Coronavirus

[drfchound]

Ok, 260 mile to Durham without stopping, lucky he had a tank full of fuel eh? A drive of 30 miles to see if his eyesight was ok, against DVLA rules! A little walk down the River while he was there, and then a drive back down to London stopping once for his Child to have a piss, that must be the most economical Range Rover Sport in the world

I have an X5 40d Filo.
A full tank gives me 625 miles.
Admittedly it is a big fuel tank.

I have an X3 that does 20 mpg

I think I would be getting rid of that.
I get 32mpg knocking about locally.
You must have heavy right boot. 😉

[Glyn_Wigley]

Understandable really.

Obviously with the opticians being in lockdown the sensible way to test ones eyesight is to drive a Range Rover 30miles down the public highway to a beauty spot. It all makes sense now.

That ought to be pushed to be included in the driving test instead of that far too simplisitic 'read a number plate 20 metres away'.

[drfchound]

Not much to say on Cummings and his pathetic excuses really. Just one comment if you watched it:

This is the bloke who has been an integral part in leading the country's response to the covid-19 emergency. Now you know why we have one of the worst death tolls in the world.

He did say that he accepts that he has made mistakes.
Not many people admit that these days.

[IDM]

He didn’t apologise for the mass confusion amongst the public, where people have suffered real distress by obeying what they thought the rules were, when all along there are exceptions.

Going for a drive to check his eyes.?  Really.??

Did anyone ask if his wife could have driven.?

[IDM]

https://newsthump.com/2020/05/25/specsavers-to-introduce-new-can-you-drive-to-the-nearest-castle-eye-test/

[drfchound]

He didn’t apologise for the mass confusion amongst the public, where people have suffered real distress by obeying what they thought the rules were, when all along there are exceptions.

Going for a drive to check his eyes.?  Really.??

Did anyone ask if his wife could have driven.?

1. He could have done.
    The exceptions were clearly written down if anyone had cared to look.
2.  I thought that was the only dodgy bit of his statement but his explanation could be true.
     I guess that only him and his wife would know the answer to that.
3.  No, no one did ask.

[albie]

DC said he had made mistakes going back to January.
Not one of the media boneheads thought to then ask him what he thought those errors were?

That would have been the only useful information from the party political broadcast on behalf of the DC Party.

[wilts rover]

Not much to say on Cummings and his pathetic excuses really. Just one comment if you watched it:

This is the bloke who has been an integral part in leading the country's response to the covid-19 emergency. Now you know why we have one of the worst death tolls in the world.

He did say that he accepts that he has made mistakes.
Not many people admit that these days.

Including Johnson at his presser when asked what mistakes Cummings was referring to.

[wilts rover]

He didn’t apologise for the mass confusion amongst the public, where people have suffered real distress by obeying what they thought the rules were, when all along there are exceptions.

Going for a drive to check his eyes.?  Really.??

Did anyone ask if his wife could have driven.?

Yes his wife can drive if anyone is interested. She has written about it:

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1264977929861304323

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hound

You thought that was the ONLY dodgy part of the story?

What about his assertion that no journalist thought to question, that there was no possibility of alternative child care in London.

Not a single colleague could help?
Not a single friend?
Not a single family member?

No calls to the Local Authority to check what support there was?

No. Of course not. Everyone if us would have packed the bairn and the (apparently near-dead) missus in the car and driven halfway across the country because there was no possible other alternative.

[Bentley Bullet]

https://newsthump.com/2020/05/25/specsavers-to-introduce-new-can-you-drive-to-the-nearest-castle-eye-test/

Maybe he'd got contacts there?

[IDM]

He didn’t apologise for the mass confusion amongst the public, where people have suffered real distress by obeying what they thought the rules were, when all along there are exceptions.

Going for a drive to check his eyes.?  Really.??

Did anyone ask if his wife could have driven.?

1. He could have done.
    The exceptions were clearly written down if anyone had cared to look.
2.  I thought that was the only dodgy bit of his statement but his explanation could be true.
     I guess that only him and his wife would know the answer to that.
3.  No, no one did ask.

1.  I disagree - not all the exceptions are covered, and the strongest message hammered home everyday was stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives.. there was no * at the end of the logo with a further explanation.  The repetition of that logo was to hammer the message home.  As were the other stay at home policies and lockdown restrictions.  Exceptions were publicised minimally so folks would not necessarily have known.

