Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
No ‘hounding’ of city’s MP
I cannot be the only one who really couldn’t care less that Rosie Duffield bent the lockdown rules; actually, I couldn’t care less that Dominic Cummings bent the lockdown rules either - rules they say are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.
Many of us will sympathise with Rosie and Dominic as we have also “bent the rules” a bit and done no harm by doing so, because we have done so safely and not joined in mass drinkfuelled gatherings.
Rosie spent time with a new partner and, putting morality to one side, caused no lockdown harm.
Unlike your correspondent Brian Moore [Letters, June 5], I think it a bit unlikely that they socially distanced at all times while in her home. Dominic Cummings drove to Durham, in a car with his family, and then isolated because they had symptoms - what harm was done? None. Before setting off on a 300-mile journey home he did a shorter local trip to make sure he was OK to tackle the motorway; sounds sensible to me. You don’t want to be on the M1 when you discover 30 minutes into the journey that you shouldn’t have done it!
Brian Moore finds it unacceptable Rosie being “hounded” by the “right-wing” press; she merited a few short newspaper items - not much hounding there. Somehow, however, the dayafter-day hounding of Dominic Cummings in the press and on TV, Mr Moore did find acceptable. Dominic Cummings is not a politician, he’s not a scientist or doctor fronting the campaign, he’s just a hate figure for leftwingers and therefore somehow it’s acceptable to hound him out of his job, make him unemployed and make him suffer.
There is a curious left-wing mindset which considers any harm done to a right-wing figure is morally acceptable. I’m pleased we of the “right” don’t think like that.
Perhaps Mr Moore would like to spend a moment pondering his double standards. Bob Britnell Orchard Close, Canterbury
■ Yes, Rosie Duffield probably made a mistake, but she handled this indiscretion immediately and decisively. What better indication of this than the measured support she’s had from
Roger Gale of all people (contrast his view on Cummings!). “The person who never made a mistake never made anything”. Two things that show a person’s true character is how they react in a crisis and how they react to making a mistake. It helps to have a backstory that fits the face of an honourable and decent person. Our MP fits all three. I’m not sure if Johnson and Cummings fit any.
Take a look at the very latest explosive piece of news on Cummings: the Durham cottage that he stayed in and owned jointly with his Dad was not exempt from formalities as an agricultural building; it was built (in a conservation area) without planning permission or permission from the coal authority, is not registered for nor pays any council tax, and appears on no official records. Ms Duffield deserves to weather this storm easily, and rightly so, in my opinion. John Kemp South Street, Whitstable
■ After reading Brian Moore’s letter I had to check the calendar but discovered that it was not April 1st.
His comments that in a fivehour walk with Mr Routh and on a visit by him to her Canterbury house they probably stayed two metres apart reaches an amazing level of credibility and might I suggest incredible naivety.
Any amazement at what the right-wing or indeed left-wing press print should be tempered with a degree of balance as to the level of accuracy that should be applied to the printed words. They are both guilty of exaggeration and misrepresentation as witnessed by libel and slander cases through the years.
The final sentence of his letter suggests he prefers to witness life through rose-tinted glasses with his comment that transgressions involving decisions guided by the heart rather than the head should be forgiven.
I wonder what the view of Mr Moore would be of transgressions made under the heading ‘crime passionel’?
Ms Duffield is no stranger to hypocrisy herself – she is opposed to new grammar schools yet sent her two children to grammar schools. Terry Hancock Heathfield Way, Barham