Opinions on how the Government have handled the coronavirus outbreak

[savvypaul]

Boris Johnson's sister Rachel flouts lockdown to stay at second home and play tennis:

Even Boris Johnson’s own sister isn’t playing by his rules any more – staying overnight at her London residence and enjoying a spot of tennis.

Radio host Rachel is courting more controversy for the embattled PM, splitting her time between her family farm and the capital.

She has made no secret of the fact she is isolating in Somerset, with “essential” journeys to her job in London as a presenter on LBC.

But she hasn’t mentioned that her work trips have included overnight stays at her Notting Hill residence.

While there Rachel has certainly played the advantage, hob-nobbing with pals yesterday and enjoying the sunshine despite her brother’s guidelines putting second homes well beyond reach during lockdown – as well as banning movement between two households.

Her husband and daughter are also at the Exmoor farm.

One Whitehall source said of the apparent double-fault in the wake of the national fury over Dominic Cummings: “It doesn’t look good for anyone.

"The story Boris is trying to avoid is of one rule for the elite and another for the rest.

“First his friend Dom and now his sister have been caught bending the rules, if not breaking them.”

After her show on Friday, Rachel returned to the west London home where her two sons also stay.

On Saturday, after a quick knock-up with pals and a dog walk, she took a train to Somerset.

A spokesman for the radio host said: “In line with the majority of broadcasters she is afforded keyworker status.

"The show finishes at 7pm. As it’s a four-hour journey back, she sometimes stays over.

“In line with the guidance, she makes a concerted effort to stay alert at all times.”

I think this is a non story. She's not part of the government.

[slinger]

It does still reflect on the PM though. Punters will say he "can't keep his adviser in line, can't keep his family in line (remember his father saying that he didn't care about the lockdown, if he needed to go to the pub he jolly well would. This was just after the story about him applying for French citizenship) so why should we take any notice of what he says. It's one more nail in the coffin currently containing the public's perception of his (and by association the government's) authority over them.

I've just seen, by the way, a repro of a document that shows Cummings is one of the owners of the cottage he buggered off to. That means that technically, he did go to stay at his second home, despite Johnson making a point of saying that's not what he did.

[karatestu]

Also somebody has uncovered that this co owned cottage did not having planning permission and not registered for council tax. If true that is very naughty and smacked bottom time

[slinger]

https://universalcreditsuffer.com/2 ... cil-tax/

[slinger]

[savvypaul]

It does still reflect on the PM though. Punters will say he "can't keep his adviser in line, can't keep his family in line (remember his father saying that he didn't care about the lockdown, if he needed to go to the pub he jolly well would. This was just after the story about him applying for French citizenship) so why should we take any notice of what he says. It's one more nail in the coffin currently containing the public's perception of his (and by association the government's) authority over them.

I've just seen, by the way, a repro of a document that shows Cummings is one of the owners of the cottage he buggered off to. That means that technically, he did go to stay at his second home, despite Johnson making a point of saying that's not what he did.

I don't buy that he is responsible for his sister or that her (arguable) transgression implicates him. We don't choose our family.

Would you support the idea that Corbyn's brother's views and idiotic actions implicate Corbyn as an idiot, too?

The Cummings one is already 'in the bank'. A few top-up deposits, every now and then, won't hurt, though.

[slinger]

I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying that that's the way people will use it as yet another excuse to flout the rules. And no, I wouldn't support the idea that Jeremy Corbyn is responsible for the nutter Piers, but that didn't stop the association being plastered all over the newspapers and social media.

[slinger]

New Dominic Cummings 'sightings' contradict his account of Barnard Castle trip

More witnesses in Barnard Castle claimed to have spotted Mr Cummings walking outside shops and along a woodland trail beside the River Tees.

The alleged sightings appear to contradict Mr Cummings’s explanation of his movements in the market town last month.

MORE

[SteveTheShadow]

There’s no need to hide,
Taking things the easy way.
If I stay inside,
I might live ‘til Saturday.

No marigolds in the promised land,
There’s a hole in the ground, where they used to grow.
Any man left on the Rio Grande is the King of the world as far as I know.

(Walter Becker, Donald Fagen)

[slinger]

So, let me see if I've got this right. The government's plan to avoid a second wave of infection is to keep the first wave going for as long as they can. Yes?