The UK response to Covid-19 [MOD WARNING 1ST POST]

Guy:Incognito

Oh, right, we're going full on "corona virus is a hoax" ah fair enough.

Spanish Eyes

To those of us who are either wfh or furloughed, or retired, so can stay up late. HELLO THERE!

Is there another cohort does anyone know? Careful now....Might be a time zone thing though for those abroad.

Anyway... where was I?

Jinglejangle69

WTF mods

devnull

Good of someone to send one of the bots this way as well as promoting the hashtag on twitter. Not quite sure that they realise that hashtags don't work here though.

On a serious note probably isn't the best look from James Matthews, but it's clear they've got the bots working overtime, the amount of tweets with that hashtag coming from very suspicious looking accounts is huge.

Once again it's the same ones who were parroting Caroline Flack over the weekend, autism today and now bashing the media tonight. It's almost like they have an agenda of some kind.

Guy:Incognito

Call me Al wrote: »

I'm not too sure this is necessarily untrue either.

Pippa Crerar still has this article pinned on the top of her twitter page.
I know he says he has proof he was in London. Well she said she has eyewitnesses and seems to be sticking to her story.
Plus we now know, going by Faisal Islams twitter feed, that Cummings lied today about writing an article in 2019 in which he predicted a pandemic. Turns out that on 14 April he amended a 2019 blog and added this paragraph.
And webite data is actually proving this.

This story is not near over despite what they might like to think.

https://twitter.com/aljwhite/status/1265043944997617664

BonnieSituation

Jinglejangle69 wrote: »

WTF mods

Job done.

J Mysterio

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

To those of us who are either wfh or furloughed, or retired, so can stay up late. HELLO THERE!

Is there another cohort does anyone know? Careful now....Might be a time zone thing though for those abroad.

Anyway... where was I?

There are a lot of unemployed now.

Unfortunately, we have gone from full employment to total disaster.

The shower across the water won't help matters.

Christy42

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

https://twitter.com/aljwhite/status/1265043944997617664

Sure at this point that is worse. I mean the tories were in power. Claiming (lying) to have predicted this from ages back and still failed to come up with a coherent response.

He should be taken at his word and fired for sheer incompetence over the corona virus.

Strazdas

devnull wrote: »

Good of someone to send one of the bots this way as well as promoting the hashtag on twitter. Not quite sure that they realise that hashtags don't work here though.

On a serious note probably isn't the best look from James Matthews, but it's clear they've got the bots working overtime, the amount of tweets with that hashtag coming from very suspicious looking accounts is huge.

Once again it's the same ones who were parroting Caroline Flack over the weekend, autism today and now bashing the media tonight. It's almost like they have an agenda of some kind.

An IT expert in the UK did an analysis of their tweets this evening (using the "scum" hashtag) and discovered from their bios that they are nearly all Brexiteers.

BonnieSituation

Strazdas wrote: »

An IT expert in the UK did an analysis of their tweets this evening (using the "scum" hashtag) and discovered from their bios that they are nearly all Brexiteers.

It's amazing to watch it in action though.

Peregrinus

Cummings' problem is that his whole schtick has been planting and promoting false stories, with considerable success. He's famous for it. He glories in it.

But that creates a difficulty for him now, of course. Nothing he says in his own defence is going to carry much weight, even with his "friends". Unless he can find somebody credible to refute the stories that are appearing in the press, people will tend to believe them. His own refutations will persuade no-one; the only issue is how embarrassed his friends, supporters and dependents will be to repeat them.

VinLieger

Heres a twitter thread analysing the hashtag from yesterday that bizarrely showed up on here, nothing too surprising in it tbh

https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1264990612627034112?s=19

Enzokk

Richard Hillman wrote: »

https://twitter.com/NSP55/status/1265043854283210758?s=19


It was never about a man that may have broken lockdown rules. Its about somebody in a position of power convincing the public that the media are irrelevant. And then the media using their outdated tactic of if you come after us, we will unite and return it tenfold.

They want him sacked for his opinion on the media. Nothing more, nothing less. The media need to get rid of him for their own survival.

Yeah, its not about driving 260 miles with the suspected disease, not confirm this happened to the same media when they asked them for confirmation for more than a month. It's the media's fault that they then only confirmed it happened when the police confirmed it in late May but then didn't disclose the trip to Barnard Castle.

And finally it is the media's fault that he is in this position of power as they wanted him there. It's never the fault of Johnson or Cummings you see, it's always someone else's fault for either not understanding or just lying.

