Bravo Mr Cummings, not even a mention of his name on 9am BBC news. It’s even sliding down the agenda on this forum, hell, we’re barely even talking about him in his own thread. Cummings could have run someone over on his way up the A1 that night and he’d get away with it. What a world we live in.
Maybe I'm a hopeless optimist but I like to think the damage has been done, now that we re assuming Cummings stays. Perhaps he's now a stillborn conjoined twin attached to Spaffer for the rest of his time in office? No escape
A lot of 'reasonable' Tory voters and non politico s will have seen the Tories for what they are in the starkest possible terms.
Spaffers toxic reliance on DC has been laid clear
The same people will now be aware of DC, the brains behind Brexit, stuttering and bullshitting away pathetically in the rose garden
The brain dead brexiters have turned on their figureheads: Julie Hartley brewer has apparently lost more than 1000 Twitter followers, Iain dale has had a similar fate and suffered homophobic abuse from the gammon right
Spaffer has never looked weaker and yesterdays liaison meeting showed a PM hideously out of his depth
Similarly, the woeful cabinet have never looked so bad. The backbenchers, have been forced to denounce the govt and deep fractures are emerging. If they persist or worsen then the working majority looks a tiny bit shaky
The right wing media have also had to divert from the Tory/Brexit cult line in order to reflect public opinion for once
Unfortunately this has all come at a massive cost but let's dwell on the positives!
In terms of Brexit, although the cause has been weakened merely due to the chief architects exposure as pathetic liars, it's now confirmed that the PM and his cabinet are in thrall to a cornered and humiliated psycho and a trade talk extension looks further away than ever
You missed the possibility that he genuinely misread how it would be interpreted AND also does not give a toss.
Many Shire Tory MPs have said over the last couple of days, more people than ever before have written to them expressing their anger. Even more than Brexit or any other subject...some have had literally 1000s of folk writing, often for the first time ever.
I've just emailed my Tory MP, James Daly. I know plenty of people who have, none of whom have received a reply. I've had a look on his social media streams and not a peep out of him. He's apparently disappeared. Just like his boss is partial to doing
I sent him this:
Good morning James
I hope you're keeping well in these difficult times. I'm a Ramsbottom resident, and one of your constituents with a question for you;
We were informed yesterday by Health Secretary Matt Hancock that we need to download the track and trace app as this is a 'moral obligation and a 'civic duty' to use it and self-isolate if required. Something I wholeheartedly agree with. We must all pull together to stop this terrible virus.
So, to that end, could you please let me know that that 'moral obligation and a 'civic duty' applies to everyone? In particular, I'm thinking of a certain Dominic Cummings? Does he fit into this group, along with the rest of us? Or will he be permitted his own interpretation?
I've looked on your social media to find a statement on the issue, with him being a senior aide in the government that you are a member of, but you seem to be quite reticent about commenting on the issue. Quite bizarre given that it's all anyone has been talking about for the last 5 days.
So could I ask you what your opinion on this matter? Will you be joining the 60+ of your colleagues who are prepared to stand up and condemn this outrageous flouting of lockdown rules and arrogant exceptionalism? Or will you be towing the (frankly insulting) party line that he conducted himself 'with integrity'?
I look forward to receiving your reply so that I can temper my behavior and (obviously) future voting accordingly
Yours sincerely....
Given that he's in a hyper-marginal seat which went to a recount at the last election and ended up with a majority of 100, going AWOL is an interesting approach to take. He's a rabid Brexiteer, so I don't think there are any doubts about his opinion on the matter. He seems very shy of communicating it though
This is why I didn't get a response from my MP.
Warning - may make blood boil:
I'm wondering how long it's going to take before lots and lots of people start telling contact tracers that they have symptoms and have recently been in close proximity to Dominic Cummings.
How many isolation periods do you think he needs to flout before he's back at the picnic table in the Rose Garden?
There is more to come on this yet I am sure and the political damage to Johnson is immense
This is why I didn’t get a response from my MP.
I got a standard automated one; guess they must be getting deluged. No doubt someone will FOI individual MPs for the numbers of complaints.
