It is so wonderful how what goes around, comes around, nothing more so than the rollout of a new discovery system: contact and tracing. And the obvious first contact is that government adviser who did what he wanted: Dominic Cummings. His knee-jerk reaction to take his family to his parents’ home was the same as 90% of parents in this country. The difference was that Boris had asked us to stay in lockdown. Why should he then patently stand beside this individual? Together they have made a crack in lockdown. Boris Johnson is still not well enough to return to work and is so reliant on this Dominic Cummings that he is not thinking straight.
What are we all thinking now? Well if he can do it, we can do it. and does Boris Johnson not realize that to protect someone who arrogantly broke the lockdown conditions and drove for 5 hours to reach his parents’ farm near Durham, makes his personal trust level plummet.
Hundreds of thousands of families have been in lockdown, social distancing by 6 feet, one from another. You see, the British have always been keen on fairness and fair play. So, everyone must follow rules, except it appears by arrogant government advisers. It is nepotism in its basic, cruellest form.
And then Mr Cummings couldn’t let it go, could he? He made a statement, the prerogative of Prime Ministers and the Queen, not jumped-up Civil Servants. We listened in vain for an apology, that would have gone such a long way to healing us. But no, he would do the same thing again.
Great. And the latest twist? Someone, no guesses, leaked to the Press, that Mr Cummings would be leaving in 6 months. What a joke. Readers of the FT on Friday 22 May 2020 know. An article by Sebastian Payne and George Parker talked about how Mr Simon Case, the current Private Secretary to Prince William is coming in to oversee the Coronavirus Pandemic. He is an expert in Logistics, which we sorely need. it is fascinating to note that the article is on the same page as a headline:
Tracing army sits in the sun awaiting orders for mission to outflank virus.
There have been a lot of computer crashes lately. For some reason, people running mega companies did not realize that computer programmers given furlough, were going to be playing games 24/7.
So go now, Mr Cummings, although his face in a morning newspaper showed his shock at being escorted to work by the police. Obviously another one who does not realize his impact. Besides his dress code needs a serious look, if he wants to work in the City.
Boris needs to line up aCabinet MP or Civil Servant for a particular role, like Fisheries and have them on hand for Coronavirus Question Times every day.. It is simply unfair to expect Boris to know the detail of every role.
Oh, I was wrong, in an earlier post, about quarantine orders on incomers. At this time of year, they are tourists and we should be grateful. They are ideal subjects to do contact tracing and reports could be sent to their country of origin. And they should be tested on departure. Surely, it’s just a computer program?
And back to Dominic Cummings, whose vague remarks about stopping in a wood on the way back from Durham, make him an ideal test subject for contact tracing. If he refuses, Boris must not back him up, otherwise he is guilty of backing up someone who drove wildly out of area, while the rest of us are staying in lockdown.
Boris Johnson must show his leadership qualities and allow Dominic Cummings to leave quietly. The troublemakers are coming out in other countries. we rely on the government to keep us safe.
Stay well, keep safe
LucyLou
Lucyloupoliblog 