I feel that, generally, we Brits have a sense of fair play. Most of us have been prepared to make significant sacrifices for the general good and we feel pretty miffed if one of our more powerful and privileged number defy the rules and then make excuses that are patently and insultingly false. Who tests their driving ability with a small chil on board? The press ARE having a field day. Mr. Cummings has never attempted to endear himself to the media and now it's payback. But they are also voicing the outrage of ordinary people who are just struggling through. We prefer to respect our leaders, but we know how to despise them, too.
I think you are completely missing what's known as 'the spirit of the law'. What that term means, is that people understand what the law means in general terms - I think the term was used when Boris prorogued parliament.
The 'rule' that Cummings flouted was accepted by the majority of the country as being:
If you are in a home where one person gets the virus, lockdown that home for 14 days. Do Not travel, do not mix with other people and do not put your self in the position where you spread the virus unnecessarily. Do not put OTHERS at risk.
The anger and frustration is in that Cummings' knew that - he knew what the spirit of the rules meant, but he used the rule's terminology to say 'I'm all right Jack, stuff you'.
He span the rule.
If people honestly believe that Cummings, if he and his wife had gone down with the virus simultaneously and were unable to look after their child, would not have had help with the child then I'm flabbergasted. The first rule of all governments is that the government must be able to rule. They make sure they are looked after - the child would never have been left isolated with no one looking after him. But that may happen to the single mum in the tower block where she knows no one.
The gov will soon need people who fly and those who are detected via an app to self isolate without even showing symptoms. How many people now will simply not bother? How many will not get the app? How many will conveniently leave their phone at home when doing something risky? How may extra people will now die simply because a high profile person believed he could get away with flouting the rules? It's not the direct effect of his trip - it will be the indirect result that you will potentially start to see over the coming weeks.
I would say to anyone, despite what Cummings did and excused, you know what the rules are and why they are there. They are for the benefit of ALL of us, not just our immediate family.
Surely the point is not that DC hasn't broken "the law", @strelitzia32, but that he has wilfully ridden roughshod over his government's rules for the control of Covid - rules which he helped to draw up, and which every citizen needs to abide by in order to get the better of the virus - for the good of us all. By breaking rules which others have been fined for breaking, and being apparently incapable of seeing that there's anything wrong in so doing, he has shown himself to be morally bankrupt.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Back when I was at school it was called ‘setting a good example’. If we primary school children understood how it works why can’t the most powerful people in the land?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It is the early days of the epidemic and we don’t know too much about it. However I am very concerned my wife has it and, in the environment I am working in, it is likely I will get it too. I am concerned for my young son.
Hurriedly I have to decide whether to have lockdown in my London home though I am concerned about the prospect of unruly protesters outside and, if we both become ill, who will look after the boy? Alternatively I can drive to a very safe environment in Durham, away from the protests, away from others, supported by, but not closely interacting with, my parents and my sister’s family.
I know - better than almost anyone - that to make the drive North is against the spirit of the advice. I also believe that there is a strong case for isolating in Durham and the rules allow a limited amount of flexibility. Personally I would not like to be Dominic Cummings at that point in time. He is between a rock and a hard place.
On balance he should probably have stayed put but, in making the drive and not stopping en route, he was creating a very low risk to others. He was however creating a strong risk to himself and his son of catching the virus while cooped up in the car. Did he, at that time, know the very low but still possible life-threatening risk of the virus on the young?
He should also have been astute enough to realise that not abiding with the spirit of the regulations would create a tremendous political upheaval. Using it to his advantage in the past, he knows the power of social media.
Balancing it out, I think he made the wrong choice. I think he should have said so and apologised. I think the trip to Bishop Auckland was also unwise but scarcely a hanging offence. I think Boris Johnson was wrong not to insist on his resignation.
Cummings is not liked by many senior politicians or by the press. They are perfectly happy to see him get a good kicking and will do nothing to calm the situation and present balanced arguments. The situation is now weakening the authority of the Prime Minister and at a time when we need cohesion and unity in tackling Coronavirus that is a sorry state of affairs.
In summary, he did wrong but I have a modicum of sympathy. I do not share or agree with the hostile outrage.
I'm sure that if it HAD been you, Ben, everyone would understand, even if they felt you had done the wrong thing. The point is that it was a man responsible for the lockdown policy implying that he was above the rules fit for lesser people - us. That is what people find difficult to forgive.
And when he and his employers have built careers based on lying through their teeth why should we believe any of his story is true? He has no credibility to fall back on.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I didn’t patronise you ... I pointed out that DC is not an elected MP but an unelected political advisor accountable to just one person, which could explain the difference in the way his actions are being regarded and reported.
So to summarise you can feel patronised, but I can't? I realy don't need anyone to point out DC role, or explain to me how MPs are elected and unelected. I think I can just about handle that level of complexity 🤔
Just to add balence, this is Stephen Kinnock a member of the shadow cabinet, driving 200 miles to visit his father on his birthday. This was taken from Guardian, whose article tried to shame the police for naming shaming Mr Kinnock for breaking lockdown rules
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The press ARE having a field day. Mr. Cummings has never attempted to endear himself to the media and now it's payback. But they are also voicing the outrage of ordinary people who are just struggling through. We prefer to respect our leaders, but we know how to despise them, too.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
On the whole I am not too agitated by the affair.
It is the early days of the epidemic and we don’t know too much about it. However I am very concerned my wife has it and, in the environment I am working in, it is likely I will get it too. I am concerned for my young son.
Hurriedly I have to decide whether to have lockdown in my London home though I am concerned about the prospect of unruly protesters outside and, if we both become ill, who will look after the boy? Alternatively I can drive to a very safe environment in Durham, away from the protests, away from others, supported by, but not closely interacting with, my parents and my sister’s family.
I know - better than almost anyone - that to make the drive North is against the spirit of the advice. I also believe that there is a strong case for isolating in Durham and the rules allow a limited amount of flexibility. Personally I would not like to be Dominic Cummings at that point in time. He is between a rock and a hard place.
On balance he should probably have stayed put but, in making the drive and not stopping en route, he was creating a very low risk to others. He was however creating a strong risk to himself and his son of catching the virus while cooped up in the car. Did he, at that time, know the very low but still possible life-threatening risk of the virus on the young?
He should also have been astute enough to realise that not abiding with the spirit of the regulations would create a tremendous political upheaval. Using it to his advantage in the past, he knows the power of social media.
Balancing it out, I think he made the wrong choice. I think he should have said so and apologised. I think the trip to Bishop Auckland was also unwise but scarcely a hanging offence. I think Boris Johnson was wrong not to insist on his resignation.
Cummings is not liked by many senior politicians or by the press. They are perfectly happy to see him get a good kicking and will do nothing to calm the situation and present balanced arguments. The situation is now weakening the authority of the Prime Minister and at a time when we need cohesion and unity in tackling Coronavirus that is a sorry state of affairs.
In summary, he did wrong but I have a modicum of sympathy. I do not share or agree with the hostile outrage.
@strelitzia32 is also someone I agree with.
Just to add balence, this is Stephen Kinnock a member of the shadow cabinet, driving 200 miles to visit his father on his birthday.
This was taken from Guardian, whose article tried to shame the police for naming shaming Mr Kinnock for breaking lockdown rules