The exam result cock-up and humiliating u-turn whilst Boris is absent on holiday for the third time this year would seem to have all the usual hallmarks of Cummings at work - both the determination to use data and absence of any political nous. It's personification of the 'Cummings Doctrine' - either the normal rules rules don't apply, or they apply to other people. This as a reminder from 23rd May in Prospect Magazine:-
The Cummings doctrine: Normal rules do not apply
From drug-dealer dress to shutting down parliament, his contempt for the old ways helped him navigate the baffling and boring crisis of Brexit. But this time we really care—and No 10 will pay a price for his disdain
Too much time has been wasted on trying to decipher Dominic Cummings’s showy, research-strewn ramblings. He is not a puzzle to be solved intellectually, but psychoanalytically. And not an especially difficult puzzle either.
Contemptuous of just about every official and politician he has ever worked with, with only a partial exception for Michael Gove, he is a man with something to prove. Specifically, that he is right, that others are wrong, and that he is the biggest brain in the room.
The purported idea behind that notorious ad for assorted “misfits and weirdos” was to bypass a sclerotic civil service and bring the most brilliant scientists and economists into No 10. And yet in this avowedly open-minded appeal, Cummings presumed to tell the diverse new intellectual elite what exactly they should have been reading. He bandied around specific papers with clever-sounding names—“Computational rationality: A converging paradigm for intelligence in brains, minds, and machines” and “Early warning signals for critical transitions in a thermoacoustic system”—in a way that nobody would do unless they thought they knew it all already.
And since he’s been running the engine room of the Johnson government, he has been concerned to prove something beyond his brilliance: namely, his power. Incidents have ranged from displays of authority worthy of a petty gangster—such as contriving to have the former chancellor’s special adviser, Sonia Khan, marched out of No 10 by armed police—to more significant showdowns, such as manoeuvring her boss, Sajid Javid, out of the Treasury a few months later.
Although he himself pointedly refuses to join the political party that has put him in No 10, he drove an unprecedented purge of its ranks last autumn, withdrawing the whip from grandees like Kenneth Clarke who had been figures in it since before he was born.
Everything he has done in Downing Street, from the seismic (shutting down parliament) to the comic (dressing day-in day-out like a 1990s drug dealer) has served to underline one point: normal rules do not apply.
And so, when it comes to Covid-19, and the genuinely difficult problem of how to deal with a four-year old while caring for an infected wife and with every chance of getting sick himself, it is natural that Cummings should have felt entitled to improvise his own solution, without worrying about what the rules say. It’s in his character both to think he knows best, and to dismiss the law as an ass.
The first difficulty for him this time, though, is that this particular ass of a law is one he was involved in imposing. His second and even greater difficulty is that it was a law that has very directly affected every one of us, with many facing trying and difficult consequences, on a daily basis.
The river of raw anger on social media from people who have not been allowed to meet new grandchildren, hold the hands of the dying or attend funerals is of an entirely different character from the synthetic rage that frames the typical Westminster row.
In most political rows—and Cummings is quite right about this—the public see one set of clowns slinging mud at another and pay it very little mind. But when, much more rarely, they judge that their overlords are failing to follow their own rules we see the sort of genuine wrath which is not easily quelled, as with the great expenses crisis of 2009.
The flock of tweeting ministers arguing that it “isn’t a crime to care for your family” today reveals an administration betting everything on this being the ordinary sort of row that will blow over before long. So too, does Downing Street’s move to contradict the account of the Durham police force, which it is of course relying on to enforce the lockdown, about Cummings having been spoken to.
Why have they made this call? Why not either apologise, or let him go this morning and quietly bring him back in a few months? My suspicion is that the extraordinary tumult of Brexit, and the vindication in the December election of the Cummings strategy for navigating that, has persuaded the government as a whole to buy into his presumption about ordinary rules not applying. Here is the man who looked a bit wild, but got us through the last crisis, so let’s stand by him for the new crisis too.
It’s an understandable reaction, but one that badly misreads the mood. The substance of the last crisis was as boring as it was baffling. WTO trading terms, regulatory dis-alignment, limited customs checks within the island of Ireland: these are not things on which many of us could muster a view, still less any real passion, until they somehow got bound up with questions of identity, a binding Cummings cunningly helped to contrive.
