Oh My God !
With the country suffering the worst epidemic for 100 years, government borrowing and debt rising at a rate not seen since the Second World War and crucial decisions about Brexit coming up in the next few weeks, the newspapers and media has found a far worse story on which to concentrate.
Did Dominic Cummings break the rules of lockdown ?!
In fact, it's not just the newspapers that are now obsessing with this story, it's also the various radio and television media too, with the jolly old lefties at the BBC leading the way in trying to get their teeth into that horrid man and his friends in government. They've dredged up anyone they can find who will demand that "Cummings must go", even including some former policeman whose opinion was broadcast this morning, entirely unchallenged, on Radio 4.
We've been treated to the journalist mainly responsible for the original story, Pippa Crerar of that well known Tory (ha, ha !) newspaper the Mirror, who - Shock, Horror ! - stood by her story and demanded "Cummings must go", again unchallenged on the Andrew Marr programme. Even Marr's quick flick through of the day's newspaper headlines contained inflections which clearly indicated his own views on the matter, while his sneery attitude towards the government's comments on 'campaigning newspapers' seemed to ignore that the fact that newspapers are meant to report the news, not make it.
Did Cummings break the rules ? I don't know and, frankly, I don't really care. There are far more important things to worry about at the moment and for the media to be treating what is a very minor story as if it is an earth shattering scandal is ludicrous. This is a media which places more importance on its ability to claim the heads of as many political figures as it can, than on actually reporting serious news. It's the same BBC that reacted so egregiously over allegations levelled against Cliff Richard and others, assuming that the allegations were true rather than simply the unsupported ravings of fanatics and lunatics.
The furore about Dominic Cummings is a diversion from real news and should be resisted by the government. Whether it will be or not, will be an indicator of the true strength of Boris Johnson and his government.
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