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Dominic Cummings

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Oldernewgranny Sun 24-May-20 19:13:30

What do you think of Boris’s response to the Dominic Cummings debacle? I feel really upset that I’ve spent 10 weeks in lockdown missing birthdays of my grandson, my son and my daughter-in-law. I feel like throwing it all in tomorrow and inviting everyone round for a bbq with it being Bank Holiday. I know I’m not alone in cancelling every event in my diary since March but why can Dominic Cummings break the rules and get away with it?

Callistemon Wed 27-May-20 15:17:10

One word sums that up.

Drivel.

HootyMcOwlface Wed 27-May-20 15:12:52

Copied off Facebook “The ragged trousered philanderer “ they attach an audio file and transcript.

Mary Wakefield, wife of Dominic Cummings tells a pack of lies on Radio 4 recounting how she and her 'kind' husband contracted coronavirus. (Saturday 25th April 2020) (audio)

I remember listening to this interview as I was driving home from work and wondering why Radio 4 was affording so much time to Dominic Cummings' wife. She talks about what a kind man he was and how he came home to look after her before getting sick himself 24 hours later. there is no mention of them driving 250 miles to Durham.

In her radio slot Ms Wakefield said: 'Uncertainty is the hallmark of the coronavirus, when you've got it the sense of medieval unknowing only deepens. Is this definitely it? Will it get worse? Will it come back? My version of the virus began with a nasty headache and a grubby feeling of unease. After which I threw up on the bathroom floor. "That's disgusting mum" said my four year old son, handing me a towel with a look of patronising distaste.
'I've never known a bug treat its victims so differently. My friends have reported stabbing sore throats, a loss of taste and smell and a numbness in their fingertips.
'One slight but sad effect of this is that it makes phoning friends to share coronavirus stories particularly unsatisfying. "Weren't the muscle aches awful? Oh you didn't get it. No, no sore throats for me. Oh well."
'That evening as I lay on the sofa a happy thought occurred to me. If this was the virus then my husband who works 16 hour days as a rule, would have to come home.
'I let myself imagine a fortnight in bed with mild symptoms, more fool me. My husband did rush home to look after me, he's an extremely kind man whatever people assume to the contrary.
'But 24 hours later he said "I feel weird" and collapsed. I felt breathless, sometimes achy, but Dom couldn't get out of bed.
'Day in day out for ten days he had a high fever, with spasms that made the muscles lump and twitch in his legs.
'He could breathe but only in a limited shallow way. After a week we reached peak corona uncertainty, day six is a turning point I was told, when you either get better or head for ICU. Was Dom fighting off the bug or was he heading for a ventilator, who knew?
'I sat on his bed staring at his chest trying to count his breaths per minute. The little oxygen reader we'd bought on Amazon indicated he should be in hospital, but his lips weren't blue and he could talk in full sentences.
'Such as "please stop staring at my chest sweet heart". My son in his doctor's uniform administered Ribena.'
'Just as Dom was beginning to feel better it was reported that Boris was heading in the other direction into hospital. I've been a slack Christian during this era of biblical plague, churches are shut, even Catholic churches.
'One of the reasons I converted is that Catholic churches are always open - and now they are closed it feels like someone has turned off the spiritual stopcock.
'But what is there to do for the sick now except pray? I got to my knees for Boris and found to my surprise that my prayers flowed easily. As if carried along in a current of others.'

Callistemon Wed 27-May-20 14:52:09

Are you sure she didn't say "Thank you Mr President"? HootyMcOwlface?

I was musing this morning and thinking that, if we became a Republic, this is what we may well get. This person as President.
People would vote for slogans and follow them.

That is why I prefer a benign Monarchy.

HootyMcOwlface Wed 27-May-20 14:45:02

Shame you can’t ask those CriticalThinking. Along with:

“Why didn’t your wife drive back if your eyesight was affected?”

“What car do you have that does two 250+ mile journeys, plus another 80-odd one, without having to be filled up?”