4min8secs LOL
There is more to come on this yet I am sure
There is, but there's an element of double bluff going on too with "reported sightings" in Alnwick and one or two other places. Wondering if they've not been seeded somehow, leaving the opening for DC to refute them completely by producing CCTV / phone data etc clearly showing him elsewhere at that time and therefore it's fake news and therefore who can trust what these people are coming out with, it's all an attack on him....
Now more than ever, need to be careful about the source of the "facts" and information.
My MP is SNP, so I'm confident of their stance on the matter
There is more to come on this yet I am sure and the political damage to Johnson is immense
If it is to come it needs to be today or tomorrow. A nice sunny weekend and the great unwashed will have forgotten about it.
It also needs to be done very very carefully. Note the rumours that started to circulate about possible Cumstain day trips to Alnwick and Wooler. I am 90% now that these were Cumstain or his mates placing rumours that might gain traction so he could refute them with unequivocal proof they were false.
Cumstain and his missus are arrogant, contemptuous arseholes, but they're not stupid. They went to Barnard Castle to celebrate her birthday gambling that enough of the mere proles would be cooped up to not notice. That is staggering arrogance, but I doubt they then pushed their luck even further. Not even they are that contemptuous.
Tory MPs openly calling for resignation is 41(?) Half of De Pfeffel's majority. But when push comes to shove how many of them will actually resign over this? One or two would be my guess. The trough does contain lots of lovely swill after all.
Edit: Beaten to it on the 'seeding' of refutable rumours.
Cummings is stupid - both in IQ terms and in Nous terms. His actions show that. Editting his blog etc
lively swill more like it
Cummings is stupid – both in IQ terms and in Nous terms. His actions show that. Editting his blog etc
OK. Not stupid enough to be perceived as stupid by the average man in the street. Which is what matters.
He's good at 3 word slogans for sure
But his arrogance is his downfall, re-editing his blog to show he predicted the pandemic* is textbook narcissism
* the next time a Tory MP says that this is unprecedented, someone should point out that cummings predicted it !
I think I first saw it mentioned in this here parish, but if he was THAT clever, we'd have never had heard of him.
If it is to come it needs to be today or tomorrow. A nice sunny weekend and the great unwashed will have forgotten about it.
There was mention of potentially relaxing restrictions on outdoor meetings in England in a couple of weeks, so I assume Cummings and co are intending to just ride it out till then. Once people are allowed a bit more freedom there will be less immediate outrage about "why am I totally locked down when he wasn't?" and Cummings gets off the hook.
The "eye test" excuse is a text book dead-cat distraction. Obviously nonsensical, but it is all that people are talking about and making fun of.
Cummings explicitly broke the lockdown rules more than once and has lied about his behaviour. Those are documented facts; there's no interpretation or grey areas. It is utterly depressing that he can get away with this and the government can dismiss it by just saying "He didn't do anything wrong". No consequences, apparently no way to force anyone to take responsibility.
This whole affair makes me both sad and angry.
For years now I've been watching in amazement as Trump gets away with scandal after scandal, simply by shouting louder than anyone else can.
Evidently our government has been watching too, and decided they can get away with the same game- and unless someone comes out with some more dirt on Cummings in the next few days, they will have. Once they've learned that trump-style leadership works as well here as it does in the states, this is only the beginning.
My only real hope is that this hastens Scotland's exit from the UK. As a nation we voted overwhelmingly against this shower of Tory *****, yet here we are being governed by them.
Just in case there was any doubt ...
Dominic Cummings did breach coronavirus lockdown guidelines, Durham Police say
When the new series of Top Gear airs I think we can expect a driving whilst blind challenge.
Wonder which country / County / castle they'll set it in?
Tra la la - la la la bull s***, tra la la........etc
That should kick it off again and also add to the pressure on the AG
Well after 6 days in hiding, my MP, James Daly, has broken cover to say that he's sat on the fence on the issue and we shouldn't rush to judgment
So now that Durham Police have confirmed that Dominic Cummmings did indeed break lockdown guidelines, I'll expect a suitable denunciation. In a week or so. Possibly...
https://twitter.com/TongeMichael/status/1265973405779742720?s=20
Yep,
The waters warming up around the AG.
Saw Nazir Afzal (former chief prossecutor) interviewed on TV, calm and dignified as always but you could see the smoke coming out of his ears.
Just thinking about the left wing bias at the BBC and the storm around Emily Matlis and it made me think of all the other current and recent lefty nutjobs at the beeb.
