There's a scene in the final Harry Potter film where one of the henchmen to Draco Malfoy breaks his wand meaning every time he waves it it sets fire to everything around it. This came to mind reading this that someone who could apparently weave magic is now just burning down everything around him.
The fundamental problem Cummings has is his own argument is circular.
If he or his wife was ill, they should have stayed put.
If neither he nor his wife were ill, there was no need to travel.
Ultimately those two boxes at the bottom are what will most concern any wavering Tories (and some steadfast ones too). And they're not going in the right direction from their perspective.
"Balance". In the same way they always had to have Nigel Lawson on to debate climate science with actual climate scientists because they couldn't find anyone else.
This is clearly the bit of the story they're going to most struggle to defend, mostly because everyone can see that the idea of driving 30 miles to test your eyesight is utterly stupid
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A large part of the problem is that the Downing Street press conferences have always been in the hands of the political units, rather than the science / health ones, and that goes for all the media outlets. Which is why the questioning was often quite weak in the first few weeks as it's highly...
This is their big problem. There aren't two groups they can face off against each other in a culture war and distract everyone while they carry on regardless. Everyone has obeyed the lockdown, and those that haven't are miniscule in number. They've alienated everyone who followed their own rules...