2. Even if folks believe his explanation re eye test, don’t forget it is an offence to drive with uncorrected defective eyesight.  From the BBC news ticker:

“ the 1988 Road Traffic Act contains a section that reads: “If a person drives a motor vehicle on a road while his eyesight is such (whether through a defect which cannot be, or one which is not for the time being, sufficiently corrected) that he cannot comply with any requirement as to eyesight prescribed under this Part of this Act for the purposes of tests of competence to drive, he is guilty of an offence.” “

3. I don’t know but it seems a simple thing to ask.

[Filo]

Maybe if Cummings had done this, it might have been forgiven
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-austrian-president-sorry-for-breaching-his-governments-lockdown-rules-11994501

[River Don]

Any caring father would do whatever it takes to keep their kids safe.

Including strapping them into the back of a car to take a sixty mile round trip... When you aren't sure your eyesight is up to it.

[wilts rover]

News just in.

All opposition party leaders, (Labour, SNP, Lib Dems, DUP, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Greens, and Alliance Party) meeting tomorrow to 'discuss the next steps in holding Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings to account'.

Getting serious now folks

https://twitter.com/joepike/status/1265003621785178119

[BillyStubbsTears]

The press were f**king dreadful at that session.

Kuenssberg: Mr Cummings. Could you just tell us again how dreadfully ill you were just in case no-one got it the first time? (Answer: Very. And the thought of the kid being left without a parent...)

Peston: Mr Cummings. Ahhhhh....just HOW...ahhh...ill were you? (Answer: Oh, really, very.)

Rest of them: Do you know how this looks? (Answer: I don't give a f**k, it is your fault folk are upset.)

It took forever for one of them to ask why he drove on twisting country roads to a beauty spot to check that he was going to be alright to drive down the motorway.

No one asked why his wife didn't drive.

No-one asked if they checked the bairn in at a urniary clinic after sticking the poor sod in the back seat and driving 5 hours without a piss break.

No one asked if Cummings thought it was unfortunate that the number of times he admitted to driving away from his parents' farm exactly matches the number of times he was spotted by a member of the public.

No one asked him what London-based childcare alternatives he had looked into.

No one asked him why he kept blaming the press coverage of the event for public anger when he had, by his own mouth, said 80% of it was correct.

No one asked him why he had tried to lock down debate on this by, on Friday night, saying he wasn't going to waste anymore time answering lies from papers...before then admitting that most of the stories were true.

Absolutely f**king useless, with just one or two exceptions.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Any caring father would do whatever it takes to keep their kids safe.

Including strapping them into the back of a car to take a sixty mile round trip... When you aren't sure your eyesight is up to it.

What would have happened if after he'd driven thirty miles to Castle Barnard he'd realised he wasn't safe to drive back? If you believe his crock o' shite, that is.

[Jonathan]

Brief summary:

He broke the rules at least twice. On one occasion he has an explanation that it made things better for his family. Whilst not within the rules, some will accept that explanation, others will feel they made sacrifices that Cummings did not.

When he broke the rules to go to Barnard Castle, the fact that he (apparently) didn’t come into contact with anybody is a testament to the fact that others were observing the rules that he set and broke.

Anyhow, he has explained why he broke the rules. Some will find it hard to swallow, but the Prime Minister, in his judgement, is happy to accept it.

[BillyStubbsTears]

What's that saying? It's not the error of judgement that brings politicians down. It's the cover up.

This shambles today is going to hang round the Tories like a bad fart.

Sure, there will be some who give them the benefit of the doubt. But there are going to be many, many more treating them with contempt after this.

The stupid thing was, if he'd said on Friday, "Yes, I did it. I was panicked and I made a serious error of judgement", even if that was b*llocks, I think he could have brazened this out.

Instead, this idiot story is going to be a meme around Johnson and Cummings. I'll guarantee you, there will be eyesight/driving related graphics pumped out every time they do or say anything.

[drfchound]

Not much to say on Cummings and his pathetic excuses really. Just one comment if you watched it:

This is the bloke who has been an integral part in leading the country's response to the covid-19 emergency. Now you know why we have one of the worst death tolls in the world.

He did say that he accepts that he has made mistakes.
Not many people admit that these days.

Including Johnson at his presser when asked what mistakes Cummings was referring to.

I didn’t bother watching that wilts.

[Jonathan]

What's that saying? It's not the error of judgement that brings politicians down. It's the cover up.

This shambles today is going to hang round the Tories like a bad fart.