I will say again, he broke lockdown rules by going to Barnard Castle. He doesn't deny this.

AllForIt wrote: »

In my opinion Boris Johnson and Dominick Cummings are in a better position today than they were 3 days ago before the story broke, thanks to the media.

They screwed up by the manner in which they presented the story for a short term gotcha that looked good at the time but the same media reported untruths as well to further sensationalise the story which is all now exposed for everyone to see. Now Boris has every right to fob off journalist's at the briefings given the way they behaved.

Both Boris and Cummings have played this very well, brilliantly even. They exposed the media for their manoeuvrings and they turned it around in 24 hours when most people even myself though Cummings was going to go. What an utter eff up by the media.

But that's not all. In giving the briefing DC did not come across as the evil monster he's been made out to be. Whether he was faking it or not, and whether his account was totally believable or not, you can't really trust how the media or anyone portrays him anymore after seeing him today. And who's fault is that.

The intention was to get rid of Cummings. Instead what the media achieved was to make themselves look worse than they already were and make Cummings look better than he did. And that's what happens when you're not coming from a genuine place.

I don't get why you think the intention was to get rid of Cummings? There was not a vendetta from Labour or the media to target him. He is just another spad in government like countless before him, although the amount of power he has seems unprecedented he is just like all those before him.

The reason they targeted him was because he broke the lockdown rules and guidance and they kept quiet about it when confronted with it in April. The reason it has blown up is because their are holes in the story and even when they tried to explain why they "acted within the law" it becomes even clearer that this is not the case.

The reason it will not go away is because a lot of the cabinet has tweeted their support of him ignoring the fragrant rule breaking of their own guidance. The AG tweeted she was fine with it all before she knew all the facts. That you cannot see the damage this has done is not the fault of the media or us for pointing out how screwed up this all is. That is all on you.


A question for you though, what do you consider a lie? Because your reply here has left it very open-ended on how much you will still support him.

AllForIt wrote: »

But I will give my opinion on Cummings anyway. I think if he lied about anything he should defiantly go. There are still unanswered questions as whether the second trip happened as reported and this thing with the Police involvement hasn't been fully cleared up ether. In the case he didn't lie about anything should he go anyway well I'm not sure about that one. If he was a government minister I would say it would be right for Boris to sack him on the grounds of bring seen to give the impression he was breaking lockdown rules whether he did or didn't actually break them. But I'm not sure if Government advisors are held to the same standards as cabinet ministers. There is no precedent for this I can recall.

Do you consider the second trip from his house to Barnard Castle as breaking the guidance?

upupup

I think this will gain a few signatures today
https://www.change.org/p/dominic-cummings-must-be-sacked?use_react=false

Dave0301

I see Gove on BBC Breakfast is peddling the same line "people can make their own minds up" as Boris was yesterday.

Seems to be a growing body of evidence to suggest that allowing Cheltenham and the Liverpool match to go ahead has caused more cases and deaths in those areas.

I for one am shocked...who could have imagined that being a result of not cancelling those events.

Finding it more and more frustrating having to watch this government get away with their failings.

Shelga

Michael Gove just on BBC Radio 4, making excuses again for Cummings. This is farcical at this stage. It’s 4 days since the story broke, and top cabinet ministers are still using all of their energy to protect this one man, who blatantly broke the rules.

I thought the questioning from Mishal Husein was soft, but still, has Gove no shame? Trying to justify the drive to Barnard Castle, when hundreds of UK citizens still dying daily.

Absolutely sickening, on every level.

Leroy42

The key calculation for any government, is how the public will react.

Will this story actually resonate and cause people to desert the Tories?

Massive majority and no elections for a few years massively reduces any impact, but even then the last 10 years seem to suggest that the UK public are not too bothered about this.

Sure, twitter and the media will cover it, but just like before the election when people were posting that the groundswell was building for Labour and LibDem, the voters simply don't care.

Brexit is really all that matters.

Enzokk

Some more clangers from Gove this morning. This is sickening now. He had to go back to work so he had to check if his eyes are good enough, but this is not an offence to drive when you cannot see, because it turned out he could drive as proved by their trip to the town 30 miles away.

So in effect, he didn't break the lockdown rules because he had to check if his eyes are okay to drive. He didn't break the road traffic rules because it turned out his eyes were fine and this was proven by the fact he was able to drive the 30 miles.

