Dominic Cummings

Dominic Cummings is odious, but if he were to claim that grass is green, I would tend to believe him.

Many experts had various and differing views on what should be done.That had to be balanced by thinking about the effects on the economy and on people’s jobs and lives.
All countries Kali including the one that you live in (France?)
Had to do the same heart searching and none of them did it perfectly and lots of people died.

That doesn't mean he isn't telling the truth.

Equally the converse.

Unfortunately, if someone is economical with the truth and is found out, people have a tendency to be suspicious of further claims they make.
I'm not saying he is lying but perhaps is putting a spin on everything, professing sorrow for a little of his part in all this but throwing whoever he holds a grudge against to the wolves.
I am highly suspicious of him and his motives.

After all, that is the colloquial term for his former job - Spin Doctor.

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

Exactly Callistemon a spin doctor with major grudges.

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.

lemongrove

Many experts had various and differing views on what should be done.That had to be balanced by thinking about the effects on the economy and on people’s jobs and lives.
All countries Kali including the one that you live in (France?)
Had to do the same heart searching and none of them did it perfectly and lots of people died.

What is significant about where any of us are situated.

That was a very odd comment pointed at kali

Whataboutery is not a valuable comment, nor needed.

Not one MP asked the question about how other countries managed covid because

it isn’t relevant

All countries Kali including the one that you live in (France?)
I thought Kali2 lives in Yorkshire

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I'd like to hear someone else's views on this ie an unbiased No 10 adviser or scientific adviser to obtain more balance.

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.

Callistemon

^That doesn't mean he isn't telling the truth^.

Equally the converse.

Unfortunately, if someone is economical with the truth and is found out, people have a tendency to be suspicious of further claims they make.
I'm not saying he is lying but perhaps is putting a spin on everything, professing sorrow for a little of his part in all this but throwing whoever he holds a grudge against to the wolves.
I am highly suspicious of him and his motives.

After all, that is the colloquial term for his former job - Spin Doctor.

I'd be amazed if he didn't put a spin on it all, but that still doesn't mean that he's lying about everything. Some of it can be proved and the evidence has been before all our eyes.

Always happens if people dont live in this country. I am not sure people understand the global nature of the internet.

lemongrove

Exactly Callistemon a spin doctor with major grudges.

He wasn't a spin doctor.

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

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.

It did grow back green. Amazing stuff, grass!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.