HOWLS OF RAGE AND DESPAIR FROM READERS WHO STAYED AT HOME
Cummings needs sacking
During lockdown, my wife’s son of 45 with two children of four and six has been diagnosed with cancer. We cannot travel to his home in Worcester from Hartlepool to comfort them. Dominic Cummings seems to think the same rules don’t apply to him. He needs sacking, Boris. get it done!
J T SmiTh, hartlepool
He treated us with contempt
We are writing to you to express our shock and anger at hearing that Dominic Cummings flagrantly broke the lockdown rules and appears to be supported in doing so by the Prime Minister, Michael gove and other ministers.
Many people throughout the country will have found themselves in similar circumstances to Cummings and yet obeyed the instructions we were given to stay at home.
My wife and i live in Marlborough in Wiltshire and our daughter and her husband and two young children live ten miles away in Swindon. They both developed Covid-19 symptoms and had to selfisolate and look after their children at the same time.
imagine our frustration at living so close and yet not being able to help. This was a sacrifice we had to make. We believe that Cummings’ actions and the support he has received indicate that there appears to be one rule for the ruling class and one for the rest of us, which goes against any notion of fairness and shows staggering arrogance and contempt for the British people. He should resign immediately and the government should apologise. Andrew And SArAh Bumphrey,
marlborough, wiltshire
A fatally flawed decision
For the last nine weeks i have not seen my partner who lives 60 miles away.
We have made this sacrifice in the knowledge that our actions individually will have no appreciable effect on the health of the nation and in practice we could have continued our lives together.
We also believe that if everyone ignored government coronavirus regulations then tens of thousands of extra deaths would accrue from many different causes.
The spectacle of Cabinet ministers mangling the truth and twisting the wording of clear instructions is one which is doing more in one weekend to undermine the success of this lockdown than any number of day trips to the seaside.
if Dominic Cummings is not removed from office then we (like many others) will be left wondering why we have bothered. We will, however, continue to observe lockdown restrictions because that is the right thing for us to do. i am afraid that millions of others will be thinking: ‘Why bother?’
i strongly suggest that in this instance the best thing to do is for the PM to bite the bullet and get rid of Mr Cummings. Any other action may fatally (and fatally is the word in this case) undermine the lockdown message and will be damaging to both party and country in the short, medium and long terms.
KeiTh riley, Stockport
Goodbye Tory Party
HAVing listened to the Prime Minister’s disgraceful defence of his senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, on the television and, as a long-time supporter of the Conservative Party, i can only say one word to the party while Boris Johnson remains in power at Downing Street: ‘goodbye!’
Andrew romAneS, via email/
Government has lost all credibility
iF the government had not already completely lost its credibility over its handling of the corona virus pandemic, it certainly has now by defending Dominic Cummings after he blatantly disregarded the government’s own lockdown measures.
Cummings should resign immediately or be sacked by Johnson, who should then himself resign.
What Cummings actually did was a reasonable, common sense act; the irony is this exposes the government’s policy to be completely misguided and, in my opinion, completely ill thought out.
mArTin hirST, Aberdeen.
It’s one rule for us...
THiS is a copy of the letter that i have just sent to the PM: Dear Prime Minister, i am 78 and my wife is 76 in July. We have scrupulously been observing your self-isolation instructions. We are missing our children, our grandchildren and members of our wider family. Added to this, we are no longer able to continue with our rewarding voluntary work.
This isolation is very distressing especially when there are confusing messages coming from the government.
imagine what a blow it has been to learn that there appears to be one rule for us and another for Mr Cummings and his family. richArd price, cambridge
What utter arrogance
WHAT a truly arrogant human being. ‘Do as i say, not as i do.’ i haven’t seen my grandchildren for weeks and didn’t expect to. if it was Joe Public he would be in serious trouble. i would like to know if he had a rest stop on the long journey, and if he had one, where. Must be sacked. diAnA mATrA, Ashford, Kent
I wish I could bend rules too
So, having stayed at home and not travelled anywhere for the past eight weeks, i could have driven 150 miles to see my grandchildren?? oh no, you’ve got be in the parliamentary set to bend the rules!
Beryl penn, Sheffield
Childcare DOES come first
i AM no fan of Dominic Cummings and i do not know all the details, but here is the other side of the lockdown coin.
My five-year-old brain-damaged granddaughter, with no speech and literally no understanding of how the world works, has been the catalyst for an unforeseen consequence of this pandemic. Her parents have not been coping and have decided to separate.
Despite the government saying vulnerable children would be returning to school over two months ago, the school has refused to comply.
Last week i drove for an hour to bail out this family. i am over 70, have a husband who is shielded and have isolated for over two months – but when the call came i did not hesitate.
Where children are involved, who knows how anyone will react. i would do it again as i am sure Dominic Cummings would. nAme wiThheld AT reAder’S reQueST
I couldn’t even hold my dying husband’s hand
To say i am appalled at Boris Johnson’s decision to back Dominic Cummings puts it lightly. one rule for him and another for the plebs.
i have had to ‘shield’ for weeks now, totally alone after the death of my husband from Covid-19, unable to visit him in hospital, hold his hand as he slipped away, attend his funeral. no visits or hugs from family or friends.
Why? Because government advice was to self-isolate if you had been in touch with someone who has Covid-19 symptoms. i also had to shield for my own health problems.
i feel that i could have gone against the advice, stayed quiet and visited the hospital instead of being honest. i could have held my husband’s hand and told him i loved him. Afterwards i could have allowed my family to visit and give me a hug.
i have read accounts of nHS workers with two or three children in similar situations and they managed to self-isolate and care for their family. How must they be feeling? Totally let down.
i have total disgust for Boris for allowing Dominic Cummings to continue in service. goodbye Conservatives.
AnonymouS