love* in the time of plague (and by love* i mean brexit* and other dreary matters of uk politics)

I’ve got some ideas, but I wouldn’t write them down ;)

Watching the aftermath and Sarah Jones MP (Labour) is answering some questions (which are a total joke) on the BBC but she didn’t call for his sacking! Again, an inquiry! Fucking hell, why?!

What are they going to flood the media with that isn't connected with the pandemic and which can't find it's way back eventually back to the Dominic Cummings story?

It’s cynical to look at opportunities for change and shrug “nothing is big”. Big things are still big; anger without an outlet is still anger.

The deck is utterly stacked here and things are dreadful, but the situation isn’t hopeless. Hell, even if he stays there are a lot of ardent supporters who are being turned into conditional supporters today and that’s worth something. My Tories twitter list is quite the sight. Even Lolico is reduced to “well, they can’t prove it”.

Arrogant and offensive.

Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?

— UK Civil Service (@UKCivilService) May 24, 2020

??

Wow.

Arrogant and offensive.

Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?

— UK Civil Service (@UKCivilService) May 24, 2020

I just got sent that, fair fucks to whoever tweeted that.

Also, lets be real here - what is the sacking of Cummings supposed to achieve? How does it help me? This falling back on individual character misdeeds, what is it for? Put the moral high ground in the bin and the slates on the roof

Sincerely hope the mirror are sitting on some cctv footage that gets dropped tonight.

xp consequences? That the government can’t act with impunity, that we all obey the same law.

I think the inquiry line is good. It keeps the focus on finding out what actually happened and doesn’t turn it into a Red vs Blue fight which they will lose as always.

“i don’t care. who is he? who cares what he does?”

He's the prime minister, a beloved figure off HIGNFY

Also, lets be real here - what is the sacking of Cummings supposed to achieve? How does it help me?

It makes me feel better. That good enough for you?

Because he's a sociopathic eugenicist and Johnson would be floundering without him

It makes me feel better. That good enough for you?

Sure!

At last some positivity.

He should be sacked imo

Johnson absolutely seems more dependent on, and committed to, Cummings than Trump was on either Manafort or Bannon.

Because he's a sociopathic eugenicist and Johnson would be floundering without him

then it makes no sense for Boris to sack him? Why would he cripple himself over some sbort term media kerfuffle that will be forgotten by August

Of course he should be sacked, they should all be sacked, and jailed.

Lol even the Tories I know want blood and I can’t disagree, meanwhile

Millions were watching for answers and they got nothing. That’s why the Cabinet Secretary must now launch an urgent inquiry.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 24, 2020

Well he wouldn't, that's just how it would help me
xpost

Keir, FFS.

He's the prime minister, a beloved figure off HIGNFY

she was talking about cummings, who she’s never heard of, because the inside baseball aspect of politics is not her thing, which is something i suspect she shares with a large majority of the public. so somebody in the government disobeyed the rules? well i never!!

Look, don't get me wrong here, I've long advocated for physical violence towards Conservative MPs and their goons but from his perspective...why would he get rid of him over something that will be forgotten in 8 weeks. Just launch some bullshit inquiry or something

Kier does just love a good inquiry

My family in Ireland don’t follow politics here and yet they were sending me Cummings memes all afternoon, if my parents were circulating those memes then they’re going to be going around WhatsApp groups here no question. No consequences, as I always say, but if people didn’t know before, they do now.

Meanwhile, in Canada, both Justin Trudeau and Ontario premier Doug Ford acted like royalty by spending Easter weekend at their respective cottages. It was a mini-scandal for a couple of days then everyone forgot about it. If anything, their approval ratings may have gone up because to err is human.

Also someone in the govt, or just an advisor, breaking the rules has been a story many times leading to resignations tbf

Holy shit Tory MP saying labour aren't going far enough.

