Cummings and goings

I've not commented publicly so far on the actions of either the government or public bodies on the pandemic lockdown. We are after all living though a national emergency and the worst crisis since the Second World War. But two recent events have now made me feel that silence is no longer an option. Firstly, the decision to impose a 2 week quarantine on those coming from abroad at this stage of the pandemic is nuts. This should have been done much sooner in the timeline. This is definitely a case of shutting the stable door after the pandemic horse has well and truly bolted.

The other issue is Dominic Cummings, a man not sick enough to stop him jumping into his car and driving 400 km from London to Durham. It's a five hour journey. I've done it often enough so I should know! And this journey was carried out because Cummings could not stay at home in London. Are we really meant to believe that in a population of 8 million people, London contained no one who could deliver a bag of groceries to his front door while he self-isolated? Is he really that devoid of friends?

I don't doubt that Cummings was showing symptoms of coronavirus but they appear to be relatively mild. I can well understand his desire to get out of London but the rules and messages he helped bring in are clear: he should have stayed at home.

I've just watched Boris Johnson's press conference. His reinterpretation of previously unspotted loopholes and the emphasis on grossly exaggerated health and childcare problems treat the people of this country with contempt. Watching Johnson was like watching a Trump meltdown press conference.

We should continue to argue that people should stay at home except in clearly defined and unavoidable circumstances, such as going to work when it can't be done from home, shopping for essentials and exercise. The people of this country have made big sacrifices to beat this pandemic. Now they will look on the government and clearly see a bunch of people treating them as if they are stupid and applying rules to the people of the country which the rule makers themselves do not have to follow.

The government have just made fighting this virus a great deal more difficult.

Photo above: I took this in Barnard Castle nearly two years ago during a Sunniside History Society trip. No sign of Dominic Cummings on that day but newspapers report he's been seen there more recently!