Sure, there will be some who give them the benefit of the doubt. But there are going to be many, many more treating them with contempt after this.

The stupid thing was, if he'd said on Friday, "Yes, I did it. I was panicked and I made a serious error of judgement", even if that was b*llocks, I think he could have brazened this out.

Instead, this idiot story is going to be a meme around Johnson and Cummings. I'll guarantee you, there will be eyesight/driving related graphics pumped out every time they do or say anything.

Undoubtedly so.

There’s little point persisting with questions about the circumstances of that trip to Barnard Castle. The explanation given is (to use Boris Johnson’s own term) palpably false. Anyone that actually believes the eye test explanation is a thick ****. Sorry but there really is no other way of saying it. It’s a lie. 

[wilts rover]

Not much to say on Cummings and his pathetic excuses really. Just one comment if you watched it:

This is the bloke who has been an integral part in leading the country's response to the covid-19 emergency. Now you know why we have one of the worst death tolls in the world.

He did say that he accepts that he has made mistakes.
Not many people admit that these days.

Including Johnson at his presser when asked what mistakes Cummings was referring to.

I didn’t bother watching that wilts.

I wish I had the sense you have hound!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Oh yeah. And no journalist had the basic humanity to ask how Cummings's wife had recovered from an appalling illness.

She was so ill that when she later wrote about it, she had clean forgotten that between sentence 1 and 3 of paragraph 2 here, Cummings had driven her to the other side of the country.

https://mobile.twitter.com/PompeyTim69/status/1264945062393364481

Shocking illness, this CoVid.

[IDM]

What's that saying? It's not the error of judgement that brings politicians down. It's the cover up.

This shambles today is going to hang round the Tories like a bad fart.

Sure, there will be some who give them the benefit of the doubt. But there are going to be many, many more treating them with contempt after this.

The stupid thing was, if he'd said on Friday, "Yes, I did it. I was panicked and I made a serious error of judgement", even if that was b*llocks, I think he could have brazened this out.

Instead, this idiot story is going to be a meme around Johnson and Cummings. I'll guarantee you, there will be eyesight/driving related graphics pumped out every time they do or say anything.

Undoubtedly so.

There’s little point persisting with questions about the circumstances of that trip to Barnard Castle. The explanation given is (to use Boris Johnson’s own term) palpably false. Anyone that actually believes the eye test explanation is a thick ****. Sorry but there really is no other way of saying it. It’s a lie. 

So if that bit is a lie, what else is.?

He’s presented his case for the defence today, with at least one lie - or if you accept his story, potentially breaking the law by driving with dodgy eyesight, never mind sitting by a river when that wasn’t allowed either..

[drfchound]

Hound

You thought that was the ONLY dodgy part of the story?

What about his assertion that no journalist thought to question, that there was no possibility of alternative child care in London.

Not a single colleague could help?
Not a single friend?
Not a single family member?

No calls to the Local Authority to check what support there was?

No. Of course not. Everyone if us would have packed the bairn and the (apparently near-dead) missus in the car and driven halfway across the country because there was no possible other alternative.

You exaggerate somewhat BST.
D.C. didn’t say his wife was near dead.
Also you have no idea what options he had tried for child care.

Too many people have suggested stuff that didn’t happen, like the second trip to Durham. People on here were banging on about that but not even the top investigative journos have proved it be true.
Also no one mentioned the dancing to ABBA songs in the garden.
Maybe that wasn’t true either seeing as how no one asked.

[IDM]

Maybe they just didn’t ask.! 

[drfchound]

Maybe if Cummings had done this, it might have been forgiven
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-austrian-president-sorry-for-breaching-his-governments-lockdown-rules-11994501

I agree that he could have offered an apology.

[drfchound]

Maybe they just didn’t ask.!

By the tone of the questions, if they thought it would have made it difficult for him, they would have asked.

[Filo]

Doggo, couldn’t get out of bed his wife said

[drfchound]

Not much to say on Cummings and his pathetic excuses really. Just one comment if you watched it:

This is the bloke who has been an integral part in leading the country's response to the covid-19 emergency. Now you know why we have one of the worst death tolls in the world.

He did say that he accepts that he has made mistakes.
Not many people admit that these days.

Including Johnson at his presser when asked what mistakes Cummings was referring to.

I didn’t bother watching that wilts.

I wish I had the sense you have hound!

It was probably a bit like the D.C. question time......repetitive questions, asking the same stuff......after he had already provided most of the answers in his statement.

No imagination from the people asking the questions.