— Luke #CancelTheRent 🧊 (@LukasMukasPukas) May 24, 2020

Meanwhile, in Canada, both Justin Trudeau and Ontario premier Doug Ford acted like royalty by spending Easter weekend at their respective cottages. It was a mini-scandal for a couple of days then everyone forgot about it. If anything, their approval ratings may have gone up because to err is human.

Yes, but Cummings is a cunt who no-one likes.

Given the current circumstances, comparing this to Damian Green having a wank in his office or whatever, is obtuse.

A worker has kept their job in an extremely difficult marketplace, you should all be pleased.

— Simon Hedges (@Orwell_Fan) May 24, 2020

Rogue civil servant alert!

Holy moly.

(Screenshot added for when original tweet is deleted) https://t.co/1T1eqAt7D7 pic.twitter.com/i8VV1GU1X4

— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) May 24, 2020

Apparently was up for 10 mins, got 25.7k retweets.

And I preserved it for all posterity upthread!

Cummings entire strategy for government is based around not caring about short term unpopularity, it's there in the job ad he posted. And they can do what they want with five years to an election and an 80 seat majority.

Given that Boris has choked it I guess that's that, unless they start worrying about long term unpopularity.

Sorry suzy, no idea how I didn't see it there

The PM is also quite clear that Dominic Cummings self-isolated for a full 14 days at his family's Durham home.

"That's what Mr Cummings and his family did".

"Mr Cummings did isolate for 14 days or more".

Hostage to fortune?

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) May 24, 2020

He's the prime minister, a beloved figure off HIGNFY

she was talking about cummings, who she’s never heard of, because the inside baseball aspect of politics is not her thing, which is something i suspect she shares with a large majority of the public. so somebody in the government disobeyed the rules? well i never!!

Right, which is why if any of the other routes out of this were taken, it wouldn't be a big deal. But the entire cabinet, including Boris Johnson, has weighed in by retroactively redrawing the rules, which is why it's a big deal.

I made my views clear to my whip yesterday. There cannot be one rule for most of us and wriggle room for others. My inbox is rammed with very angry constituents and I do not blame them. They have made difficult sacrifices over the course of the last 9 weeks.

— Caroline Nokes MP (@carolinenokes) May 24, 2020

This is a lot stronger from Starmer:

This was a test of the Prime Minister and he has failed it.

It is an insult to sacrifices made by the British people that Boris Johnson has chosen to take no action against Dominic Cummings.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 24, 2020

Yes, but Cummings is a cunt who no-one likes.

That, and Britain was hit way harder than Canada (Quebec and especially Montreal notwithstanding).

xp your tweet is 1/3, mine was 3/3

Be nice if Starmer could leave nationality out of it tbh

This has just been tweeted from the UK Civil Service account.

This is the craziest political weekend for a long time. pic.twitter.com/u4x0i6plHL

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 24, 2020

Why? hits harder with the people it needs to hit hard with? Also no one in Grodno or Gomel was making any sacrifices, didn't even stop their league

Voters don't care about an enquiry, but they do care about being asked to keep away from their loved ones and shutter their businesses only for a representative of the elite (which is what Cummings is now) to just do what he wants. That the grievance you want to be exploiting because its all the rage Cummings has spent years whipping up, and it's blowing up in his face.

Difficult to wage a culture war when people have decided they want to go to war with you instead.

Also the pandemic is still ongoing and the government is going to have a shit load of unpopular decisions, a once in a lifetime recession and very possibly a second spike in deaths on its hands and this whole episode is going to make it much more difficult to communicate that. They've got this far on national goodwill which has well and truly soured now.

in realpolitik terms it might be better to leave Cummings there for a bit longer so if the anger continues to build it will attach to Johnson too, not that I'd attribute that level of cunning to Starmzy

Calling an enquiry increases the short term pressure and puts the people currently lying about Cummings on notice that someone might, in the future, be held accountable. It doesn’t matter whether it ever actually happens.

And I preserved it for all posterity upthread!

― santa clause four (suzy), Sunday, 24 May 2020 bookmarkflaglink

*Cough*