Liverpool fans celebrating outside Anfield

he probably is,just like those self centred nobs on the beach but just because he's a nob it doesnt excuse those on the beach

 

To paraphrase some of the anti Tory Corbynistas on here..

"Yerbut Cummings..."

The number of people who defend these morons by making DC and BJ responsible is almost comedic.
To be clear I am NOT defending Cummings but I seem to recall, whilst he clearly was hypocritical in flagrantly flouting rules he was involved in imposing on the public, by driving to hundreds of miles, I do not recall him spending hours in close proximity to others.
I fully understand the reasons, at the time, people being required to stay 'local' to facilitate tracing the source of outbreaks locally but in terms of risk there is little or no difference between getting in a car and driving 200 miles and driving 20 10, or 5 as in all cases you are isolated from the public (unlike getting in a tube or bus minus a mask which I believe was still OK at the time.
YES Dominic Cummings was wrong,
YES he was a hypocrite
YES His position does mark him out as different from Mr Average who committed the same offence.

HOWEVER, the level and way the whole affair has been politicised in the media and social media has bordered on 'mass hysteria'. I suspect, whilst it would still have been a stick to beat the Govt with had it been a minor Cabinet minister or Con Party , I believe the baggage that Cummings carries given his role in Brexit Leave campaign and the Election Campaign. The Vendetta was proven when media having failed to get him removed THEN went for him by Proxy using his parents Property where he stayed claiming they had no planning permission and it was illegal. Since nothing has been heard since I can only assume it was an attempted desperate 'smear' to further discredit him and his family.

Don't come back saying "you say you are not defending him and then go on to do so"

I WILL BE 100% CLEAR and repeat - I am NOT defending his attitude or behaviour but highlighting the lengths certain sections of the the media go to to manipulate the public (albeit it cuts both ways) and the almost hysterical campaign during and since vilifying an individual, much of it based on an intolerance towards differing political ideologies.

 

Cummings supposedly had COVID symptoms when he flouted lockdown. The impression he left, rightly or wrongly was that lockdown wasnt all that important, that it was up to individuals to interpret the rules. His sacking would have shown everyone that the rules were important that we all had to obey them.

 

But to repeat 'ad-nauseum' whether Cumming was sacked or not would not have made the slightest difference to the thousands of morons invading the beaches, holding illegal street parties (and attacking uniformed police trying to disperse them and who were initially not wearing protective gear)
In all instances a) Social distancing was not being observed (as per my recent post at least in a car you ARE socially distanced not that excuses DCs flagrant hypocritical behaviour) and b) the separate issue of littering is NOTHING to do with Cummings.

Seems too we are entering the realm of copycat post excuses "Yerbut Cummings..." mirroring the "Yerbut Corbyn..." when people are desperately reaching for a counter argument or excuse.

 

Where to start?

No the allegations of planning permission breaches weren't a smear attempt. An investigation by Durham council found numerous breaches of planning permission. It was in the news just two weeks ago actually.
I'm not sure why you say that bringing up his farm's planning permission breaches is going after his parents?

Of course driving hundreds of miles has a significantly higher risk than 5 minutes. There's a much higher risk of breaking down, crashing, having another problem, needing to stop for a toilet break, needing to fill up with petrol, needing a rest, needing to stop for food etc.

There is no evidence to suggest that he only stopped for a few minutes as per his claim. Sure there's no evidence that he spent the day there either but on the balance of probability, a short random stop during a 70 minute drive versus a lengthy stay during his day trip out for his wife's birthday, I know which I believe.

I sat again, he set the rules, he then flouted them and for his justification he very publicly told everyone the rules weren't rules, they were guidelines, open to interpretation and people are free to make their own decisions. This was reinforced by the prime minister of the country.

I'm sorry that you are unable to see why this would send out the message that it's ok and why it would influence people's behaviour.

 

Fact: There has been much more lockdown and social distancing breaches since Cummings behaved the way he did and the prime minister said such behaviour was not only ok but responsible.

