Coronavirus - A pale horse,4 men and ....beer

[Emmson]

No wonder this fumbling Rasputin is a man of the shadows.

[greenmark]

I think the media and opposition should drop the Cummings thing.
There have been people breaking the rules for far more trivival reasons and haven't lost their jobs.
Then again Dr Catherine Calderwood (Scotland's chief medical officer) resgined for visiting her "2nd home" in East Fife. Anyone who knows that area knows you'd be hard pushed to work out whether her Edinburgh or East Fife home was their primary residence. They live in Edinburgh for work and then head off 'home' to East Fife at the weekend.
But she was hung out to dry.
It really highlights how someone of Cummings' stature can survive when others can't.

[Archery1969]

The potential danger here is that it drags on, Boris is forced to sack him and then says, fcuk this, I'm off too. Then there would be a leadership contest at the worst time possible with the rest of the country on hold. Many millions are probably going to be losing their current furlowed jobs in the coming weeks, so i think there are more important things to be worry about.

[greenmark]

The potential danger here is that it drags on, Boris is forced to sack him and then says, fcuk this, I'm off too. Then there would be a leadership contest at the worst time possible with the rest of the country on hold. Many millions are probably going to be losing their current furlowed jobs in the coming weeks, so i think there are more important things to be worry about.

I sort of get your point. But, surely, our government has an army of civil servants to inform/execute policy. Its the cabinet that sifts/drives the information from the civil service and decides what to do. And thats where Cummings and the like (Duncan Campell, for example) enter from stage left and have perhaps undue influence.
This whole episode does make "The Thick of It" look alarmingly realistic.

[Derek27]

well, you can have a voice in this: https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament- ... -be-sacked

The petition to force bookies to accept bets from winning punters got, off memory, 176 signatures but I have a feeling this one will succeed.

Normally forcing parliament to go through the motions of a discussion is the equivalent to a cub scout badge, but this will have a much sharper edge.

[Derek27]

The potential danger here is that it drags on, Boris is forced to sack him and then says, fcuk this, I'm off too.

Absolutely no danger of that. BJ is dependent on Cummings but he's also ego-driven. His number one priority is himself, and to stay in his job. Number two was to 'get Brexit done', then it was getting Covid-19 done, now it will be to keep Cummings.

[jimibt]

some folk need their eyes tested!!

[Archery1969]

some folk need their eyes tested!!

[jimibt]

some folk need their eyes tested!!

[Archery1969]

some folk need their eyes tested!!

[Derek27]

He only went on a short 30-mile drive.

"In terms of the rules, I think that the em, I think that the er rules made clear that if you're dealing with small children than that could be, that can be exceptional circumstances, but I've explained why".

[Derek27]

Does anyone know the difference between careless, reckless and dangerous driving? Surely driving whilst believing that you might be blind should fall foul of one of those offences. And he claims that he acted responsibly.

[Naffman]

All this media coverage and hypocrisy of social distancing is almost letting Cummings off the hook, the more they cover it and harass his family the more people will stick up for him

[Archery1969]

I find it funny that the press have got nothing better todo than keep going on about what cummings did or didnt do. It is coming across as a bit of a witch hunt and could well back fire on them if Boris is forced to sack his friend.

If it happens and i was Boris then i would remove the press from all briefings, not allow any minister or MP to attend interviews, radio, newsnight, question time or write newspaper columns. Then i would bring in new laws to curb press freedoms.

Basically i would throw my dummy out of the cot.

[Euler]

I'm really tired of the press coverage of the pandemic, I just don't watch or read anything any more.

For the whole pandemic, they had an opportunity to be public advisors but they seem to spend most of their time just digging for a story.

God forbid if we went to war. Can you imagine in WW2 they would be trying to catch Churchill going into the war bunkers and get shots of him asleep in the afternoon?