A strange moment

[smokingboot]

Dominic Cummings, oh dear oh dear.

Testimony less believable than Roxy Hart's.

It's so bad I can't even be bothered to take it apart here, but I will cite my favourite moment; the bit where, in order to be sure his sight was still up to the trip back to London, he took a 30 minute drive to a local beauty spot with his son in the back seat. Well, that certainly sounds like a sensible eye test to me. When in doubt jeopardise your family just to be sure.

The real damage has been done. The beaches were full of people this weekend, lockdown's pretty much ended. That's depressing and stupid but not unexpected, after all if the electorate was uniformly smart we wouldn't have BJ as PM. Here are the two things I find beyond odd;

First, as a government adviser Cummings is not meant to be holding press conferences at all. He is not meant to be seen, not meant to be the story. He does not take the centre stage at number 10, and yet... To have him give this conference in the PM's garden gives him, on a symbolic level,equal status to a senior cabinet member or even a PM. But no-one has voted this man into power. It gives a very strange message about his relationship with Boris Johnson.

But even that is not what sticks with me. No, it's this odd little boast of his that he has been writing about coronavirus prior to the pandemic. Except it's not quite the case:

https://twitter.com/jwiechers/status/1264953956758884354?fbclid=IwAR0supU9yWBNy9haXIruDUBpIUAX42k3VXA0B9kc5f_Fg-qp2_bU9hfVF1s

Who so desperately needs to seem prescient that they go back and doctor their own blog? And he did it recently too, but why? It's a really strange little lie. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised after he and BJ have told so many whoppers, but it seems weirdly inadequate on a personal level. There was no need to make this claim. It had no place in the statement. So what was it for?

I recall reading his Brexit article, lots of words to express little more than 'I did it, me, me!' He couldn't help bragging, but at least it was about his own work. But why, when he's under scrutiny, does he push out this tiny pointless fib? It's become clear to me that Johnson and his cabal are using the technique of the Big Lie, but what's the small lie in aid of?

It's just that little bit... Creepy.

Comments

[thisnewday]

I continue to be amazed--and alarmed--at the similarities in what is happening in our respective countries.

Especially striking have been the pictures of crowded beaches and other venues--sans face-coverings and social distancing--which have signaled a de facto end to the lock-down.

I know I'm a bad person for thinking it, but in a just world those who defy logic, reason, common sense in the face of a global health crisis would be the ones to suffer the consequences.

But we already know that this is not how it will play out...

[smokingboot]

I believe a lot of our politicians have taken a leaf out of Trump's book,though credit where it is due, they were never honest brokers. He just gave them a grand example of successful shamelessness. Arron Banks, bankroller for the Vote Leave campaign, talked about how Remain kept citing facts, whereas Leave sought emotional connection. 'It's the Trump effect,' he said.

Cummings could be compared to Bannon I guess, though his ideology is a strange convoluted business.

As for those others you mention, yes, I would be fine with letting them stand or fall by their opinions, but unfortunately they take a lot of innocents with them...

[mallorys_camera]

Well, you know, those pictures of crowded beaches may or may not be representative.

Meaning that the photographer may have found himself on a beach where everyone was masked and social distancing except for one group of people—and naturally the photographer will take a photo of the people who aren't masked and social distancing.

That's kind of the way journalism works: You select the details that will make the biggest splash.

I know this 'cause I used to be a journalist. 😀

Whatever one's politics, whateever one's feeling about the nature of the threat, a lockdown is simply not sustainable. That's just a fact. And the more guilt that's laid on people, the more blatantly they'll defy the "rules."

There ought not to be "rules": People ought to understand that precautions are necessary in order to stay healthy, and they ought to decide to follow them for themselves.

I suspect a good part of the issue in this country is that when you impose those kinds of restrictions on people instead of making an effort to get them to buy into the restrictions, you're essentially... Well. The word is not infantalizing, but I don't think there's a word for turning people into adolescents.

[smokingboot]

You are of course right about the possibility of the photos. I certainly hope so!

And you're right about the unsustainability of the situation, however the UK has generally been pretty supportive of Lockdown. Most have bought into the restrictions. There have been notable exceptions but not many.

But it was crucial that a man so instrumental in creating these rules be seen to follow them, for reasons beyond pandemic hygiene. I do think that the UK population is endlessly infantilised and has become perhaps too obedient, though fractious at times; but on a level that can be at once childish yet strong and innocent, there is a remnant of the cricket mentality hanging around:
You must play fair.

And when you blatantly don't play fair, when the rules are retrospectively changed to make it seem all right that you didn't play fair, then everybody starts to boo, from nursery to village green. Funnily enough, I haven't seen the country this united in a response since Brexit!

[thisnewday]

"Well, you know, those pictures of crowded beaches may or may not be representative."

They may not be representative, in a numerical or proportional sense, but they are representative of something. And that something may be more powerful than the numbers they may or may not represent.

As you rightly point out, that something may be the very attitude, spirit, whatever, which drove the election of these two miscreants in our respective countries...

[mallorys_camera]

they are representative of something

Well. At least one of those somethings may well be media bias.

To my mind, yellow journalism is yellow journalism—whether it's propaganda for right-leaning interests or left-leaning interests.

Although, of course, it may also be that the shot was representative, and the entire crowded beach was teeming with the unmasked and the un-distanced.

My point, I suppose, is that one can't depend upon the media to tell one that.

[mallorys_camera]

Oh, I agree that there can't be two sets of rules.

Interestingly, the Cummings affair has received very little media coverage on this side of the pond. I've learned about it mostly by reading the online diaries of my various Brit pals.

I'm still thinking that Sweden's approach is the best way to handle the pandemic. But, of course, it will be impossible to evaluate any approaches for at least three years. And maybe longer.

[thisnewday]

"To my mind, yellow journalism is yellow journalism..."

Yes, I totally agree...

[smokingboot]

It doesn't surprise me, I can't imagine that this would matter much beyond a domestic audience.

DC would have found this hard to swerve around had he been popular or even unknown, but as it is he's divisive for a number of reasons. Despite being the brain behind Brexit's win he alienates people, even Brexiters. I recall being at a protest outside Westminster Palace last year when we were all waiting for a decision from the Lords, and MPs were pouring out of the HoC just happy to chat with any and all. Many were talking about Cummings' weirdly aggressive attitude behind the scenes, big glass of red wine in his hands, screaming at Corbyn for an election and just being offensive to any and all. These comments were not all from opposition MPs.

Re Sweden, I understand that its immediate neighbours are not impressed, but as you say, it's going to be years before we can draw accurate conclusions from current data.

[smokingboot]

As do I.

Having said that, after seeing genuine footage of VE day celebrations during lockdown I'm sure our British brand of covidiocy doesn't need yellow journalism to make it special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4-8jrFXvVc

[thisnewday]

"just pretend they are all in a conga line going into a mass grave, then it's much easier to watch!"

--comment from "Jimmy Bignuts"

(No kidding, that's his YouTube name. Had me laughing mine off, lol.)

[smokingboot]

Oh no! I'm laughing at the name and the image!

Clearly I'm a bad, bad person!