Dominic Cummings

SKY news growstuff regarding the police batons in China. Did you not see it?

I really do wonder where you get your news from Urmstongran.

Urmstongran

^Very true of Europe, Lin, but Asian countries had dealt with highly infectious and fatal diseases, such as MERS and SARS, knew what to do to suppress similar diseases, and did it^

Yeah right MaizieD.
Beat them about the head with batons for infringing restrictions.

Bet you’d have cheered Boris on then for sanctioning the same?

Ah, thought not.

Do you have evidence of that allegation?

My Chinese student regularly communicated with her relatives still in China and she didn't know anything about that. (And, yes, she is ware how the Chinese government treat dissidents.)

Dinahmo

Why on earth are so many of you so interested in what happened in other countries. (no need for a go at me because I occasionally correct facts about France)

I am British and I am concerned about what happened in the UK even thought I don't live there at the moment. It is the British govt that you should be taking to task and not comparing Johnson's activities to those of Macron or Merkel or any of the other heads of state. You should be concerned about what happened in the UK and do something about it.

Are you concerned about Macron’s handling of the pandemic?
If not, I wonder why?

PippaZ

^James O'Brien^
@mrjamesob

Best case scenario for Johnson now involves casting the bloke who delivered Brexit & got brought into the heart of Downing Street as an utterly untrustworthy psycho who nobody sensible would touch with a barge pole...

5:20 PM · May 26, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

Interesting thought ...

????

James O'Brien
@mrjamesob

Best case scenario for Johnson now involves casting the bloke who delivered Brexit & got brought into the heart of Downing Street as an utterly untrustworthy psycho who nobody sensible would touch with a barge pole...

5:20 PM · May 26, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

Interesting thought ...

I think that as time goes on it will sink in to the country just how serious Cummings allegations are.

We have a government that because of it’s incompetence and a prime minister apparently totally unfit for office, is responsible for 10’s of thousands of deaths and an economy struggling far more than it needs.

This post mortem needs to start now.

Why on earth are so many of you so interested in what happened in other countries. (no need for a go at me because I occasionally correct facts about France)

I am British and I am concerned about what happened in the UK even thought I don't live there at the moment. It is the British govt that you should be taking to task and not comparing Johnson's activities to those of Macron or Merkel or any of the other heads of state. You should be concerned about what happened in the UK and do something about it.

Really tickingbird? I wouldn’t have thought you’d fall for that. Did people here actually believe that? I read about it in the US.

Very true of Europe, Lin, but Asian countries had dealt with highly infectious and fatal diseases, such as MERS and SARS, knew what to do to suppress similar diseases, and did it

Yeah right MaizieD.
Beat them about the head with batons for infringing restrictions.

Bet you’d have cheered Boris on then for sanctioning the same?

Ah, thought not.

EllanVannin

We had the deadly Hong Kong 'flu----no lockdown and between 1+4million deaths worldwide. No masks no lost businesses and it was one of the deadliest strains of the 1968 pandemic. In excess of 30,000 deaths here.
Harold Wilson was in power, no bulletins that I recall

When I was in France in 2004 there were nearly 15,000 deaths due to the heatwave between the 1st and the 30th of August that year. Mortuaries overflowed and bodies were on the street.

One of the reason s for that was that the French headed off for their holidays leaving their elderly relatives at home, without the support that they would usually get. The same thing happened in Italy. I understand that the populations in both countries are careful now and there are certainly warnings about the canicule.

25Avalon

Sometimes liars do tell the truth but when they have lied before it is difficult to know when they are telling the truth.

People aren't binary. They're not all bad or all good.

lemongrove

I would say he was definitely a spin doctor ( yes I know what his position was called) but he was a master of spin, just as Alistair Campbell was for Tony Blair.
I have read that he was really a friend of Gove and not Johnson.

No, that wasn't his role.

GillT57

Cummings was not a spin doctor, he was a Special Advisor (SPAD). Brought along we assume by Johnson as he got Brexit done, they had a history at The Spectator etc.

Known colloquially as that in the press.

2019
The continuous thread in all this media investigation is that Cummings is a genius.
Cummings is no Mozart, or Einstein. He’s an enormously privileged (albeit by marriage) right wing vandal with a thick-skulled inability to see the potential consequences of his wrecking ball activities.

