Seeing levels of willing negative consequences into existence from left-lib types (variants on ‘the Gov has lost public trust which endangers compliance with guidelines’) not seen since The Joker was breathlessly predicted to be the trigger for an upsurge in Incel-related terror.

So many people have sh*t the bed on this Cummings story that I guess they feel they have to salvage something in order to minimise any cognitive dissonance they may feel and also to seek a return on their level of emotional investment (sunk costs) in the last few days of hysteria

And so the promulgation of the idea that this Cummings story retains some kind of special significance in the form of reducing levels of public trust in C-19 related guidelines begins.

If enough in the media say it for long enough perhaps it will become true in the form of a self-fulfilling prophecy & those in the media (old & social) who have emotionally invested in this story can then enjoy a return on their investment in the form of a feeling of vindication.

The irony that this kind of wish-fulfilment & point-scoring has absolutely nothing to do with the public interest and the common good - a cause they have proclaimed loudly as their own - will, ofc, be completely lost on them at this point.