Not being able to go and see your mum, however, now that is another question. We all care, and he has turned out not to care enough about that to throw his lot in with the rest of us. He may brazen this out, or—more likely—he may very soon be gone. Either way, however, the affair will have drawn a sharp line under the Johnson premiership’s honeymoon.
The posturing and institutional short-circuiting of the Brexit crisis is passing, and so is the license for anarchy it offered to Cummings and Johnson. We are instead into uniquely serious times. No 10 is in for a rude lesson in how the normal rules are back—and perhaps with special force.
--oo00oo--
Cummings has certainly made lots of enemies and there's evidence of the net closing in on him as reported in the Guardian at the weekend:-
Cummings has certainly made lots of enemies and there's evidence of the net closing in on him as reported in the Guardian at the weekend:-
Dominic Cummings urged to release data to disprove claim of second lockdown trip
Dominic Cummings has been asked to hand over mobile phone and vehicle tracking data to disprove claims that he made a second lockdown trip to Durham at the height of the pandemic. The request was made by Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for north-west England, who is leading a campaign for a full investigation into Cummings’ movements during the lockdown.
It was prompted by allegations from Dave and Clare Edwards and two others, who told the Guardian and the Daily Mirror that they had seen someone whom they believed to be Cummings in woods south of Durham on 19 April, days after he returned to London following his now notorious 17-day trip to the north-east.
The prime minister’s chief aide has denied making a second visit and says he has phone data to prove he was in London on 19 April. Boris Johnson says he has seen this evidence, but Downing Street has refused to make it available and regards the matter as closed.
In separate letters to Cummings and his wife, Mary Wakefield, however, lawyers for Afzal say there is a public interest in settling the matter by verifying the true extent of their lockdown movements including over the weekend of 17-19 April.
Explaining the move, Afzal said: “All we ask, on behalf of the law-abiding public, is that Mr Cummings, who has regularly spoken about the importance of data, provide the data that will evidence his whereabouts and prove he was telling the whole truth in the Downing Street garden.
“We have written to Ms Wakefield too because she has yet to give an account of her whereabouts, which has become increasingly relevant as witnesses give their accounts. The public deserve the truth, nothing else.”
The letters request location data from the couple’s mobile phones for their first trip to the north-east and for the disputed weekend. They also ask for tracking data from the two Land Rover Discovery vehicles the family were seen using in April and May. The models Cummings used record all the vehicles’ movements and share the data with the manufacturer.
The letters also ask for the couple’s authorisation for police to check automatic number plate recognition records for the lockdown movements of the vehicles. Their authorisation is also requested for Land Rover and Google to release location data.
At his press conference in the Downing Street rose garden in May, Cummings said it was untrue to claim that he had returned to Durham on 19 April. He said: “Photos and data on my phone prove this to be false, and local CCTV, if it exists, would also prove that I’m telling the truth that I was in London on that day. I was not in Durham.”
The letter to Cummings from Afzal’s lawyers reads:
“Having highlighted the importance of such evidence to the nation, you will no doubt agree that it is important that you ensure its provision, in light of the continuing controversy surrounding these matters. Because you expressly made reference to and relied upon phone and other camera-recorded data that you said would corroborate your account and would show that the contradictory witness accounts were ‘false’, any unwillingness now to produce that data would be highly significant.”
Durham police found that Cummings probably breached health protection rules by travelling to Barnard Castle on 12 April, but made no finding on his decision to leave London because the three-day investigation was confined to County Durham. Afzal, whose older brother died of Covid-19 on 8 April, and senior Labour figures have called on the Metropolitan police to investigate all Cumming’s alleged lockdown breaches.
Afzal’s letters also cite research that found a clear and lasting dip in public confidence in the government’s handling of the pandemic following the exposure of Cummings’ movements.
It is parliament that is letting us down by not standing by it's own rules.
ReplyDeleteWas not Dominic Cummings required to attend a session of some House of Commons Committee and then allowed to ignore the command?
That is about the same as a probation worker been called to court by a judge to explain comments in a report and just not going -traditionally it would not happen because failure to attend risks one being in contempt of court.
That is what is meant by acknowledging a Rules based system of Government - one has to abide by the Rules, even if one makes those rules, hence we have had various advisers resigning because they did not comply with the lockdown rules - except Cummings.
Incidentally, there is a video doing the rounds of Nigel Farage, for some strange reason ridiculing one who he effectively backed, Priti Patel the Home Secretary, who to the annoyance of some of her Witham, Essex constituents (where I live) discovered the Home Office had located some asylum seekers in a hotel at Rivenhall in a rather semi isolated part of the constituency.
