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Post by NeilVHughes on May 23, 2020 18:22:47 GMT
londonpostie that is the irony. Could have got rid of him and quietly and let him continue to influence in the background as an executive of one of those ghost companies that he set up to advise the Government. I suppose not being able to Lord it over the mandarins in the carpeted corridors of Whitehall was too much for him to lose. Even the Spectator has a piece about him needing to go, we now have an undermining of the Covid-19 containment strategy, the story all his enemies have been praying for and the wrath of those who did the right thing whilst their loved ones suffered alone as his role becomes even more untenable.
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Post by londonpostie on May 23, 2020 18:30:04 GMT
He def has the Remain/Peoples Vote Battalions up against him, that's for sure.
However, the Gov is sitting on 4 1/2 years and a decent old majority where it matters .. will the moral indignation last the Bank Holiday ...
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 23, 2020 18:55:40 GMT
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Post by theglenbucklaird on May 23, 2020 18:58:06 GMT
Cummings knows too much he is the architect. Definitely going nowhere. Don't be too sure - the newspapers rarely publish all they're got on the first day. Mirror just released day 2 of revelations... been seen out twice. Naughty boy
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2020 18:58:58 GMT
will the moral indignation last the Bank Holiday ... In most circumstances I'd say probably not, but right now there's not a great deal else going on in the news that can draw attention away from this situation. It's not as if people are going to have forgotten about the lockdown next week.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2020 19:07:34 GMT
will the moral indignation last the Bank Holiday ... In most circumstances I'd say probably not, but right now there's not a great deal else going on in the news that can draw attention away from this situation. It's not as if people are going to have forgotten about the lockdown next week. Exactly. Whether you think he should have done it or not, it wasn't allowed at the time because he and his wife had symptoms, so he broke the rules, end of. Given how much the Government is imploring us all to obey the rules and stay at home, it was idiotic and hypocritical at best even if you don't think it was dangerous. People who haven't seen their families for nearly 3 months now will justifiably be angry and some will see no need to follow the rules anymore if Government advisers can't be bothered to. This is far more damaging than just his reputation.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2020 19:10:52 GMT
I'm sorry, but why should it be one rule for you and one rule for everyone else? Children are not more important than any other people, no matter what their parents may think. There are plenty of others who need to be cared for as well, and emergency help that can be accessed in the area you live in if you have to. Family living elsewhere is no excuse. You plainly don't have children. I don't, but if I did and I had a close relative nearby like Cummings did I'd take them there rather than uprooting them to the other end of the country in a car with sick parents. What he did was the worse parenting option. Plus most families didn't have the luxury of being able to travel to far flung relatives for childcare or to care for elderly parents, they just had to cope, as we all have. He has no excuse whatsoever for breaking the rules, especially when you are the one making those rules.
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Post by theatremadness on May 23, 2020 19:11:10 GMT
This is delicious. Well, it would be if it weren't so downright stupid and indefensible.
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 23, 2020 19:15:27 GMT
Well played Mirror/Observer.
Seed the sick child story which could be defended by the Government and then drop the ‘killer’ story he went to his Parents again two weeks later without any justification, the same offence that everyone else caught resigned.
There will be some irate Cabinet members who’s reputations are now seriously undermined.
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Post by londonpostie on May 23, 2020 20:34:58 GMT
It's wonderful; a faint with the jab and then the big haymaker.
What kills me is the "He added .."
Like one of those Colombo after thoughts.
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 23, 2020 20:49:46 GMT
The challenge now for the Government, do they bluff it out knowing how they have been played, as in a good game of poker the next card will be a photo.
Do they risk all on a photo not being available?
Update: looks as if they are going for the bluff.
Even Laura Kuesenberg has been slow in quoting sources this evening.
I do,love the game of Politics, Cummings took on Parliamentary experts on Prorogation and now taking on the press, arrogance is a weakness we all know the humble are the most dangerous as in Starmer’s increasing ratings.
4½ years is an eternity in Politics, the reaction of the Tory grandees over the next few months will be interesting to watch.
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Post by daber on May 23, 2020 21:00:47 GMT
I am angry about this as this man has completely undermined the whole government strategy in one fell swoop. The consequences of this could be a disaster for the whole country if other people now feel 'why bother and lets do as we want'.
We have not seen our grand children for several weeks (although do use face time and I help my grandson with his maths three times a week and my wife reads to our grand daughter). Our youngest daughter who lives alone had the virus and was seriously ill. We stayed at home and did not visit her as we normally would have done or would have had her home with us. We were worried sick but thankfully she recovered. We did continuously check in with her via facetime. Fortunately she has a good group of friends who live local to her who also kept an eye on her and left meals at her front door. She is a nurse and volunteered to work nights in ICU and nursed very ill people who had the virus and unfortunately some did not recover. So, like many other people my family have obeyed the rules although at times it has pained us to do so.
I have e-mailed the Prime Minister's office tonight to explain this and how I feel about this man's actions. I have made it clear that Mr Cummings should resign and, if not, should be dismissed. We wait to see what happens now.
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 23, 2020 22:04:35 GMT
This is why we need the great artists.