“How did you manage two 5+ hour journeys, with a 4 year old, without stopping for a toilet break - or to stretch your own legs (or for your sick wife to throw up/use toilet on way there) - yet you had to on the shorter mileage outing to the Castle?”

“How can you remember, in detail, exactly what you were thinking and when, yet can’t remember any detail whatsoever of your conversation with the PM.?”

——

Am I going bonkers or did one of the journalists asking questions say to him as she stepped up for her turn “Thank you prime minister” ? I’m 99.9% sure I heard that, and he didn’t bat an eyelid or correct her. Did anyone else hear it??(About 2/3 through questioning)

CriticalThinking Wed 27-May-20 14:19:31

bit.ly/2THsC3F <==

Questions a journalist would have asked.

1. Why did you not seek police and medical advice before driving to Durham?

2. Were the threats to your safety in London greater than the threats Diane Abbott has had? Can she stay at the extra house on your parents' estate now you are travelling less frequently to Durham?

3. Why, for your wife Mary's 45th birthday, did you drive to Barnard Castle rather than simply driving around the estate and private woodlands or setting out for London with the option of turning back if in the first half hour that seemed best?

4. If your eyesight had gone weird and you wanted to see if you were capable of driving, is it wise to put your child in the back of the car and drive thirty miles to a beauty spot on your wife's birthday?

5. Why go back to work when your wife Mary first had COVID-19 symptoms?

6. Why is there zero evidence you or your wife were ill or had COVID-19? Why were neither you nor your wife tested for COVID-19?

7. Did you hold your Downing Street garden press conference on Monday 25 May 2020 in breach of section 14 of the Government's Code of Conduct for Special Advisers in order to emphasize that you are entirely above the law?

8. At the press conference you said, "Last year I wrote about the possible threat of coronaviruses and the urgent need for planning.” Does it not embarrass you that this refers to a 2019 blogpost authored by you which was recently edited to include a warning about coronavirus? The edit appears to have been made on 14 April 2020!

9. Did you consider going to your family's other property, Chillingham Castle, a much larger estate than the Durham property? During the pandemic there are eight empty flats usually rented out to tourists. And the main part of the castle is very spacious.

10. Was Barnard Castle chosen for your pathetic excuse because you thought it witty to allude to the English language usage of Barnard Castle signifying a pathetic excuse?

"Sir Walter Scott: Rokeby (1813), Canto I. i, opening line (Part of the action of the poem is set at Barnard Castle, Rokeby itself is nearby, close to Greta Bridge. )

Barnard Castle: Durham dialect term that derives from the Northern Rebellion by the Catholic earls in 1569, when Sir George Bome refused, despite many opportunities, to leave his position in Barnard Castle to engage in battle. Hence the expression come, come, that's Barney Castle, meaning that's a pathetic excuse."


assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/832599/201612_Code_of_Conduct_for_Special_Advisers.pdf

Section 14. Special advisers must not take public part in political controversy,through any form of statement whether in speeches or letters to the press, or in books, social media, articles or leaflets. They must observe discretion and express comment with moderation, avoiding personal attacks, and would not normally speak in public or their Minister or the Department.

www.legalcheek.com/lc-journal-posts/cummings-and-goings-did-dom-break-the-law/

fullfact.org/health/cummings-blog-coronavirus/

www.tatler.com/article/who-is-mary-wakefield-dominic-cummings-wife

www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/05/why-barnard-castle/

"On 12 April Dominic Cummings was seen in Castle Barnard during lockdown. Two days later, GlaxoSmithKline of Barnard Castle signed an agreement to develop and manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine with Sanofi of France."

Callistemon Wed 27-May-20 10:37:03

Factfinder
I like your username but would have thought, having chosen, you would be interested in finding out the truth instead of glossing over the huge discrepancies in their stories and wanting to focus on the bigger picture.

This is part of the bigger picure. The bigger picture is the need to follow the rules to try to stop the spread of this virus to protect the NHS and ourselves.

