The Cummings Effect - are people rebelling?

How did Cummings 'misinterpret' the rules when he made them? You've have to be pretty stupid not to be able to understand your own rules, or the way in which they were communicated, when you are the government's communications guru. There was no misinterpretation - the rules were broken.

Will that make a difference to my behaviour? Probably not. I haven't been out since March 13th, and I have no immediate plans to go anywhere, so the chances are that nobody will contact me and ask me to stay in for another 14 days.

I am, however, now very reluctant to download an app, as are many people I know, most of whom are working age, so I do wonder about how successful the scheme will be. I would happily have my location monitored for the duration, but I want no part of an app that potentially hands over other information to Mr Cummings. I think he is very dangerous, as he sees himself as above the law. He is a believer in eugenics, and has specifically said that 'we need to protect the economy, and if a few pensioners die, so be it', and his recent behaviour has shown that he is absolutely not to be trusted.

There also seem to be no safeguards against the misuse of the information that others report (ie mistakes, omissions and malicious reports), and there will be lots of people using the 'Cummings Defence' in mitigation, which will weaken the efficacy of the system.

So the short answer is that I won't change my behaviour, but I may have answered differently if my behaviour was already different.

They go low we go high and they couldn't go much lower

I agree with red1 : politicians of all parties seem to think they are above the law. Look at Stephen Kinnock who visited his father Neil and posted a picture on Facebook of him sitting in the front garden! The police admonished him and said that the visit wasn’t an essential journey. All politicians seem to bend the truth.

I will stick to the rules not just for the sake of myself but for others who might be more vulnerable. The problem is some will see it as a green light to "follow their instincts" and "test their eyesight". Maybe Cummings panicked and did what he thought was best for his family at the time, but during his press briefing (in the rose garden usually reserved for very important people) he showed no remorse and failed to apologise for breaking the rules he made, and it makes me feel as if it's one rule for them and another for the rest of us. It has made me feel disappointed in our leaders and that they hold us in contempt. In not sacking Cummings Johnson begins to look like Cummings puppet. Who is governing the country? Is the PM afraid of what Cummings knows, or can he not do without him? I don't think the PM looks well either.

I think it WILL cost him an election- in fact i wouldn't be at all surprised if the British public started to call for a re- election early! Its even made his own MP's very angry & some have even resigned i heard. People were just starting to like him and then we all felt proper sorry for him when he got ill- we don't now as it was probably his friend Cummings, traipsing back & forth even before lockdown, who gave him it?! So serve him right if he gets knocked off the PM spot

Education and privilege are no substitute for plain common sense ....

My dear GS has Downs Syndrome, my DD let him go to school because he is vulnerable. When she went to collect him everyone was upset because he was crying and no one was able to cuddle him (he is very cuddly). He has been at home since. If my DD does go back to work, I will volunteer to look after him although I know I, too am vulnerable. I couldn't bear him to be so upset.

What I would be more concerned about, what on earth was Dominic cummings doing driving 30 miles to test his eyesight????????? How dangerous!!

This made me laugh but I’m really angry he broke the rules and the PM is covering his arris. I was backing BJ but have lost faith in him now. We are in an unclear mess now. ?

Two wrongs never make a right. I think the people who are being irresponsible just because of what Dominic Cummings did might have been looking for an excuse to do so.

I am very worried...it will be interesting to see if infection rates go up again.

There have been people flouting the rules since the beginning, especially it seems teenagers that in some places have been out around the streets and in the parks as normal.
One of my friends who has young children was out for their allowed exercise a couple of weeks ago and noticed several families playing on the childrens' play area that had previously been taped off - they had just broken the tape and carried on as normal. Her 3 year old said in a very loud voice "Mummy those people very naughty" One of the parents in the group shouted over (with added expletives) "We pay for this in our council tax so we have a right to use it !" They just couldn't get the point!
So basically Cummings isn't really alone - but then we aren't all lucky enough to have somewhere else to go in the same situation .

Im sorry if this point has been raised but, leyburn is the son actually autistic? I thought that had been dismissed
But to answer the question we live in a rural area very near Barnard Castle actually, and after the rose garden appearance the road outside our house was the busiest ive seen it since lockdown, neighbour couldn't park, but no just cos DC doesn't follow guidance doesn't mean i would put my shielding husband at risk, so we will go along as we are while we are able to although i would love to see my brother who has downs and i miss very much, but who is at least safe, healthy and well looked after by carers who have been my lockdown heros

AGAA4 - i suppose your neighbour's will be staying at their second home for 14 days now to 'self-isolate'??

I have noticed a slight increase in the sound of traffic and people do seem to be a little more relaxed but my area is still very quiet and more locked down than not.
I don't feel betrayed by him because I was aware of the things he is capable of saying about the people he considers beneath him and did not expect him to suddenly become a decent person. He is not someone whose behaviour I would use as a guide.
His allegiance is to Johnson and it is Johnson who has betrayed the electorate. There are an increasing number of Conservatives who are getting angry about it. Amber Rudd is the latest asking for him to go.