'All orders were now issued through Squealer or one of the other pigs. Napoleon himself was not seen in public as often as once in a fortnight.'
George Orwell, Animal Farm
I know I have been maybe, OK too Political of late, it is only through the arts the truth is revealed and why we love Theatre as it is the only true mirror to the society and the human condition in the world we live in and deserve to live in.
Politics and Art, without one we do not get the other.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2020 6:24:38 GMT
Tories have asked us to sacrifice before (remember “we’re in this together”?) so they are used to asking us and not delivering themselves however with Austerity that happened over many migrant blaming years, lockdown is still here today. I know they they assume we are all stupid but we are not THAT goddam stupid!!!
Like with all job there is a probation period that if u show evidence u are spectacularly crap at your job you can be let go. Well it’s been 6 months, time to tell them this isn’t working out for us
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Post by theglenbucklaird on May 24, 2020 8:13:41 GMT
This is why we need the great artists. 'All orders were now issued through Squealer or one of the other pigs. Napoleon himself was not seen in public as often as once in a fortnight.' George Orwell, Animal Farm Second mention of Animal Farm this page, seems it's becoming a government manual
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Post by theglenbucklaird on May 24, 2020 8:14:45 GMT
I know I have been maybe, OK too Political of late, it is only through the arts the truth is revealed and why we love Theatre as it is the only true mirror to the society and the human condition in the world we live in and deserve to live in. Not political enough fella, not political enough
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Post by talkingheads on May 24, 2020 9:35:07 GMT
I mean this is what the ACTUAL Attorney General tweeted. Apparently all of us who are sticking to the rules, staying home and protecting our kids are bad parents, who knew?
What worries me is that any interrogation of facts is being seen as political point scoring as is any criticism of the Government. Reminds me of a certain political party in the 1930s...
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 24, 2020 11:29:24 GMT
If he publicly apologised, said he had done it with the best intentions but now sees that an alternative solution should have been chosen he could probably get away with it. Just show some contrition. The problem is that he’s such an arrogant, cocky piece of work that he won’t do that and instead seems to enjoy deliberately winding up the press. What an unlikeable character he is.
I bet Priti Patel is delighted though, spotlight very much off her after that policy announcement on Friday.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2020 11:52:32 GMT
Yes, it is very much about the attitude. If he'd explained that the point of the "stay at home" guidance was to reduce the spread of disease and he'd taken what steps he reasonably could to ensure that his journey didn't increase risk (and if he'd explained it right at the start so it didn't look like a calculated damage-limitation exercise provided by a PR department) then it would probably have been OK. As it is he's sending a message of "Who do you think you are, acting as if I should have to explain myself to zeroes like you?"
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Post by londonpostie on May 24, 2020 13:19:32 GMT
Well, if people are turning to make it about personality rather than politics I think the story everyone is missing is Cummings - imo - presents with very, very clear symptoms of neurodiversity. He is unable to operate, to function, in hierarchies, quite literally.
Most of will have met people who appear cold or arrogant or unemotional or just plain harsh - in old money they might have been called 'the awkward squad' or contrary for te sake of it', etc - and Cummings demonstrates classic symptoms.
He can no more change his personality than, say, his sexual preference. In fact, it looks as if he has never been assessed and is probably completely unaware - tools to help such people are still in their infancy, 5 years since giving half this stuff names. Atm, we understand as much about this as Victorian surgeons understood about heart surgery.
Cummigs is a classic example of unassessed neurodiversity and like most of the rest of us is clueless why he 'comes across' as he does. He literally has no other way of being.
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Post by theatremadness on May 24, 2020 13:21:26 GMT
I mean it's all very well apologising and trying to explain the initial trip to Durham, but how would that have helped the other 2 alleged occasions which he apparently broke lockdown?
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2020 14:06:55 GMT
I mean it's all very well apologising and trying to explain the initial trip to Durham, but how would that have helped the other 2 alleged occasions which he apparently broke lockdown? If they're true, then he is even more of a hypocrite. His personality type is irrelevant to the consequences he should face but won't because his boss cares only about his own comfort too (if he hadn't been quite so ill I expect the press would have given him a harder time about travelling to Chequers after he got out of hospital as technically that was also a breach given his main home is Downing St). Regardless of whether those additional stories are true or not, is he really expecting us to believe 3 people drove 250+ miles without one of them needing to stop for a bathroom break, putting anyone else at the service station at risk? His wife had symptoms when they travelled, that alone is a breach of the rules as they stand now and stood then.
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Post by theatremadness on May 24, 2020 14:28:42 GMT
Agreed totally @posterj
Another handy twitter thread I found, a timeline of events based on the facts given to us, that don't even slightly corroborate with whatever spin No10 are trying to push
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Post by londonpostie on May 24, 2020 14:34:26 GMT
It's not 'personality type' it's physical differences in the brain, as IDd with MRI.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2020 14:39:53 GMT
It's not 'personality type' it's physical differences in the brain, as IDd with MRI. Apologies, my misunderstanding, though it doesn't change my view that it shouldn't make a difference to the consequences he should face.
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