Some other interesting points raised on twitter by journalists this morning,

https://twitter.com/tompeck/status/1265180752075018240?s=20

https://twitter.com/tompeck/status/1265184337680568321?s=20


Also, I posted a tweet about a hospital dealing with cases and was told the hospital was a bit underwhelming, but this is a different hospital reporting much the same thing. Surely this isn't the case of the hospital being unable to treat a cut finger as well?

https://twitter.com/elinlowri/status/1264960309355315200?s=20

And to think to make the Cummings this go away the UK is opening schools and planning to open shops further on the 15th June.

devnull

Shelga wrote: »

Michael Gove just on BBC Radio 4, making excuses again for Cummings. This is farcical at this stage. It’s 4 days since the story broke, and top cabinet ministers are still using all of their energy to protect this one man, who blatantly broke the rules.

I thought the questioning from Mishal Husein was soft, but still, has Gove no shame? Trying to justify the drive to Barnard Castle, when hundreds of UK citizens still dying daily.

Absolutely sickening, on every level.

Kay Burley pretty much pinned him down as well about the eyesight claims, asking him straight off the bat what is Government advice for those with bad eyesight, Gove says that different people will do different things which essentially once again says you can do whatever you think is right and use discretion.

Gove seemed to panic right at the end of that particular line of questioning and after avoiding the direct question and keep saying doctors cleared him for a return to work when asked if he was fit to drive. The fact that they're prepared to undermine DVLA road safety guidelines to protect their man shows you just how low these will go.

He eventually said at the end he was cleared to drive by medical advice but after refusing to say he was on a number of occasions in the same line of questioning you have to wonder if that was a pathological moment to get him out of a tight response, otherwise he would have just said he was fit to drive and cleared by medical staff to do so at the beginning.

The problem is if he was cleared as fit to drive by the medical staff in the first place then it essentially means that despite being told that he was fit to drive, he still had to go and test his eyesight to check if he was fit to drive, which essentially meant that the journey was certainly unnecessary.

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1265186237637431296

Oh, and this what Gove had to said about a Bishop - incredible!
https://twitter.com/cjsbella/status/1265187329309913088

ChikiChiki

Day 4 and the story is still there and the Tories are still spinning. This is not going away. Just listening to Michael Gove there and I wonder have some heavy hitting MPs been caught doing similar hence their staunch defence of this.

Enzokk

devnull wrote: »

Kay Burley pretty much pinned him down as well about the eyesight claims, asking him straight off the bat what is Government advice for those with bad eyesight, Gove says that different people will do different things which essentially once again says you can do whatever you think is right and use discretion.

Gove seemed to panic right at the end of that particular line of questioning and after avoiding the direct question and keep saying doctors cleared him for a return to work when asked if he was fit to drive. The fact that they're prepared to undermine DVLA road safety guidelines to protect their man shows you just how low these will go.

He eventually said at the end he was cleared to drive by medical advice but after refusing to say he was on a number of occasions in the same line of questioning you have to wonder if that was a pathological moment to get him out of a tight response, otherwise he would have just said he was fit to drive and cleared by medical staff to do so at the beginning.

The problem is if he was cleared as fit to drive by the medical staff in the first place then it essentially means that despite being told that he was fit to drive, he still had to go and test his eyesight to check if he was fit to drive, which essentially meant that the journey was certainly unnecessary.


Oh, and this what Gove had to said about a Bishop - incredible!

Gove is twisting himself in so many knots trying to defend the indefensible. I understand why Johnson wants Cummings around, Johnson is lazy and needs someone else to do the heavy lifting. I guess Cummings and Gove share a similar outlook on the world so he wants to keep him around as well, and seeing as Cummings is effectively running No.10 if he and Gove are close then Gove is effectively running the country with Cummings without the responsibility.


https://twitter.com/tompeck/status/1265189028015505408?s=20

The more people go out to try and defend this the more questions they will leave because that is the nature of it. It is lies upon lies and it requires lies and deception to get out of it. Or the truth and apology or resignation.

S.M.B.

This whole soap opera is further fuelling what was already an absolute sh!tshow. More division, more tribalism, more swipes at the media, more anger, less trust, no positives to come from all this, less energy being spent on the pandemic.

Think I'm just going to add a little note to my mental pros/cons of living in the UK list and move on for now. No point getting worked up into a further frenzy, I'll go stir crazy.

devnull

Enzokk wrote: »

The more people go out to try and defend this the more questions they will leave because that is the nature of it. It is lies upon lies and it requires lies and deception to get out of it. Or the truth and apology or resignation.

Lets call it what it is - pathological behaviour and concocting/creating a story around the reports in order to try and justify it to the gullible who believe everything that they say and parrot stuff about scum media on twitter.