Dominic Cummings is a key worker and a dad fearing he’d be left without childcare if both he and his wife got ill. I think far too much fuss is being made of this by people who will jump on any small thing to criticise the government. How about some support for a very difficult role at unprecedented difficult times ? Can you imagine this situation in Jeremy Corbyns hands ( had he won )?
We should all keep social distancing as before plus washing hands and just being careful. It’s about Keeping safe not an unnecessary witch hunt because we are bored and irritated with lockdown. Think positive folks!

grannyscott that’s a great post.
Doom and gloom from the media AND they are telling us that we should feel aggrieved, what we should think and what we will be doing. Fortunately not everyone needs the media or DC to direct their judgement.
They decided (and I don’t disagree) that DC broke or at least manipulated the rules for whatever reason but, like a foxhunting pack they can’t leave body alone.
They probably justify their attempts to be the closest whilst on the attack, by telling themselves that the guidelines said go to work if you have to and forgetting the accompanying advice.
The problem is that publishing, “The majority of people are following the guidance and have avoided overwhelming the NHS” or publishing figures of those who have had the virus and recovered as well as the appalling total of deaths simply doesn’t sell papers or persuade people to watch a particular channel.

Cummings displays an arrogance he should be ashamed of. His late arrival at the press conference was a sign of contempt for everyone watching. He is not worthy of that job. He looks unclean, always unshaven, disheveled. Who would want their Son looking like that regardless of his job. What has he got on Boris? I think he DID tell Boris and is covering for him now because of Hancock's statement " This is not a request, this is an Order" Stay home, save lives. Yeh!! right !!!.

talk of holidays to Greece etc.

Ha ha! They'll be lucky. Greece has said that they won't accept travellers from the UK. Good for them. Who would want people from the UK with its dodgy management of the virus?

I suspect that we'll soon be experiencing a second wave of infection. We'll be international lepers...

Well said MawB. My sentiments entirely. Long may you reign!!

This reminds me of Jacob Rees Moggs comments on Grenfell....that his common sense would have made him ignore instructions to stay put.

I think the worse part of Cummings behaviour and self justification is the effect it might have on some poor people who left children alone in hospital, or parents to die alone. Will they wonder if they should have ignored the rules to show they cared?

Leyburn, is there any evidence that the child has autism? It seems to be a rumour started by one tweet from someone, now deleted.

As for Brexit, I think that's a complete misreading of the situation. I was a Remainer but that ship has sailed. We're going to have to grit our teeth and go through whatever follows, which is going be a double whammy combined with the financial repercussions of the lockdown. Well, there is no avoiding it. If Dominic Cummings was sacked tomorrow, it would make no difference to Brexit.

The Cummings Effect is, of course, the problem. As I have tried to point out all along, for the lockdown to work we all have to consent to change the way we live, for the sake of other people. Without consent, how can it work in a democracy? What would they do if we didn't consent? Declare martial law?

So we need to believe that everything is fair and transparent. When a rule-maker becomes a rule-breaker, it sends a message that we're not all in it together and the rules are elastic. I think that, after weeks of restrictions, weariness has set in. The fear of sickness and death has maybe lost some of its edge, and people are tempted to start taking risks. No-one is going to be inspired by Cummings to do things they hadn't thought of doing, but his behaviour helps people to justify things they want to do but know they shouldn't.

Ive been at home since November. To be honest I am now fed up of it. I have had a friend pop to see me, we sat on my front drive her by the wall and me a good 2 meters away. We now use my garden which has a side gate. I see my Son and his wife at a distance and saw the other one last weekend for the time time in weeks as he needed something repaired at home (which was done in the garden). I sat one side, his wife in the conservatory, my son at the other end of the garden and my partner doing the repair. We kept apart. Took our own imsulated drink cups. We used the toilet in the campervan. I long to go out shopping, pop to the garden centre, stop wiping anything and everything that comes into the house, antibacing the door bell and letterbox and constantly washing my hands. BUT I want to survive and stay safe. I do not respect BJ and DC and I hope that I am using my own common sense to keep myself and all those around me safe. Sorry just had to have a bit of a rant.

Your question is are people rebelling....I think people were, a while before the Cummings fuss...and may use it in their heads as an excuse to continue...But those that aren’t, will I think, continue to adhere to the guidance no matter what. So I think it’ll blow over once the media find another good story. Pathetic really.

Sadly I think the whole Cummings affair will make people inclined to break the rules. My DD has been struggling the last couple of weeks dealing with her isolation which hasn't been helped by having car trouble to deal with when she needed to go out for legitimate reasons. She's been particularly frustrated by the regulations being relaxed in England while she lives in Scotland where things are still stricter. Of all the people I know she has been one of the most strict to observe the rules and tell me to as well, but now she is looking for loopholes. People who were tempted before are surely going to relax more now, as Boris has backed Cummings so completely.
Last night I was out doing a bit of gardening and it sounded as if my next door neighbours had friends round in their garden. There were too many voices for the normal family of 4! I can't see into their garden so I don't know who was there or how many people but I did find it slightly worrying. They haven't done this before. Only time will tell if this is the start of more to come.
I shall still stick to the rules myself, hard as it may be, as I want to be around to see my first grandchild born later thiis year. I won't be putting myself or any of my family at risk, but sadly I think some people will.

The idea that everyone has stringently been following the rules since the beginning of lockdown is not true, and many have quietly reinterpreted the rules to suit themselves.
Home-schooling grandmas, dog walking trips where family is 'accidentally' encountered, shopping delivered miles way to facilitate more accidental encounters; self-isolating wife whose husband is not allowed out so has 'games' evenings in their isolated house.

Their choice; I don't meet any of them and they all consider they observe social distancing and are no risk to anybody else. With the easing of lockdown of course people are less restricted, and we can't live in isolation indefinitely; many people are suffering serious deprivation from job loss and income.
It is rather like those who fear vaccination; everyone else should be vaccinated for my protection.