Britons are in an uproar over an illicit road trip taken by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top aide while the country was under shutdown — a scandal that has echoes of the U.S.’s own COVID-19 culture warring, but that seems quaint by American standards.
Cummings is a toxic dick. Stories like this perfectly illustrate a point that is always worth making:
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” – Frank Wilhoit.
The Brits still have a rules-based society. Even if the Tories are given wide berth, there is this tacit assumption that the same rules kind of apply to everybody. This why you can have a common law and unwritten constitution for centuries.
Johnson says he can understand why people are “confused?” They’re not confused, they’re clearly pissed, without being confused about why. Such arrogance!
That’s how and why tragedies like The Grenfell Tower fire keep happening.
Johnson’s populist act falls apart without a crowd of live Tory bully-boys hooting him on. Their mindless cheering (like Trump-rally crowds) hides the fact that he’s a naked, useless idiot. COVID has left the House virtually empty at Question Time, and Boris is alone and panicked.
Starmer – a career prosecutor – keeps relentlessly, mercilessly putting the screws to him. Slowly and methodically tearing down the inherent Tory contradictions and empty blather. Johnson comes across, again and again, as a cornered animal whose fate is sealed.
Look for him to rush a dangerous, premature, Trump-like “opening back up” to fill the House with boisterous morons again.
Cummings is the evil brains of the BREXIT crew; Johnson is their dancing monkey. This will not hold forever. We are seeing the cracks in the plumbing starting to leak the political sewage that is conservative populism.
The British have done a lot to screw things up for themselves. I think getting worked up over something like this is good, because it speaks to a larger problem that could be life and death impacting if the same behavior is applied to a bigger issue. We missed many opportunities as a society to rein Trump in and the result is this pandemic in which the very nature of his personality causes death, sickness and devastation. He’s a walking plague and it all could’ve been prevented if we had acted properly before when so many signs of his manifest unfitness for office were apparent.
Meanwhile, in another shithole country
Cough in his face and tell him you have Ebola.
And this:
Cummings “followed the instincts of every father and every parent.”
That’s the whole point; other parents and children are needing to deny those same instincts for the common good. Again, if you’re a conservative, the rules that apply to other people don’t apply to you.
So he deliberately exposed his parents and his children and sees nothing wrong with that?
Dom Cummings is like Steve Banon.
https://twitter.com/AndrewWilliaaf/status/1265395051007488000
From the FT:
https://www.ft.com/content/cfff1b72-9e12-4e7f-a67b-db6eef0443c0
Talk about corrupt European leaders, Poot is clearly trumPP’s mentor.
He promised cash bonuses of up to $1,100 a month for each doctor, nurse and other “front line” health worker involved in fighting the virus.
More than a month after he spoke, the money has yet to materialize for many. Instead, some doctors have received visits from police investigators and prosecutors demanding to know why they complained publicly about not getting their bonuses.
He actually drove over 580 miles. London to Durham is 260 miles, so there’s 520 miles. The “checking eyesight” trip was 30 miles each way. Oh, and the day trip to the castle happened to be on his wife’s birthday.
His son ended up needing to go to hospital but was thankfully ok. One of the reasons people were told not to travel was to not put undue burden on the NHS by going to a location where you are not registered.
In summary, Cummings is just your standard Tory entitled arsehole.
Marina Hyde is always worth a read.
This the modern equivalent of the old playground-bully classic; kick him in the balls and call him a loser.
And yet again, Jacinda shows the way.
That scandal lasted exactly as long as it took her to sanction him and has since been forgotten.
It’s remarkable what strong, principled leadership can accomplish. Wish we had some here.