Why should anyone feel the need to do that now when the Rule Maker himself became the Rule Breaker?

NotSpaghetti Wed 27-May-20 09:09:07

We are not in a war, BTW.

MissAdventure Tue 26-May-20 23:03:22

How about if they'd done three or four, wouldn't admit to them, and had the brass neck to make up pathetic lies in an attempt to justify them?

Factfinder Tue 26-May-20 22:56:13

If we were in an actual war like WWII, and we heard that a senior figure in government had done one dodgy thing from which no harm had come, I think we would ignore it and focus on the bigger picture. I hope we can do that.

Laughterlines Tue 26-May-20 10:54:52

His wife published an article in the Spectator indicating she had the virus. He said she didn’t have it. If she didn’t have it why the need for childcare and a trip up north, and if she did have it why did she spend a night in a HOSPITAL with the child potentially spreading the disease.

Which is it

Also as both parents work surely they must already have childcare in place at home. Errrrrrrr

MissAdventure Tue 26-May-20 07:24:16

Because he didn't want to.
That's what it comes down to.

His wants above everyone else's needs.

Ginny42 Tue 26-May-20 07:21:56

His uncle died from the virus and his parents must be getting on a bit. He said they didn't visit his parents, but they must be in their 70s surely.

Why didn't someone from the family who didn't have the symptoms travel to get their young son from London if they truly had no one to take care of the child?

Ginny42 Tue 26-May-20 07:16:44

'who are weirdos and misfits'.

luckyrose62 Tue 26-May-20 07:16:42

Like the previous poster -not autistic but hints psychopath. I did not know much about him so looked him up.
On Wikipedia (yes I know). Early on his advice was herd immunity. he allegedly said if some pensioners were to die, then so be it.

Ginny42 Tue 26-May-20 07:14:58

Don't forget he advertised for staff who 'weirdos and misfits'. Take one to know one as they say.

EllanVannin Tue 26-May-20 07:08:22

Arrogance=psychopathy.

EllanVannin Tue 26-May-20 07:06:43

People like him don't relish or will face the humiliation of being sacked, they go under their own steam. They won't ever be told what to do. I can bet on that. It's a psychopathic trait.

EllanVannin Tue 26-May-20 07:01:35

The man will be gone, he doesn't appear to be the type to let the grass grow and seems to have flitted from one appointed position to another, being disliked along the way.

NfkDumpling Tue 26-May-20 07:01:33

I suspect he is on a spectrum Pamela. Autistic or otherwise. He certainly has a different way of looking at the world. That's why he was hired. The problem is the amount of power and influence he seems to wield.

Urmstongran Tue 26-May-20 06:50:59

I liked his soft white shirt. It looked expensive. Yes, I’m shallow but I did keep admiring it!
?

PamelaJ1 Tue 26-May-20 06:23:25

Do you think he is on the autistic spectrum? Unable to understand and empathise with anyone but himself?

I think that all of those people doing the things that they want to do, go where they want to should be so grateful to those who enable them to behave in this totally selfish manner. By those I mean us, the vast majority.
There are at least 3 households in our road that flouted all the rules over this weekend.

The vast majority are now very cross.?

MissAdventure Tue 26-May-20 00:37:52

grin

jowar6 Tue 26-May-20 00:23:28

..and this evening...Why does no-one with the opportunity to do so press him on all the 'holes'. So many...farcical...what about.." I did not ask friends or neighbours for childcare as did not want to expose them to a deadly disease....my 17 year old niece had already said she would do it." WhAAA?? So...he wa nevertheless willing to expose his 17 year old niece to that deadly disease then? Jesus, you don't need to be DCI Vera Stanhope to pick out all the inconsistencies. Pet.

SueDonim Mon 25-May-20 22:15:25

And do those families set the rules for the rest of the country and then flout them, Willow?

Willow500 Mon 25-May-20 21:47:53

Well I'm sorry and in the minority of one but we believed him. And I know several families who have been flouting the rules for weeks - they're just lucky they're not in the public eye and have got away with it.