This will have been very deliberate, and serves a particular purpose, but it’s easy for a layperson like me to miss.
Reading Mary Wakefield's Spectator piece about her "Coronavirus" experience, it is striking how carefully it skirts around any sort of important detail. It's not even clear from her own account when she was ill, or even if she was actually really ill with Covid 19 at all. All that seems to be confirmed is that she felt a bit unwell at some point, and of course there is no mention of high tailing it out of London.
The pair of them have set this up really carefully to try and give themselves enough space to invent excuses, but a few journalists have been cutting through the nonsense and pointing out that there were straightforward breaches of the lockdown rules which cannot be explained away. I hope they keep worrying at these.
An apology might have mitigated that, the arrogant “I did what I thought right, because I’m better than you” response has not.
This is what has been puzzling me. The whole populist thing that BoJo and Cummings have engineered has been done by carefully controlling the messages sent out via twitter / the media. So:
1) Why is the message that they are sending out so ridiculous? The whole 'eyesight' thing was the poorest excuse imaginable - why didn't they come up with something more believable?
2) Why isn't the machinery of the media working to protect them?
Have they just upset too many people / made too many enemies and lost influence? Or is this is all just a power play to prove that they're made of teflon?
I remember being told repeatedly that the likes of Kuenssberg were scrupulously objective reporters.
Yep. A few folk have been pointing out the bias for years but were shouted down because, err, BBC.
To use the journalistic parlance: this is now really 'cutting through'
Latest polling is showing that the Tory lead on labour has gone down 9 points in less than a week and is now +6. Joris Bohnson's personal approval ratings are (unsurprisingly) in freefall while Starmer's are going up nicely.
It seems that those who don't normally pay that much attention have had their attention drawn to that true arrogance and incompetence at the heart of government. It seems even a lot of natural Tory voters are finding this a step too far.
Starmer is obviously being wise and taking the Napoleonic maxim 'never interrupt your enemy whilst he's in the process of making a monumental ****-up!' (I'm paraphrasing slightly)
Because they probably drove to the Castle as a minor day-out given that they were probably sick of being cooped up after two weeks and it was her birthday.
But they had to at least offer some sort of explanation given that they were spotted, so the eyesight test rationale was concocted. It's incredibly lame, and probably (IMHO) not legally adequate, but it's better than nothing and quite creative. Without it, Cummings may as well have been admitting to a lockdown breach.
1) Why is the message that they are sending out so ridiculous? The whole ‘eyesight’ thing was the poorest excuse imaginable – why didn’t they come up with something more believable?
2) Why isn’t the machinery of the media working to protect them?
1) I genuinely think this is a form of gaslighting. Absurd, made-up shit delivered with brazen stridency. Many people will get in a twist with this. It also sends a message "we're so powerful we can toss you lot off and there is nothing you can do about it".
2) They still have to maintain some credibility if only for appearances sake. Make no mistake though, some of the journos with a conscience will be considering if they can really go on with this. If they have any intelligence whatsoever, irrespective of bias, they would have been thinking what we all were on Monday. Namely "****ing lying shit".
But some (many) are essentially shills of the Tories. Others will have noted the location of the press conference - no10 specially made available to god himself. A difficult environment in which to call someone a bare faced liar. Which he is.
I can heartily recommend Adam Curtis' "Hypernormalisation".
so the eyesight test rationale was concocted. It’s incredibly lame
Do you actually know anyone who believes that shite? Every single person I know, bar none, thinks its utter bullshit. In fact, they KNOW its utter bullshit, with 100% certainty.
They went for a day out on her birthday.
I have to say that I'm really disappointed. Given that Dom has been portrayed as this media-savvy master of the dark arts and a machiavellian genius, that's the best he could come up with. Its basically 'the dog ate my homework'
He's not just let himself down.....
I can heartily recommend Adam Curtis’ “Hypernormalisation”.
I recommended it yesterday on this thread. It's about the best way of understanding how the Trumps, Putin's Bannon's, Boris and Cummings of the world operate
The eyesight reason for the journey is probably just a bluff for the birthday trip; it's so stupid that they can't possibly have made it up therefore it must be true, sort of a ruse.
I guess it must just about squeeze through the door of being something he could convincingly convince himself of before going for a quick jolly to a castle.
Saying "I went out to buy bread" isn't going to work, because nobody sold him any bread; it would be verifiable. So it has to be this most flimsy of excuses (or something equally tosh). Something that cannot be proven to be false.
It is crap, and probably not sufficient to clear him completely, but I reckon his lawyers said, we think we might get this to stand up and if not, then the worst you get is "that wasn't a very good reason, have a small fine or something", vs "you fancied a day out and clearly broke rules and should be fined lots".
