Home to roost

Is it not a strange coincidence that at this very time of year, when the rookery nests are full of cawing, hungry young scavengers, the chattering classes are in a similar crescendo, calling for the demise of the archspad Dominic Cummings?

First, their concerted faux concerns about him sitting in on Sage meetings then, two months after his trip to secure the safety of his family, the screeching banshees tried to get him at any cost.

Since time immemorial, heads of state and government have been surrounded by special advisers to help keep an eye on all sorts of affairs, such as Sir Francis Walsingham for Queen Elizabeth I and Daniel Defoe for William III. In mode rn times we have had alastair Campbell for the Blair government and now Dominic Cummings for the Johnson one.

These appointees may not be everyone’s cup of tea; however, they provide a necessary spare set of eyes and ears and an advice safety net for their boss, who cannot be everywhere at once.

People of like-minded expertise and persuasion are not always correct in their analysis of data and their recommendations can have serious repercussions for us all.

To illustrate my point, during the second World War, Dr Magnus Pyke was at the Ministry of Food and there his team came up with the idea that the haemoglobin by-product for plasma transfusions could be used for making black puddings for human consumption. Thankfully this idea was quickly put to rest by one of the government special advisers who latched on to the proposal before it saw the light of day.

There is something afoot in the dirty world of politics with this whole Cummings affair. Time will out!

ARCHIE BURLEIGH Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire