In defence of Cummings?

About a week ago I was about to pen a defence of Dominic Cummings’ actions.

That was before all of the BS broke about testing his eyesight, and whether he blogged about coronaviruses or not, all of which was all totally indefensible; of course he should have resigned, like Mandelson used to whenever he fucked up. A symbolic gesture to shut up the press, everyone can move on.

Even if you agree with his actions morally, they’re politically untenable, and Boris can’t admit that his guidelines are open to interpretation.

What stopped me on Monday was the suggestion that people weren’t really upset about what he did, it was the cover up and Boris’s response that angered them. Then I saw Ian Hislop’s hilarious, season-topping performance on Friday’s Have I Got News for You, and whilst I loved it, it also concerned me.

He was angry at Cummings just for breaking the rules.

If someone I know personally, on their wife falling ill and in fear they might not be able to look after their four-year-old kid, travelled from one empty house to another, in a private car, to be near a family network, I would 100% support that action.

I’m shocked that more people don’t have compassion for this. Even if he had access to child support in London, it seems to me a perfectly natural parental response to want to be near ones family.

You could argue that, since he made the rules, he should not break them, but given that I believe the actions in themselves to be fine and understandable, that would require double standards on my part; demanding there be one rule for them and another for us.

What I find most deeply concerning about the whole affair is what people seem to think being a good citizen consists of.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT OUR DUTY TO BLINDLY FOLLOW EVERY RULE AND LAW OF THE LAND.

You cannot treat our legislative framework like a set of Lego instructions on how to live your life. The law exists as a government mechanism for when people do harm to the community.

It’s a blunt tool. Despite the excesses in Derbyshire, the police generally know this. It is quite feasible that, had he been caught in his 260 mile journey, he would have been allowed to continue.

What dismays and angers me is how people, including Hislop, compare his flight to visiting loved ones, or attending funerals and weddings.

The whole point of the lock-down legislation is to prevent households from mixing and spreading the disease. That is all they are trying to do. That is the only important aspect, has ever been.

It never mattered how many times you pass through your front door, or whether you run or sit in the park. These rules exist so that the police can move you on if you are congregating, but no one has ever really cared as long as you’re social distancing.

On my girlfriend’s birthday, before we had to worry about being alert, we went to Primrose Hill. When we arrived, I was a little concerned about sitting down and opening the bottle of prosecco because there were a couple of coppers at the top of the hill. We chanced it, and they didn’t bat an eyelid. Because we were socially distancing. Yes, we were breaking the rules, but were we doing any harm? No, because we understood the reasons behind the law.

A responsible citizen understands the rules, why they exist, what they are trying to prevent, and does not harm the community.

A responsible citizen is, well, responsible for their actions.

If all laws were fair, and people public-minded, no one would obey the rules because it wouldn’t occur to them to break them. I don’t refrain from running around stabbing people because it’s illegal. I only really obey the law when I see a yellow box at the side of the road. I’d be amazed if anyone reading this has never broken a law. That’s good. Not because breaking the rules is in anyway cool or admirable, but because you’re an independent thinker, not some cowed sheep.

If this scandal has made people feel stupid because they haven’t visited their loved ones, then, I’m sorry, but that’s because they’re stupid. Not for their restraint, but because they don’t understand what’s going on.

What really enrages me is the outpouring of self-righteous indignation from these people. It’s actually their fault that we’ve all suffered lock-down. If they were capable of understanding the situation, and acting responsibly, we wouldn’t need these prohibitive measures.

I’ve spent most of my adult life complaining about the populous’ willingness to absolve their personal responsibility to the government, in this crisis that tendency has gone through the roof. It isn’t the government’s job to micromanage our lives. Do you even trust them?

I’ve never voted for anyone who’s won anything, I’m certainly not going to sit around waiting for them to tell me what to do. If I screw up, it’s my fault, not theirs.

Does that make me a bad citizen?

I don’t think so.