is a media confection that will bother the usual excitables on Twitter, while out in the country people will see it as a fuss over nothing. Well, he's neglected two things. First is the anti-elite narrative he has carefully crafted since rocking up at Downing Street. Drawing on decades of right wing fulmination against experts and so-called liberal elites, it was easy to weave a story about privileged remoaners when they acted like spoiled brats who simply wanted to set aside the referendum. The problem is when an anti-elitist starts acting like the elite they affect to despise, and do so in the full glare of publicity.

And the second thing? Ho, ho. Pippa Crerar was sitting on a follow-up story about the other time Cummings had broken the lockdown. After a full day of senior Tories making up excuses for "Dom" and trying to pretend anyone interested in the truth had anti-Tory axes to grind, the behaviour of Johnson's essential familiar savages them, Pennywise-style, in the backside. This has led Sophy Ridge to take the extraordinary step of giving Shapps, her Sunday guest, the questions she's going to ask in advance so we can get some proper answers.

This Cummings scandal couldn't come at a more delicate time. Facing sustained criticism over plans to ease the lockdown, the government have blundered into an unnecessary confrontation with teachers which has formed up devolved authorities, metro mayors, and local government behind them. With the plan unravelling, they were forced to concede waiving NHS surcharges for foreign-born staff to try and keep the main objective front and centre. And now the Cummings revelations have wrecked that, and made the government look like complete idiots. Does it matter? Well, yes. It's sure to help speed up the slow erosion of the Tory poll lead, but one shouldn't underestimate the potentially deadly consequences of Cummings's irresponsibility. If the government's spad-in-chief can get away flouting the law and not be seen to suffer any consequences, why shouldn't everyone else drive here, there, and everywhere to have meetings with family and friends. It sends absolutely the wrong message, but the government haven't got a leg to stand on for as long as Cummings resides in Downing Street.

 

[Treacle Toes]

The gift that keeps on....

Wasn't he seen in Durham yesterday?

Apparently Boris will not be doing the daily briefing today because he refuses to be questioned by 'campaigning newspapers'... Let's face it he is also dodging q's about the Arcuri findings even if the police aren't going to take action there was evidence that his relationship with her influenced decisions to give her public money and he doesn't want to face that.

 

[MrSki]

The gift that keeps on....

So is his wife & kid still in Durham?

 

[philosophical]

Wasn't he seen in Durham yesterday?

Apparently Boris will not be doing the daily briefing today because he refuses to be questioned by 'campaigning newspapers'... Let's face it he is also dodging q's about the Arcuri findings even if the police aren't going to take action there was evidence that his relationship with her influenced decisions to give her public money and he doesn't want to face that.

 

[Wilf]

The gift that keeps on....

Yes, it is, though I'm confused as to what the visit was for. Weren't Durham police supposed to have spoken to him about this road trip? Is this something else?