I say at least it gave the hotel workers employment - though is not a very suitable location, but probably no less suitable than some of the other locations that have been used elsewhere.
Anyway, Farage has produced a video of himself going into the Rivenhall hotel to try to book a room, only to be told - fully booked.
He forgot to wear a face covering! I look forward to reading about him being fined. After all it is a rule set by a British Government, so surely, like Cummings it is one he will gladly recognise!
https://youtu.be/uZKSqf_h-Os?t=225
Am i the only one in a CRC who is dreading joining the NPS.
ReplyDeleteProbably not, but never forget the Emperor's mantra: "NPS good, CRC bad"
DeleteMy personal view? They're both fuckd up, they're both deeply unpleasant, ineffectual environments & they share the same incompetent bullies aka "excellent leaders".
But important to recognise they both have a core of extraordinary staff committed to getting the probation job done despite the fuckwittery, the bullying & the jerk-off behaviour of MoJ, HMPPS, NPS, CRC, Napo, etc.
Its those extraordinary people who have kept probation moving, NOT the "excellent leaders", the lickspittles or the compliant collaborators of whatever incarnation of TR we are experiencing.
Can't help but think of Johnson and Cummings in No10 in the same way I think of Saruman and Wormtounge in Isengard from the Lord of the rings.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't see either leaving the tower any time soon. Infact they're digging in.
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/cummings-moves-departments-in-latest-civil-service-shake-up-1-6790465
'Getafix
"Gríma [Wormtongue], son of Gálmód, was at first a faithful servant, but he eventually fell in league with Saruman, and from then on worked to weaken Théoden and his kingdom through lies and persuasion, in his position as chief advisor to the King."
DeleteMight I suggest Saruman=Gove while Johnson=Tehoden?
I'm eagerly waiting for the current-day equivalent of Cummings cutting Gove's throat, and wonder who the 'hobbit' will be, the one that fires the arrow that takes out Cummings.
Normal rules do not apply if you're black:
ReplyDeleteBlack Met Police inspector 'racially harassed' by officers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53811375
The two white officers simply walked off & drove away when Insp Ehikioya showed them his warrant card. The Met said it found no evidence of misconduct.
When will this shit end?
Taking a step back in time, here's the 2010 report that led to the creation of Public Health England:
ReplyDeletehttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/216278/dh_118053.pdf
It has the despicably misleading headline: "Liberating The NHS"
'Looting The Public Purse' might be closer to the truth.
Hancock announcing new organisation at Policy Exchange building
DeletePolicy Exchange: Founded: 2002
Director: Dean Godson - Prior to Policy Exchange, Dean was Chief Leader Writer of the Daily Telegraph. He also worked as Associate Editor of The Spectator, and was a contributing editor for Prospect Magazine.
Chairman of Trustees: Alexander Downer, former High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom
Founders: Michael Gove, Nick Boles, Archie Norman, Francis Maude
Just the setting for announcing such an expensive reorganisation of public services. Who needs Parliament? Not exactly the democractic freedom we were promised by the Brexit bollox - except for some.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/18/reports-of-rough-sleeping-in-uk-rose-sharply-during-lockdown
ReplyDeleteuk govt covid-19 propaganda 18/8/20
ReplyDelete* new cases reported - 1,089
* new deaths recorded within 28 days of +ve test - 12
We now have the following caveat on the govt data page:
"People who died from COVID-19 but had not tested positive are not included and people who died from COVID-19 more than 28 days after their first positive test are not included."
Frank.
Well, well, well, who'd have thought that this govt could produce two scapegoats in one day? Its a bit like that Goat Farm in north Lincs (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-53556776)
ReplyDeleteWilliamson blames Ofqual while Hancock blames PHE. Interesting to hear Jill Rutter (senior fellow at Institute for Govt) on C4 describe Johnson & co as always making announcements & being in permanent campaign mode when they should, in fact, be governing.
Strikes a very familiar chord. Trump's ineffectual & dangerous regime has been doing exactly that since 2016 - failing to govern, disrespecting the constitution, showing utter contempt for procedural correctness, campaigning at public expense, filling the pockets of their friends, and sacrificing the health & wealth of the nation while furthering their own needs & wants.