Guess: If he hadn't done it people might still have possibly done this maybe.


See why one has more weight to it than the other?

 

Cummings was an idiot but people need to own their own actions. He didn't behave properly so why should I is a lazy excuse. What we do know is if there is a spike in Liverpool in three weeks time it won't be the scousers fault as it never is.

 

In one.

 

Yes but even if he had been sacked everyone might still maybe have possibly considered thinking about ignoring the rules. Maybe. I mean they might have, it's feasible that they could conceivably perhaps have done so.

 

my brother is a huge liverpool fan and we wanna go to liverpool and celebrate. but the time isnt now, there will be a time in he future the scenes by the liver building and fireworks is just bloody stupid and i understand its been 30 years. but need to curb it until the time is right

 

You are missing the point. Him not behaving properly won't have led to a spike. Him, as the man who devised the rules, going live on BBC 1 and telling everyone in no uncertain terms that the rules were just guidelines to be interpreted how you want using your own judgement and the prime minister of the country backing up that statement is why they are to blame.

What you are describing is the head of the police getting caught speeding and presumably getting points on their licence.
What i am describing is the head of the police going on BBC 1 and telling the country that the speed limits are just a bit of friendly advice and drivers don't have to stick to them but can instead use their own judgement on what they feel is safe.

One of them would lead to a huge increase in speeding.

 

Ffs Cummins is the Chairman, nay Gaffer of SAGE the scientific body Monitoring and then guiding Govt policy in this crisis. Mindless individuals and groups will always always be just that. However, if you deny his actions have done NOTHING and ‘would not made the slightest difference’ then you are way out of touch. You then try to turn around the whataboutary ***** that Tories and their pathetic cronies/ apologists constantly spout. Now again, Labour, Corbyn, have not and never have been part of the decision making and actions, (and indeed, inactions) that this shower of ***** of a Govt are responsible for. People are not ‘desperately Reaching for a counter argument or excuse’ They don’t have to

 

Well it wasn’t the fault of Cheltenham race meeting. By the way I’m not a Cheltnenhamist

 

Just to be clear - you think the exact same number of people would have gone to the beach if either the Cummings thing never happened, or it did happen but he was immediately sacked?

 

Nothing to do with the hot weather then

 

You do know SAGE is an independent body set up to advise WHO world wide strategies?
The people on that committee are from all over the world with only one British representative.
To suggest Cummins is involved in any way is way off the mark. He is on record of having attended the meetings with others.

 

Whilst sacking him would have sent a clear message out, I suspect the damage was done in terms of isolating etc.

 

Without proof either way Yes I do believe the problems would have been the same. I see people blaming DC and BJ avoid confronting the irresponsible ant-social littering issue. This suggests to me those people are so inconsiderate to their fellow human beings that nothing DC said or did would have influenced their behaviour. Finally. IMO anyone who uses Cummings words and actions to justify the behaviour of those idiots are just as bad.

 

Wasting your breath! That he attended meetings(same with COBRA) as an observer has been stated many times but still those with an agenda still pedal the nonsense he is a Svengali and controls and manipulates everyone. I assume they alone have access to the minutes of all those meeting where the said manipulation took place.

 

I was sweating my ******** off in April. In fact I got well and truly sunburnt whilst out walking in April (without seeing a sole down at worsbrough Res) so much so that for the rest of the month I made sure I wore sun cream whenever I was out. I haven't worn any this week yet.

And we are also back to guessing. You guess that it's related to the sun but the facts show a change after Cummings.

Do you see why guesses are not the same as facts? Remember I'm here in the UK and I can see with my own eyes the change in the amount of people ignoring the rules rather than just seeing headlines every so often. I can see the amount of people at worsbrough Res, I saw when the change in numbers occured which is something that isnt shown in the worldwide media.

You can guess that everyone behaved right until it went up a few degrees this week but the reality is that people's attitude and the amount of people ignoring the guidelines (as Dominic called them) changed after his press conference not when the weather picked up this week.