I genuinely think Cummings will be weighing up the 'game theory meets asymmetric warfare' option of going even more blatant if anything else comes out.
If there is a definite sighting elsewhere in the NE on another day I can seriously see him going with something even more utterly 'in yer face' absurd. Just to show he can.
Something along the lines of "Being such a good father I didn't want to leave it at one 60 mile eye test, so I repeated the exercise. I haven't mentioned it until now because another symptom of covid-19 is amnesia. Did I mention I am a good father, by the way?"
People that voted for this have brought public decency in this country down to levels that any sane person finds dangerous.
A doctor friend of mine who lives in Malaysia has just whats-apped me the following;
"At least now you know what it feels like to be ruled over by British Elites..."
That FT video is awesome to watch. I love the way that, in a complete different way to the casual reader a lawyer is able to digest each sentence.
Its basically comes down to I think, and IMO:
a) an attempted legal defence of why he travelled up either citing or dismissing known evidence
b) a non-covid reasoning for leaving isolation - the visit to the castle - which was illegal, with a bullshit explanation
c) a legally defensible reason for returning to London.
d) a missing statement/signature of liability aka he's not prepared to purger himself or the Prime Minister in Court, which, should he be taken to Legal account would stand against him in any defence.
So a) remains debatable, b) is illegal and b)&d) will only be evidential if somehow he's taken to court, but to do that someone will have to arrest him for b).
he wanted his Churchill moment
He's had his Churchill moment. Churchill's incompetence killed 31,000 at Gallipoli, Boris's and Cummings's has killed over 37,000.
Wikipedia describes it:
"The Allied campaign was plagued by ill-defined goals, poor planning, insufficient artillery, inexperienced troops, inaccurate maps, poor intelligence, overconfidence, inadequate equipment, and logistical and tactical deficiencies at all levels."
Sound familiar? At least Churchill had the decency to resign.
a TV comedy panel show
No! It's Ian Hislop trying to humiliate Boris on Have I Got News for You that made him a household name.
Stopping now before I get told to go to the other thread.
Come on,which one of you was it outside cumming's house holding up the sign saying-
"Boris you spaffer"
Being reported on BBC news website, this must pile on the pressure:
UK police say that people breaking lockdown rules are using the actions of the prime minister's adviser Dominic Cummings - whose 260-mile trip sparked controversy - as an excuse.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that the public are telling officers, "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 if the rules are interpreted as flexible by people at the heart of government, "then it is almost impossible for police officers to be able to carry out their job effectively".
Police were getting "quite a pushback" from all generations, he said.
"Now that is a bad sign, showing that confidence in the rules, confidence in government and thereby the police's ability to enforce it, has been undermined very much in the last few days," he said.
The eyesight reason for the journey is probably just a bluff for the birthday trip; it’s so stupid that they can’t possibly have made it up therefore it must be true, sort of a ruse.
It is exactly like something off Would I Lie To You, the comedy/panel show with Lee Mack and David Mitchell. Something that sounds so absurd but there's a tiny possibility it could be true. It's been well crafted. And then of course Boris came out with the supporting evidence that loss of eyesight could indeed be one of the noteworthy symptoms of Covid.
The FT take-down of it is devastating, it's clearly been very carefully but very hurriedly crafted to fit the existing narrative.
many highly depressing things about this episode are that……
1. I’m now following Piers Morgan on Twitter and agreeing with him
I've just written to my MP (Craig Whitaker : Con Calder Valley) to say thanks for the letter he wrote condemning Cummings' behaviour. I feel like I need a shower.
Never understood the LK criticism
I think she was straight out of the blocks with the "Labour activist punched Matt Hancock" story, and wasn't it her who engineered a Labour MP to quit live on air just before PMQs (*)
(*) details may be wrong.
The idea that Cummings is against the north London media elite should be laughable, as he lives in Islington and is married to an editor at the Spectator
Given that that other bloke - the tweed-wearing, privately-educated former stockbroker Nigel Farage - did quite well out of saying he was against the 'Metropolitan elite', its got to be worth a punt.
A tip for the hard-of-thinking: when someone says they oppose the 'metropolitan elite', maybe check out the size of the central London house they live in, and what their previous career has consisted of? Perhaps have a look at which right-wing publication their wife writes for?
Just two of the many highly depressing things about this episode are that……
1. I’m now following Piers Morgan on Twitter and agreeing with him
Spare a thought for me - I watched Michael O'Leary on the subject of the airport quarantine, and thought "that makes more sense than the government" !!
Never understood the LK criticism,
A good example is how she started off this exercise and her tweets:
Ferguson: "One hell of a story". Which just happens to be the tory line.
Cummings: Immediately rebuttal based on a "source" eg Cummings.