The new accounts raise fresh questions about his insistence that the initial 264-mile trip to Durham was justified, and led to a new round of calls for the spin doctor to quit.
The Guardian 1 year ago

1 year ago:
Spin Doctoring 101 has as its first lesson the absolute necessity to stop a bad story in its tracks as quickly as possible. The second is never let a story damage the core message of the party or government. Thirdly, but most importantly, always tell the truth.
www.thenational.scot/news/18486184.important-thing-spin-doctor-tell-truth/

I do apologise for believing what it said in these revered publications.

As a SPAD he can't have been a very good one, could he.

I thought that they would be fairly reliable sources.

Lin52

Alegrias1

Do you think the things he is saying aren't true Lin52?

Do you think No 10 was completely on top of the situation? Do you think Hancock had his finger on the pulse and everything was under control? Do you think Test and Trace has been a success?

No madam, I don’t think any Government was on top of this, look at Germany , so good in the beginning, now higher numbers, look at France higher number, etc. Have you ever dealt with a pandemic before, non of us have, and that includes the Government. I think Cummins is out for revenge, lying, more than likely, why do you think he’s telling the truth, oh yes, you don’t like a Conservative Government.

madam?

That's what my grandma used to call me when I was being naughty.

MaizieD

^Have you ever dealt with a pandemic before, non of us have, and that includes the Government.^

Very true of Europe, Lin, but Asian countries had dealt with highly infectious and fatal diseases, such as MERS and SARS, knew what to do to suppress similar diseases, and did it.

Why did European countries fail to take notice of what they were doing? Cummings hinted (broadly ) at racist motives here in the UK. 'Asian people do as they are told..'

UK governments are supposed to plan for emergencies. Their function is to keep the population safe as well as everything else. There had actually been an exercise in implementing our 'pandemic plan' in 2015. It pointed up all sorts of shortcomings which were never followed up and rectified. This is a long term failure of tory government. There should have been something in place as a matter of course, but there wasn't.

Are you really so naive as to believe that governments make it all up as they go along? That there aren't contingency plans in existence to meet all sorts of situations?

About a year ago I heard a UK scientist talking about SARS and MERS and back in 2016 the then UK govt had been advised about dealing with such pandemics but had ignored it. The information was out there but no one took any notice. I'm afraid that I don't recall her name and don't have time to research it now.

Sometimes liars do tell the truth but when they have lied before it is difficult to know when they are telling the truth.

FrenchGranny

I think this must be so painful for those who lost loved ones. In truth nearly all governments were totally unprepared but I do feel that the UK Government excelled in making a complete mess of it all!

Totally agree.

Lin52

Alegrias1

Do you think the things he is saying aren't true Lin52?

Do you think No 10 was completely on top of the situation? Do you think Hancock had his finger on the pulse and everything was under control? Do you think Test and Trace has been a success?

No madam, I don’t think any Government was on top of this, look at Germany , so good in the beginning, now higher numbers, look at France higher number, etc. Have you ever dealt with a pandemic before, non of us have, and that includes the Government. I think Cummins is out for revenge, lying, more than likely, why do you think he’s telling the truth, oh yes, you don’t like a Conservative Government.

The number of deaths in France are just over 108,000 - still below that in the UK!

Yes he is reported to be a friend of Gove, but I disagree about him being a spin doctor such as Campbell. Cummings rarely spoke to the press. and certainly made no effort to charm either the public or the press. PR is not his strong point.

I would say he was definitely a spin doctor ( yes I know what his position was called) but he was a master of spin, just as Alistair Campbell was for Tony Blair.
I have read that he was really a friend of Gove and not Johnson.

Cummings was not a spin doctor, he was a Special Advisor (SPAD). Brought along we assume by Johnson as he got Brexit done, they had a history at The Spectator etc.

It did grow back green. Amazing stuff, grass!

Callistemon

growstuff

lemongrove

Although growstuff you wouldn’t have believed him last year.Funny that.

That's not true. If he'd said grass is green, I would have believed him.

It wasn't in 1976 though!!
Nor 1983

Pah! you pedant! You know perfectly well what I mean.

growstuff

lemongrove

Although growstuff you wouldn’t have believed him last year.Funny that.

That's not true. If he'd said grass is green, I would have believed him.

It wasn't in 1976 though!!
Nor 1983