It's obvious that Cummins should lose his job. He should be sacked immediately. Cabinet ministers should threaten to resign (and actually resign if necessary) to force Boris to sack him.

No, because we emerged from a long hot summer. I agree the situation would be worse with national, though it will be interesting to see how the new guy who wants to criminalise abortion and marijuana would perform after being involved with Kiwifruit PSA disease eradication. That was impressive

It just occurred to me that of all the countries in the world, no matter whether they're in the grip of famine or war, only one has been so lax they don't have details of either ongoing or recovered cases.

Great Britain.

Cases like this really highlight how there really is one set of rules for them while the rest of us struggle and sacrifice. :mad:

Would require a backbone and a moral compass, both of which are disqualifiers for Tory party cabinet membership. :(

It may not be down to laxity

Does Dom always look utterly miserable?

Yup, the eternal pessimist is just how he is.

I tried converting him towards optimism several times but he seems to like it this way. His mind, his choice, I suppose. :duck:

McHrozni

The next step - the UK government threatens to refuse lifting any further lockdown restrictions until Dominic Cummings is exonerated. :tinfoil

That's what I thought until today - #CumGate is currently trending in the UK (on Twitter).

Yes, it seems I was misinformed (or they have made an exception in this case).

Since Cummings has expressed eugenicist views, and hired a eugenicist to work in the government, I suspect that he'll be fine over this.

At least, as far as the government goes.

Mind you, given how little shame there is amongst this lot, I doubt that public backlash will do anything, either.

Cummings has agreed to a press conference. If he mentions his uncle who died (in London) I am reliably informed (4th hand :)) that Cummings parents didn't get on with and were estranged from his uncle. Quite surprising than his mother has brought the subject up in reports this morning.

I suspect Johnson, who for whatever reason doesn't dare fire Cummings, is encouraging him to do this in the hope he gets crucified. Cummings genuinely doesn't believe he did anything wrong, so he'd be convincible to do it.

I can’t believe Dominic Cummings is getting his own press conference. Who even IS this unelected twonk?? Why hasn't Boris fired this unimportant rule-breaking cockweasel

I think there's very little chance of Cummings being fired, because Johnson doesn't want to fire him. Cummings is responsible for much of Johnson's success.

And past behaviour indicates quite strongly that none of them give much of a **** what us plebs think.

Well I'm looking forward to hear the UK's leader address the nation. It will go down in history with the Jewel Voice Broadcast

Murray Walker has talked about James Hunt his co commentator as being unprepared and regularly late often walking into the booth 5 mins before a race start saying "Right Murray, who is on pole?

Johnson is lazy. Prior to the leadership election this was stated by ex-colleagues directly or indirectly, "He is good at surrounding himself with the right people"

Cummings is an obsessive workaholic. As Hunt and Walker complemented each other so do Johnson and Cummings. Hunt and Johnson provide the 'colour'. Walker and Cummings the diligence and research.

Johnson desperately needs Cummings, or someone like him to provide the work ethic he lacks. He will be very reluctant to let go.

Is he trying to make the announcement last as long as the drive to Durham?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52793960

Well, that cleared everything up.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52793960

It's the fault of 'the media'. why am I surprised?

He broke the rules because he had to for his children. It's what every parent would do. Think of the children.

Thirty Miles 'a short drive'?

He drove to Durham because he was worried that him and his wife having covid, would not be able to cope with childcare.

Then it turns out his wife had symptoms but he didn't, so instead of self isolating at home they drove the length of the country.

Now it's because of the threatening behaviour outside their house.

They never went anywhere else, apart from a trip to hospital and a test drive to another town, where they had to stop for a toilet break. Even though they'd managed the whole trip to Durham without having to stop.

He's blaming the media for the reaction, the possibility that the papers might be reflecting public opinion rather than trying to shape it doesn't even occur to him. Probably because that's how he uses the media himself.

Meanwhile in Germany, the sex workers trade union is upset that prostitution is still not allowed despite the lockdown being eased for some other services such as non-sexual massages.

They have come up with suggestion on how the risk of infection can be reduced during sexual intercourse:

If you can't safely hug someone can you really safely have sex with them?

Who doesn't when they're worried about their eye sight take the family on a 30 mile drive?

I also assume his wife can't drive? Or you know he could take the train from Durham back and leave the family up there

Many a politician has thought that things would be much easier if the media would stop telling the electorate what they were doing. It's rare they come out and say it though.

This finally explains why last time I popped in to Specsavers for an eye test they gave me the keys to a Ford Focus

It's like an episode of Alan Partridge

“Today’s discussion on Mid Morning Matters - have you ever driven whilst going blind?”

I think I need an eye test, I won't bother seeing what I can see in my garden, I'll just drive on the pubic roads with potentially dodgy eyesight to a beauty spot 30 miles, that would be the most sensible thing to do.

Well, it would explain much of the driving I've seen since lockdown started.....

Eta: Do you have to do it in an Amazon van or is that just down to coincidence?

What we learned.

He drove to Durham because his wife had Covid also he didn't break the rules on people with Covid isolating because his wife didn't have any Covid symptoms and has never been tested.

He had to go North because of the exceptional circumstances he was in. At all times either him, his wife or both were well enough to look after his child.

His child went to hospital after spending 5 hours in a car with his wife who or did not have Covid and with him who had worked 15 ft from a load of people who were ill with Covid
This wife whose Covid was the reason for the flight took the son in to the hospital full if sick people while our hero stayed in the car.

Test drives were a good reason to exercise miles from home..

To be an effective test, the drive to Barnard castle needed them to get out of the car at a beauty spot to walk around for a while.

He stopped on the way back from Barnard Castle so his child could go to the loo, but apparently that turned into them all playing in the woods where and they saw another family but kept social distancing. This was when driving to exercise was forbidden

He's had six weeks to dream up this positive spin on his actions. Not convincing. He should still be sacked.

Hmm, I think he might have pulled it off, to the extent that his fans can defend it and his detractors can tear holes in it anyway.

Johnson can't fire anyone unless Cummings tells him to.

To be fair I did my driving test in the north east a number of years ago and the eyesight test part of the test was a round trip to Barnard Castle, might be different in other parts of the country though

https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...08a1782fa813db


I can imagine how that might have gone.

Cummings: “Prime Minister, should I go to Durham?”
Boris: “Hang on, I just need to check with Dom about that. Ah, right...”

http://www.internationalskeptics.com...bff2c9cce4.jpg