In the Rose Garden

I found something more pleasurable to do than watch Dominic Cummings’ statement from the garden of No. 10 Downing Street (Who does he think he is? The Prime Minister? He should have done it from his living room like everybody else.) So I only caught a little snatch, and will await for a more reasoned analysis on the morrow. I did hear that he suggested he had to drive a 30-mile round trip to test his eyesight, with his family in tow. If that in itself doesn’t tell you how screwed we are if we are to follow his advice, I don’t know what will. I caught a little bit of the BBC’s post-briefing coverage immediately after, where two tame journo types were asked for their views. One said the questions got a little bit boring, and maybe that was a good thing, i.e. the whole story will fizzle out. The other thought Cummings had done a fantastic job, containing his temper and ‘answering all the questions.’ We will now hear ministers, or whoever the Johnson crowd can dredge up (e.g. ‘Baroness’ Morgan on the PM programme) to repeat the mantra ‘he answered all the questions’ as ever confusing verbiage with meaning. I really hope the great British public learn a lesson from this episode, but I’m not betting on it.