Jeremy - strongly considered standing as Tory MP - Paxman
David - Bullingdon boy - Dimblewit.
Andrew - chairman at the Spectator - Neil
Laura - My sources / boss tells me' - kuensberg
Nick - Cameron's fluffer - Robinson
And Fiona - 'tell the audience about your racist feelings' - Bruce.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
Doms pulled the reverse.
They have said that the drive to Durham was not a breach and the driving while blind only a minor infringement.
Using my powers of prediction which are a match for DC's I'm going to refer to Chief Constable Jo Farrell as Dame Jo Farrell.
but now they are saying he may have? https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/dominic-cummings-police-lockdown-durham-barnard-castle-boris-johnson-coronavirus-a9536731.html .
Fact is hes rich, white and powerful so will get away with it.
Looking at the discourse on social media
And all the threads starting on here
I see classic Dom has managed to poison & divide the country a bit more
Using my powers of prediction which are a match for DC’s I’m going to refer to Chief Constable Jo Farrell as Dame Jo Farrell.
Lol, only it really isn't funny...
The matter is resolved, time to move on you pigs!
It does smack of "We think he may have breached the rules but we're under pressure to not take it any further so we'll leave it at naughty-naughty but no harm done."
So that means we can all go wandering wherever we want and don't worry about eye tests or remembering your glasses, just drive carefully. Certainly explains all the people out and about round me and the drivers behaving like twunts.
Just thinking about the left wing bias at the BBC and the storm around Emily Matlis and it made me think of all the other current and recent lefty nutjobs at the beeb.
Jeremy – strongly considered standing as Tory MP – Paxman
David – Bullingdon boy – Dimblewit.
Andrew – chairman at the Spectator – Neil
Laura – My sources / boss tells me’ – kuensberg
Nick – Cameron’s fluffer – RobinsonAnd Fiona – ‘tell the audience about your racist feelings’ – Bruce.
😂😂😂 ‘lefty nut jobs’ - how far right do you need to be, to have them on your left?
It does smack of “We think he may have breached the rules but we’re under pressure to not take it any further so we’ll leave it at naughty-naughty but no harm done.”
Oh come on. If he'd been stopped by the police at Barnard Castle he would've been offered words of advice and told to go home.
Durham police had a policy of not fining people if the breach of the rules was minor and the person involved followed their advice. Their position on cummings trip to Barnard Castle is consistent with that.
Why the met are not looking into him gong back to work after being in contact with Covid is a different matter
Hey, remember all the references to Dido Johnson made yesterday to the liason committee, the Tory peer ex-Talk Talk director (when they had the cyber attack), who's now in charge of the NHS Informatics track n trace app thing (obvious choice with her record)? Guess what - she's a director of Cheltenham Racecourse (alledgedly), the lastest mass sports gathering in the country! 🙂
These people are not dumb.
Oh come on. If he’d been stopped by the police at Barnard Castle he would’ve been offered words of advice and told to go home.
Very possibly. But it does poop all over the AG's partisan statement that Cummings had done nothing wrong.
Very possibly. But it does poop all over the AG’s partisan statement that Cummings had done nothing wrong.
I agree - just pointing out that there's no inconsistency on the part of Durham Police.
What should parents of young children be doing going forward?
https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1265993964924088320?s=21
"Sir Humphry Tyrrell Wakefield who owns Chillingham Castle in Northumberland is riding his horse Barack, named because the horse is half black and half white"
...and professes, entirely straight faced, why he can't understand why folk don't think that's just the funniest thing ever....
What a moron.
Does anyone else think that the DC story is a deliberate distraction?
Sorry i haven't read all 43 pages of this thread - because DC isn"t worth it - so my theory may have already been discussed.
While we are all getting cross with different rules for us and them, the anger over thousands of needless deaths is being diffused. Isn't DC's job to make the government look good / less bad and to manipulate the press and government's message ? Isn't he using the Jose Moaneo diversion tactic ? Crikey he even managed to squeeze in a riddle with the pathetic excuse (Barnard Castle) and editing an old media post to further divert attention. Oh how he and BJ will be chuckling. He knows it will blow over and even if he gets sacked he will back before the next general election (Pritti Patel) and he can manage things from behind the scenes in the meantime.