She has finally started asking some questions but even still she is playing softball. Look at Maitlis for a more robust style which indicates she isnt reliant on her "number 10 sources".
I have to say that I’m really disappointed. Given that Dom has been portrayed as this media-savvy master of the dark arts and a machiavellian genius
Its easy to be a master of the dark arts if the media are on your side.
Look at how Cameron was portrayed as the same up until he went against a large portion of it over the EU.
Boris came out with the supporting evidence that loss of eyesight could indeed be one of the noteworthy symptoms of Covid
Let's be perfectly clear, Bohnson claiming he wears spectacles a lot more these days, does in no way shape or form constitute 'evidence' that loss of eyesight could be a noteworthy symptom of Covid-19.
It's just another 'to me, to you' from the Dom & Joris Show.
Speaking of Farage, I have noticed he has been very quiet about all this.
After all, wasn't he outraged by the draconian lockdown measures being imposed on him a few weeks ago? Why isn't he spitting fire about Cummings?
I assume he's run out of Europes to complain about.
He may be realising the UK is not better that Europe and in fact is probably worse.
Johnson and Gove rabidly defending him. Farage remaining silent. Cummings clearly forged some very good friendships during the Brexit campaign.
Daily Star have got a cut out Dominic Cummings 'do whatever the hell you want' mask
Spare a thought for me – I watched Michael O’Leary on the subject of the airport quarantine, and thought “that makes more sense than the government” !!
I listened to him on Radio 4 the other day and the thing that I just could not believe is the fact that I was thinking that this man has got a better idea of what needs to be done than anyone running the country. How can it have come to this, a man who'll say anything for the the free publicity it generates who spends his life spouting off what ever comes into his head has a better grip on reality than the rabbits in the headlights running the country.
Anyway can anyone tell me where I can get a SPAD on Board sign for my car so I don't have the hassle of proving to the police that I'm registered as blind if they stop me driving
Johnson and Gove rabidly defending him. Farage remaining silent. Cummings clearly forged some very good friendships during the Brexit campaign.
Their shared aim is still the same as it was in 2016. A no-deal crash-out from the EU at the end of the year.
They've focussed on that relentlessly and very successfully for 4 years now, they're not about to let a trivial matter like tens of thousands of dead people get in the way of it now. In fact, they're probably pretty grateful for the distraction
Speaking of Farage, I have noticed he has been very quiet about all this.
He's busy hanging out on boats in the channel pointing at desperate people.
So, Boris has told the Select committee who aren't satisfied with his answers, that he may be "too busy" with other matters to return before them before the Summer recess...
Just watching the Liaison Committee. Johnson can't actually keep a straight face. He's having to look down to hide his smirks.
Jesus H Corbett! He’s now actually morphed completely into...
Honestly, when you think it couldn't get any worse, Johnson gets out the spade and starts digging further.
What is it that the Liaison Committee can actually do, if they don't like his answers?
I would have thought Gove couldn't sink any lower than his previous bottom scraping efforts, but then I watched his LBC interview. He was asked to justify Cummings' Barnard Castle trip, and whether he had ever driven 60 miles to test his eyesight. He actually started saying that he had in the past, before realising it was a bridge too far, even for him, and deflecting into a "self deprecating" line about what a bad driver he was, so he couldn't offer an opinion on good motoring practice.
This government isn't people arguing a position because they have a particular political ideology. It's just people failing to do their jobs and spouting laughably ridiculous lies to protect themselves and their friends from the fallout.
What is it that the Liaison Committee can actually do, if they don’t like his answers?
Correct question.
If the answer isn't 'depose him' or 'lock him up' then he won't give a fig.
No decency, no morals, no **** all left.
That's a Colombo moment - clear and unambiguous statement that he saw the evidence!
Their shared aim is still the same as it was in 2016. A no-deal crash-out from the EU at the end of the year.
I can certainly believe that Cummings would like that. He's said many times that chaos and crisis provides opportunity. His purpose is to wreck the civil service and replace with something in his own image, which he isn't very specific on.
I just don't trust him despite his brains; he is not a responsible adult as evidenced by his arrogant road trip and contemptuous excuses. He's more like someone with an anti-social personality disorder; everyone else is an idiot except him. Is this someone we should trust to reform the state in such a 'seat of the pants' way?
I can't believe Yvette Cooper has just quoted Mumsnet! We are going to be on there soon.
Jenkin's chairmanship is providing protection for johnson.
Meg Hillier attempting to put the boot in.
The virtual setting is also helping johnson.
Responses are incoherent.
Imagine your job involved defending the idea that driving 30 miles down a twisty country road with you kids in the car was a good way to test your eyesight
Go Coops!
Yvette Cooper ripping him a new one 🙂
