‘One rule for them, another for us’

So it’s one rule for the Government and another for the rest of us. Well done to the Oxford Mail’s Erin Lyons, for quizzing Boris Johnson about the Dominic Cummings scandal.

We all remember the Prime Minister busily shaking hands when the official advice was to avoid physical contact. Now his chief advisor, an official paid for by the taxpayer, has deliberately ignored lockdown rules. Cummings travelled to Durham to meet relatives when his wife was already infected with COVID-19.

Governments, even Conservative ones, should lead by example. Otherwise others will flout the rules and people could die. We’ve all made sacrifices during this pandemic for our own safety and for the greater good. Child care is an issue for lots of families but they still stick to the rules.

But this Government’s slogan is “Do as I say and not as I do”. They should hangs their heads in shame.

Cllr John Tanner (Labour) Littlemore ward,

Oxford City Council

Stanley raises a smile on son taking it easy

With all the doom and gloom at the moment, Stanley Johnson, the PM’s father, brought a smile to my face. In the national press last week, he said that he hopes his son will take it easy following the four weeks he had off suffering from the virus. Is he joking? Where is the PM? He makes an appearance on Wednesdays in the House of Commons and when challenged by the new Labour leader, makes U turns on his decisions.

It has been reported he doesn’t like to work at weekends. He refuses to be interviewed by Channel 4 news, Piers Morgan on ITVs Good Morning and when did you see him on BBC being interviewed? Is he waiting to hear that he has been knighted as the laziest UK Prime Minister ever?

Stuart Jarvis

How did we know the rules but Cummings didn't?

How have we got into such a position, and the population of the much stressed country subjected to a tissue of lies?

I had my doubts about Boris, but to be fair thought that until Mr Cummings decided to go on his wanderings he was doing a good job under very difficult circumstances.

That was until his Covid update and the merry go round of confusion.

I was led to believe that it was strictly forbidden to travel six miles to visit my son and grandson and under the circumstances accepted that to be the norm to protect the spread of covid. So why did he drive 260 miles or did he not understand the term self isolation.

People have buried loved ones and babies have been born with no family support so we have rules for us but not for the rule writers AGAIN.

Trust Boris I dont think so, Trump is a joke and now we have our own.

Tony Thouless 

We were never 'all in this together'

Far be it for me to question whether Dominic Cummings' non-observation of the lock-down rules was reasonable or not.  But far be it for Mr Cummings too.  One of the main points about laws is that it is not up to the individual to deem his or her own evaluation of a situation or his or her own private needs as of being of special importance, exempt from the law. 

Those who do may be courageous or foolish – either way they have to submit to the sanctions of the law and not consider themselves above it.

The simple message from the Prime Minister in his refusal to condemn Cummings' action is: “It’s all right for some.”

Well, it’s not.  Of course, we were never “all in it together” in the first place – that was always a lie: at a simple level, child-care for those in a cramped flat with no garden is not the same as child-care for those with ample space indoors and out; those in the gig-economy now finding themselves with neither work nor compansation are not in the same leaky craft as those with jobs unaffected by the pandemic.   But notwithstanding that important differentiation, we had assumed that we would all be equally subject to the law.  Apparently not.

If Boris Johnson wants us to obey the not unreasonable strictures of the lock-down, he should condemn Cummings' behaviour.  Or is Rasputin more powerful than the Tzar?

 Andrew Hornung 

How can we get an eye test?

In light of the recent, new way of testing eye sight, how can those of us who do not have a car be expected to drive 30 miles?

Pauline Massey

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