CUMMINGS AND GOINGS.

As the furore around Dominic Cummings continues apace, I wonder just how many of "the public" actually give a damn, despite the media claims that public opinion is in favour of him being sacked.

Cummings is a man who would be unknown to "the public" were it not for the media's obsession with him. He is a back-room boy who does not appear on public platforms and does not tell "the public" what we should or should not do; while he may well have influence behind the scenes, we have no direct knowledge of what that influence might be, beyond what the Cummings-hating media and left wing politicians, clergymen and others tell us. 

Yet again today the BBC has trotted out a string of Cummings hating opponents of Boris Johnson and his government to repeat the cry "Cummings must go !" over and over again. We are told that hordes of Conservative MPs are also baying for his blood, but no one reminds us that this is as much about a revolt by the anti-Boris lobby in the party as it is about Cummings. However, we are reminded that others who broke the rules were sacked, or resigned, citing the cases of Neil Ferguson and Catherine Calderwood, but without pointing out that these cases were rather different.

Ferguson invited a  woman with whom he was reportedly in a relationship to visit him at home, while Calderwood had twice taken her family to a holiday home, stayed away from home overnight and spent time on a local beach. In neither case was there any reason for the breach of the regulations other than straightforward lack of concern for the rules. Most importantly, both Ferguson and Calderwood had appeared on screen providing advice to the public about the measures needed to contain the coronavirus epidemic and the importance of maintaining the lockdown.

It is clear that Dominic Cummings isn't liked but the reaction to his misdemeanours is surely very excessive. That our media has now spent days talking about little else and that almost every question from its representatives at Sunday's Downing Street press conference centred on this nonsense, says much about its failure to report the news and manic desire to create it. What "the public" need is proper news and proper analysis, not stories whipped up in a media frenzy. 

It's time to move on.