Douglas Ross Gets It

When Calton wrote his post on exceptionalism, Dominic Cummings had been the one trying to keep on so-called superforecaster Andrew Sabisky in the light of unsavoury revelations about the latter. Now Cummings has become the story after revelations about his trip to Durham during lockdown and Boris Johnson is desperately trying to keep him on in the face of mounting opposition, not just from the opposition but from members of his own party. Just as Nicola Sturgeon's attempts to keep on Catherine Calderwood made her look weak, so Johnson's attempts are opening him up to ridicule and raising the question of who really governs the country. They also make him look weak.

Cummings has defended his actions in a painful, hour-long press briefing yesterday but a scan through Calton's social media feeds shows very little sympathy for him. He may not have broken the letter of the law but most people feel that he has definitely broken the spirit of it, and the strong government message to stay at home and not undertake any unnecessary journeys. Indeed, at time of writing, that is still the message in Scotland, as Sturgeon was quick to point out in her briefing yesterday.

If the highly unusual briefing by Cummings was intended to draw a line under the affair it has utterly failed, with Moray MP and junior government minister Douglas Ross resigning today and various Scottish Tory MSPs making their fury known. Even Jackson Carlaw has eventually been forced into saying that Cummings should consider his position. Not only has the Domnishambles eclipsed the UK Government's message on Coronavirus, it is preventing the Scots Tories from taking the SNP to task over their poor handling of the crisis in Scotland and is threatening their chances in the Holyrood election scheduled for next year.

Douglas Ross gets that rules apply to everyone without exception, even to pals of the PM. Boris doesn't get it and his ratings are plummeting as a result.

Superforecaster or Neonazi?

Calton is not a fan of shouting for people whose opinions and/or beliefs do not agree with his own to be sacked, in general, however Andrew Sabisky should never have been hired in the first place, if the quotes attributed to him are correct. It seems that Dominic Cummings was so keen to get a Superforecaster on the Number 10 team that due diligence was not carried out and the result was that they got someone whose views are straight out of 1930s Germany. The idea that poorer, less educated people were having more children which would lead to a lowering of intelligence in the nation - check. The advocacy of forced sterilisation through contraception - check. The lie that whites are superior to blacks in terms of intelligence - check. The resurrection of Eugenics - check.

The reason that Calton would be calling for Sabisky's sacking had he not resigned is because we know what the end result was of the beliefs listed above - the extermination of 6 million people in the gas chambers. We should learn from history, not repeat it.

For a more in-depth treatment of the thought processes in 1930s Germany read Chapter XIX Shadow of Tom Holland's excellent book - Dominion. Better still, read the whole book.

PS. Calton regards Superforecasters in much the same way as he regards the so-called Prophets of the modern Charismatic movement and his chances of one of his 1001 premium bonds coming up.