Neil Ferguson and Dominic Cummings both deserve censure for same reason: they helped design the lockdown strategy, then decided the rules applied to everyone else but not to them. Both are open to the charge of hypocrisy and elitism (one rule for us another for ordinary people)

There are lots of aspects of the lockdown strategy I disagree with. The quality of both the scientific advice and political decision-making is poor. I would have done things differently. But so far I have observed the rules while reserving my right to say I disagree

If everyone decided the rules did not apply to them, or could be specially interpreted, like Ferguson and Cummings, there would be chaos and the lockdown strategy they both advocated would collapse.

Encouraged by government, police have been fining people for lockdown breaches and Home Sec. wants to impose fines for breaking quarantine. The rest of us have to follow the rules whether we agree or not. But somehow it’s ok for Ferguson and Cummings to follow their own judgment

If the lockdown continues too long and the quality of the decision-making doesn’t improve significantly, *I* may start to exercise my own judgment too about which rules to follow and which to ignore.

But if I do decide to rely on my own judgment and get caught I will have to accept the consequences and won’t receive much sympathy from Ferguson and Cummings. That’s what living in a country governed by law means. The rules apply equally to everyone

If anything, the rules apply with extra force to Ferguson and Cummings. Unlike the rest of us, who have had no input into them, but are expected nonetheless to follow them, Ferguson and Cummings were on the inside, helping to shape them.

If Ferguson thinks it’s ok to see other people once you’ve had the virus and got antibodies, then we should all be allowed the same privilege. And if it’s ok for Cummings to drive around the country visiting people, we should all be able to

If the rules are not suitable for Ferguson and Cummings, they aren’t suitable for everyone else. And if the rules apply to everyone, they must apply to those in power and helping design them

It’s hard to see why 14,000 fines have been issued, mostly to young people with no power and status, while Ferguson and Cummings are protected and apparently done nothing worse than shown lack of judgment

I feel strongly because there are parts of the Ferguson-Cummings lockdown strategy I think are seriously flawed both in conception and execution, AND YET I’ve still respected lockdown as the collective choice of the community, however wrongheaded I think some of it is