and then having looked around for the best person for the job I would have called Mr Cummings to see me this morning and told him:-

" Dominic, I would very much like it if you would come and work with me again. Are there any changes that you care to suggest?

Do you think, in view of the "witch hunt" around your activities that you deserve an increase in salary?

Do you consider it too soon for me to confirm that a knighthood will be coming your way when we eventually go our different ways ?"

However, it seems that as I am not in command (yet) we will have to muddle along whilst Boris and Donald try to run countries where the media have developed the notion that THEY run the country.

I have heard several well thought out plans for the post-lock-down Britain.

Unfortunately these plans have not come from politicians but from folk who are currently very busy driving taxi cabs.

I am sorry to upset you all.

I will fully understand if nobody ever comments on my Discussion topics ever gain.

PC folk do take note that I will take any comments at all as agreeing with me unless you explain in some detail in what way the country would benefit from the permanent removal of Mr Cummings.

Thank you. Take care out there.

Uncontested facts in the public domain demonstrate that Dom broke the rules in place at the time. The most egregious example was when he drove his family to local beauty spot Barnard Castle for his wife's birthday at a time when we were in strict lockdown and inessential travel was banned.

His justification for fleeing the capital was that the rules make provision for caring for small children and for 'exceptional circumstances'. He claims that means his actions were within the rules and legal. Oddly the extract he read out during his press conference was for people deciding whether to isolate a family member in one room, or isolate the whole household, they were not a free pass to drive 250 miles.

The ex Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, Sir Peter Fahy has said that if Cummings had been stopped on the drive to Durham, he would have been turned back.

If everyone in similar circumstances had behaved like this, the lockdown would have collapsed and we would likely still be seeing cases and deaths rising, not falling. Fortunately the vast majority did comply, sometimes at huge emotional cost. MP's inboxes are filling up with expressions of fury that Cummings remains in post after setting such an appalling example. Thousands could appeal their lockdown fines.

If a Government advisor, a member of the team who formulated the rules and advice to the public, is seen to be breaking or even bending those rules, it undermines efforts to persuade the public to obey the guidelines. Police are furious.. This is precisely why Neil Ferguson and Catherine Calderwood did the honourable thing and resigned when it emerged they had broken the guidelines.

The Government now faces claims of that it is OK for one of their own to break their own rules and face no consequences, one law for the elite, another for us. The best thing Dominic Cummings could have done was to apologise and resign, the next would have been for Boris to sack him. As neither happened, they have provided people with a readymade excuse to travel up and down the country almost at will.

This is not a good thing.

His report of his two weeks of illness read very well.

That is all we have to go on.

Who commenting here or in the media, would state clearly and unambiguously that they would either:

1) not care for their 4 your old when both parents became ill.
2) prefer to call social services to organise care - green suited PPE monsters to their little child.
3) drive to a place of safety that put no others at risk.

I firmly believe that most decent people would choose option 3.

Unfortunately most people are not in that position to chose and may be jealous.

Would you rather just hope that both of you did not become seriously ill?

People are unbelievable.

I find it unamusing that the press and tv news organs are trumpeting "all of this is upsetting the British people and it will be difficult to police the lockdown now.

Well! I think the blame lies fairly and squarely at the door of the media. All of the hype - which has gone into overdrive over this.

I am please that Mr Cummings has not resigned. I can envisage less interview rights for certain media elements from now on.

1) not care for their 4 your old when both parents became ill.
2) prefer to call social services to organise care - green suited PPE monsters to their little child.
3) drive to a place of safety that put no others at risk.

Completely false choice. And it ignores the most obvious breach - the side-trip to Barnard Castle.

At the time Cummings took the decision to flee, only his partner was symptomatic, and not with corona symptoms. There are many questions raised by his claim that that he could not organise child care in London - why could his niece or nieces not come down from Durham? Why could his partner's London-based family not step up?

Given the age profile of the couple, the risk of them both becoming ill enough to be unable to care simultaneously was very low. Many other families have managed. Many other families followed the rules.

Choice 2 Is offensive to the local social services and NHS workers. Do you really think if the couple could not provide child care (very unlikely), No 10 would not have stepped in?

Choice 3. If you believe you are about to fall ill, putting the child in the car with a suspected infected person, driving 260 miles without a break, some of it in the dark, hardly constitutes 'putting no others at risk', compared to staying home. If they had been involved in an accident they could have exposed the already-stretched emergency services to the virus. This was one of the reasons behind the official instructions: Stay Home.

Steve did either of the Cummings actually have the virus symptoms when they travelled with their son up to Durham on Friday night?

His report of his two weeks of illness read very well.

That is all we have to go on.

Well no, his wife is a commissioning editor for the Spectator and the magazine published her account of their Coronavirus experience, with some material from Dom. Oddly, neither mentioned that they had decamped to the North East. And there are inconsistencies between that piece and the Dominic 'official version'.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Transcript of the speech from the press conference here.

His wife became ill during the day, though without a cough or fever. Dominic returned home, she felt better after a few hours and he returned to work (rule breach No. 1 right there). At the time he drove 260 miles without a break he thankfully had no symptoms. He started feeling ill the next morning.

Much has been said about the guidance providing for 'exceptional circumstances', but the actual laws that give the Police powers to act are found in  The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020. These state

during the emergency period, no person may leave the place where they are living without reasonable excuse

And it lists what qualifies as 'a reasonable excuse'. Criminal barrister Syam Soni examines whether Cummings' rationales give him a reasonable excuse in legal terms. Spoiler alert:Nope.

None of this follows an Act of Parliament following proper debate in the House. Same as the "Net Zero" crap.

I think that Cummings is guilty of having a wealthy father with an empty cottage on his estate. And of having two young nieces nearby who could step in.

Expected from stool Clarke. Thought better of Courtney.

Still, I am bored to tears of the whole media frenzy. Really helpful and uplifting to see Sky News doorstepping his parents today.

I do not hear ANY praise for Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson for bringing the Covid 19 outbreak under control. instead the MSM have disgraced themselves with a succession of unworthy witch-hunts.

I can see why "The Donald" uses Twitter to communicate with his 30,500,000 followers on Twitter.

You can join in too:-

President Trump
@POTUS
45th President of the United States of America,
@realDonaldTrump

Tweets archived: http://wh.gov/privacy
Washington, D.C.WhiteHouse.gov

Joined January 2017

39 Following
30.5M Followers

The UK has one seventh of the EU population, over the last week, we have had significantly more deaths then the rest of Europe combined.

A large majority believed Johnson should have sacked Dominic Cummings, a petition received over 1m signatures. Over a fifth of people stopped observing lockdown after his lawbreaking was revealed.

A Yougov poll puts opinion of our response compared to other countries at joint bottom with Mexico and the US.

Can't all be MSM spin.

More than half the people I know (very law abiding types) were breaking lock down before Cummings was exposed. He's just an excuse to do what people were already moving towards. The media have wallowed in our figures without explaining them. Our press sell us out every time. We were always predicted to have high numbers of deaths due to factors relating to our country. The mistakes made in planning were in PHE plans from the start. Only the shortage of PPE and nurses can be truly blamed on the government. The transfer of patients to care homes was a mix of responsibilities - government, NHS, local councils and an expectation of higher numbers of younger people than they got.

The public think we should have locked down sooner/should keep lock down longer (while allowing freedom to shop, go to the pub and go on holiday)/ never should have locked down in the first place. How can any government win approval with all that?

He's just an excuse to do what people were already moving towards

All the more reason for him to go.

P.C. you are SO pc.

I can see why "The Donald" uses Twitter to communicate with his 30,500,000 followers on Twitter.

Reality Bites.