The rise and rise of public snoopers

Some woman in Durham in the north of England decided it was her public, moral and responsible duty to ring the police to complain that she had spotted Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's chief adviser, in her home city which is roughly 250 miles away from Downing Street when the country was supposed to be in "Stay at Home" lockdown, and what were they going to do about it. At the time both Cummings and his wife were suffering from Covid-19. So, massive alarm bells and shouts of double standards and calls by Opposition MPs and leaders for him to resign forthwith, citing other examples where public officials had had to go after being similarly spotted by members of the public doing what they ought not to be doing. This all makes me depressed and worried about our society, filled, it seems, with snitches who presumably get pleasure out of exposing fellow human beings and running to the police. Now I accept that we are all governed by the same anti-virus guidelines and it is imperative for those who represent the government in some form or other that they set an example. But it is pretty pathetic and uncomfortable that people feel it is the right thing to do, not only to tip off the police but also to go to the newspapers to ensure that the individual spotted breaking the rules is showered with the worst kind of publicity. In Cummings's case, so I read, he had to make a decision when both he and his wife found they had the coronavirus symptoms. They have a young child, and grandparents who live in Durham. So, in the child's interest, they drove to Cummings's parents' home, handed him over to them and then went into self-isolation. Downing Street is saying they self-isolated in a separate house in Durham. So it's not like he was spending time in a second home in the country, as Scotland's chief medical adviser did, forcing her to resign, or allowing his married lover to visit him at his home, as one of the government's main scientific advisers did, and was also forced to resign. Cummings as far as I can judge went to Durham for the sake of his son's health. Well, critics will say I'm splitting hairs and all three examples fall into the same category and therefore Cummings should resign. The Guardian and Mirror which got the story and leapt on it to attack the government produced huge headlines. My view is, for God's sake, leave the man alone. He and his wife were ill, they were worried about their son and what to do about him. Which family in this country would not have done exactly the same thing? Boris appears to need the advice and strategic brain of his senior adviser and therefore in this time of crisis, the prime minister should not be deprived of his right-hand man. The outraged cries of the familiar rent-a-quote MPs should be ignored.