I must be the only person with no opinion about if Dominic Cummings should resign, be fired, or stay. I do, however, have some thoughts about what this news story tells us about the current state of public debate. Thread below

Government policy cannot be sufficiently summarised in slogans. Whilst “stay home” gives the general principle, it doesn’t include the exemptions which permit leaving the house. The devil is always in the detail as they say.

Whilst it was immediately clear that Catherine Calderwood & Professor Ferguson broke lockdown rules, this isn’t as clear. DC & the Gov think it was within the rules, and should expand on why they think this is the case.

This doesn’t stop criticism though. If others think DC broke lockdown rules, they should explain why they think so. Allow a debate to take place between both sides, and allow people to come to their own judgements.

To summarise, it would be a much welcomed step of public debating went beyond slogans. Look at the detail, scrutinise, and then debate. Not just debate on the basis of 3/4 word slogans.