He won't resign. He's too narcissistic and arrogant for that and Boris won't sack him for the same reason unless the polls really start to bite or it leads to mass law breaking and civil disobedience.

Much more likely to go full Trump.

Beasty

ONS reporting 41,220 deaths registered mentioning Covid 19 between 28 December and 15 May in England and Wales. That must mean around 45,000 when Scotland and NI are added

devnull

And we have a resignation:
https://twitter.com/BethRigby/status/1265201426847928320

Enzokk

devnull wrote: »

Lets call it what it is - pathological behaviour and concocting/creating a story around the reports in order to try and justify it to the gullible who believe everything that they say and parrot stuff about scum media on twitter.

He won't resign. He's too narcissistic and arrogant for that and Boris won't sack him for the same reason unless the polls really start to bite or it leads to mass law breaking and civil disobedience.

Much more likely to go full Trump.

Gove was doing more interviews as the morning got on. Basically as I see it he admitted that the trip was not to check his eyesight but for exercise as per government instruction at the time (it wasn't). He himself goes on trips in the car to check his eyesight and Mary Wakefield took the virus to a hospital in Durham when they wanted to stop the spread of the disease. Good work by Gove this morning.

https://twitter.com/KateEMcCann/status/1265188308449140736?s=20

https://twitter.com/theousherwood/status/1265174276384178176?s=20

https://twitter.com/theousherwood/status/1265184505905766403?s=20


In other news, we have had our first resignation due to this, it is a junior member of the government but some MP's are seeing this farce for what it is,

https://twitter.com/Douglas4Moray/status/1265196839231533057?s=20

theteal

S.M.B. wrote: »

This whole soap opera is further fuelling what was already an absolute sh!tshow. More division, more tribalism, more swipes at the media, more anger, less trust, no positives to come from all this, less energy being spent on the pandemic.

Think I'm just going to add a little note to my mental pros/cons of living in the UK list and move on for now. No point getting worked up into a further frenzy, I'll go stir crazy.

I'm done. There's just no explaining to what seem to be the brexit worshipers anymore (I can't say tories in general as some I've spoken to are fully aware of the bigger picture and how the populace are being down right insulted). "The media are bullies", I've seen more references to Caroline Flack. No thought that it's the lies that are bringing the attention to him. No thought that they should hold their elected political officials to a higher standard.

hotmail.com

Shelga wrote: »

Michael Gove just on BBC Radio 4, making excuses again for Cummings. This is farcical at this stage. It’s 4 days since the story broke, and top cabinet ministers are still using all of their energy to protect this one man, who blatantly broke the rules.

I thought the questioning from Mishal Husein was soft, but still, has Gove no shame? Trying to justify the drive to Barnard Castle, when hundreds of UK citizens still dying daily.

Absolutely sickening, on every level.

Sickening?

It's always interesting how some people lose the rag over these types of scandals, and this one isn't even in Ireland.

Enzokk

hotmail.com wrote: »

Sickening?

It's always interesting how some people lose the rag over these types of scandals, and this one isn't even in Ireland.

People have family and friends in the UK, get it in your head. This isn't about laughing at those people over there, it is about seeing a disaster unfold and people we care for coming into harms way. Cummings broke the rules for his family but God forbid someone here comments about the absurdity of the government that has overseen the highest death toll in Europe making a fool of themselves and their own message and work they have done the past 2 months. His family is obviously more important than anyone else's, that much is clear from this farce.

As an example, track and trace will be up and running in a week. Those tracers are going to cold call people to tell them they have to isolate because they may have come into contact with someone that had the virus that they may not know or remember. How do you think that is going to go after this shambles?

hotmail.com

Enzokk wrote: »

People have family and friends in the UK, get it in your head. This isn't about laughing at those people over there, it is about seeing a disaster unfold and people we care for coming into harms way. Cummings broke the rules for his family but God forbid someone here comments about the absurdity of the government that has overseen the highest death toll in Europe making a fool of themselves and their own message and work they have done the past 2 months. His family is obviously more important than anyone else's, that much is clear from this farce.

As an example, track and trace will be up and running in a week. Those tracers are going to cold call people to tell them they have to isolate because they may have come into contact with someone that had the virus that they may not know or remember. How do you think that is going to go after this shambles?

We know the facts.

People have made their minds up. Why bother using energy getting annoyed over something that doesn't even affect us.

Politically speaking, if there are more resignations, it could be problematic for Boris Johnson.