"shooting fish in a barrel"
"230,000 could lose homes as eviction ban ends in England and Wales"
ReplyDelete"BAME over-50s likely to be among poorest 20% in England"
A couple of Guardian headlines to underline the direction our new Brexit Britain is taking
equally disappointing & worrying:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/19/environment-agency-chief-backs-plan-to-water-down-river-cleanliness-rules-james-bevan
Brexit means we can scrap the EU-driven river quality directives, let the rivers die & pretend everything is ok.
In another reality far, far away...
Still no probation news anywhere. Never known it so quiet. Presumably the silence is indicative that probation is happy with its lot, that everyone is content & there is nothing to see here?
Covid-19 issues - check
caseloads - check
staff transfers - check
visor vetting - check
pay - check
Napo will be due a Nobel Prize for their excellence!
belated uk govt covid-19 blah blah 19/8/20
ReplyDeletenew cases = 812
deaths = 16
I mean no disrespect to the 16 who have died by writing 'blah blah'. Its just that I'm worn out by the shit-shovelling, the disinformation, the lying & the callous don't-give-a-fuck-smiley-faces of those who ought not to have jobs anymore, i.e. Hancock, Williamson, Jenrick, Johnson, Patel et al.
How can they possibly set aside the deaths of so many UK citizens from covid-19, mostly through their inaction & incompetence?
Using their own reduced formula another 16 people have died of covid-19 in the last 24 hours. That's 31 in the last three days. Thirty One families have lost someone to the virus since Monday.
In True Blue Brit fashion the virus is almost forgotten by most now - politicians, media & the vast majority of the population are now focused on a levels or btecs or the clear & present danger of migrants in dinghys. Went to a Tesco to shop this evening. About a dozen unmasked shoppers. Some may have had good reason, hard to tell of course. But at least four of them I know, and they have no reason to be unmasked other than their arrogance. Shop staff aren't challenging folks, word is getting around and increasing numbers are ignoring the 'rules'. One of those I know was a police officer - on duty, in uniform - who had nipped in for a sandwich & a bottle of cola. They nodded a 'hello' when they saw me.
Across the EU/EEA and the UK, we have had the second highest number of cases to date (4,000 shy of Spain but 7,000 more than Italy in 3rd place).
However, we have the highest death toll. We stand head-and-shoulders by 6,000 deaths ahead of than anyone in the EU/EEA.
The Tory distractors & blame-shifters have fought hard to keep that from the front pages.
At least 41,397 deaths in the UK. And counting.
Frank.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2020/aug/20/liz-truss-meetings-with-hard-brexit-group-deleted-from-public-register
ReplyDeleteCompletely off topic and self indulgent, but this makes so much sense to me I have to highlight it.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a wonderful way to fund it too.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/money-seized-criminals-fund-free-18791214.amp
'Getafix
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/heroin-prescription-treatment-middlesbrough-hat-results-crime-homelessness-drugs-a9680551.html%3famp
Delete'Getafix
Who would respond well to a call for 'social distancing'? Its a very negative concept.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could have called it 'physical distancing' and said something like "you can all continue to have social contact, but please ensure you maintain a two metre physical distance from others and wear a face covering in public spaces to keep yourself & others safe from transmission of the virus"
Meanwhile, in another universe:
"Matt Hancock has insisted the government is aiming to achieve the “moonshot” of population-wide testing for coronavirus – but declined to give any timescale on when it could be implemented.
The health secretary said mass testing, where it would become the “norm” for the public to get tested regularly for Covid-19, would allow the government to roll back some curbs to social freedoms."
And in yet another universe:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pause-to-prisoner-early-release-scheme
"The temporary release of low risk prisoners, which was one of the first steps taken as part of a wider strategy to protect the NHS and reduce the virus’ impact on the prison estate, will be paused at the end of August... Current cases will continue to be worked through, with releases being made until Thursday 27 August 2020."
And of the 4,000 releases announced, how many were released? Up to 7 August just 275 prisoners have been released under COVID-19 temporary release schemes.
Why have they released this, I wonder?
https://www.gov.uk/types-of-prison-sentence
uk govt covid-19 stuff
ReplyDeletecases in last 24 hours = 1,182 (about 3,700 for the week so far)
deaths in last 24 hours = 6
ECDC data shows 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100 000.
UK data for 20/8/20 = 20.9
Spain is 138.7
Germany is 17.9
Austria is 30.8
France is 46.3
Italy is 10.7
Frank