Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

This briefing, tomorrows papers and the PMQs wilL decide it IMO

Cummings problem is that people are interested in reading about him, particularly negative things about him. It's clickbait for the media so I think they will run with it until it dies.

The other issue is that his many enemies will pour into the breach, so secondary stories about him are more likely to come out now.

I don’t really have an opinion on it apart from I can see why they might have chosen to have done that.

Am I angry about it? Not really, not yet tbh. Might change my mind when more details come out.

I think the great majority of people spend less time being angry than people on Twitter tbh.

Not basing my evaluation on Twitter. Basing it on all the conservative grand parents in this country who are bitterly missing their grand children.

Next PMQ's isn't until 3rd of June sadly

I don’t really have an opinion on it apart from I can see why they might have chosen to have done that.

Am I angry about it? Not really, not yet tbh. Might change my mind when more details come out.

I think the great majority of people spend less time being angry than people on Twitter tbh.

I've not seen my parents since before the lockdown, we've had my brothers birthday, my mothers birthday and my birthday come and go, telephone conversations and a card in the post.

Now it turns out I could have gone down to see them because the lockdown doesn't count if you really want to go somewhere. That's annoying, and I don't think I'm alone in having followed the rules and then been confronted with Cummings simply ignoring them.

Other people have had to attend close relatives funerals via Zoom. I don't think this will die easily.

Ok. I’m guessing that a lot of people have better things to be angry about than this or they just didn’t really ‘do’ lockdown (ie my downstairs neighbours in the bastards thread) so will not care. Unless they are a dedicated non Cummings sympathiser, obvs.

I think the media has a careful line to walk here because they will need to judge the public’s mood and interest on it before deciding to go for blood. If they call it wrong it will be an own goal.

Now this is obviously what Cummings should have done, amazing that he didn't think of it:

The mayor of a small town in Peru played dead when police snared him flouting lockdown rules to allegedly drink with friends.

Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres, mayor of Tantara, hid in a coffin and faked his own death when officers arrived to arrest him, police said.

A picture released by local police shows him lying in an open casket with a face mask on, while his friends are said to have hid in drawers.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/peru-mayor-tantara-lockdown-a4447231.html

More seriously, it does seem to be hitting South America hard:

The South America continent [sic] has become the epicentre of the global pandemic with 2.1 million coronavirus cases.

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say he will be gone by Wednesday

I know it sucks balls, but don't underestimate the power of the Toddler as a get out of jail free card.

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say he will be gone by Wednesday

Yeah. That would be through the power of enemies in the Tory party, not bought on by the Press or public, would be my guess.

I think it's the other side of the coin. Parents and grandparents of kids thinking, 'we've suffered and followed the rules, why is this child more important than ours?'

@howard needless to say, but I always like to hear your views even when I disagree, because you are a voice of reason very often

Sidenote, but did anyone think the cabinet tweets were a cry for help designed to undermine Cummings? Surely they could have tried to make them sound a bit more authentic if they wanted to back him? They brought to mind a group of hostages on a video saying 'my captors have instructed me to make the following statement...'

I think the right wing press will go for him. He's not a tory, and is hated by many. He's gone against 'the people'. Not much in his favour apart from johnson's patronage.

I think the media has a careful line to walk here because they will need to judge the public’s mood and interest on it before deciding to go for blood. If they call it wrong it will be an own goal.

What's an own goal from the perspective of the media? I'm not sure what the risk which they need to be careful of is here. Other than readers/viewers not caring or sympathising.

Readers / viewers thinking "what bastards, going after that man who was only trying to act in the best interests of his family!" then running off to Brietbart or whatever.

Similar to the whole "stop going after Boris, he's clearly trying to do his best in a shit situation".

It’s bullshit though isn’t it - they’ve gone up to attend a birthday party.
No-one drives that far whilst seriously ill in order to get childcare, especially when you’ve got the sort of income they have and family in the local area.

Remember that a solid 30+% of people have never even heard of him. And another solid (large IMO) percentage of people won't care because they will or would have done the same or worse.

Would be a convenient scapegoat for the catastrophic "herd immunity" failure in the early days though. But I think he's too crucial to maintaining Boris' popularity to be sacked.

It’s bullshit though isn’t it - they’ve gone up to attend a birthday party.

Hah, I've read a few articles on it and that's the first time I've heard this.

(not saying it's not the case, I've probably been reading the wrong articles)

Dancing around the garden to ABBA, apparently.

ABBA

Burn him

I read the situation as people being pissed off that they have put their family second to what was best for society as they were being told to daily (stay home, save lives, protect the nhs), missed births, deaths and relatives final days, struggled alone when family help is near by and now being told they should of just used their common sense instead of interpretting the guidelines as black and white if they really cared about thier family

Haha I did find it strange how they all lined up and offered their support. I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near it.

Similar to the whole "stop going after Boris, he's clearly trying to do his best in a shit situation".

If that's an "own goal" by the media, and it's driving people to (more) extremists news sources, we've got much larger issues.

To be fair, I do think we're somewhat fucked. But I don't think a spad deeply tied to government coronavirus policy being held to account for ignoring those policies is something that's going to result in a spike in breitbart readers. Especially to the extent that other media sources meet to be careful reporting it.