Dominic Cummings and hypocrisy – Crooked Spire vicar’s column

This piece is being written on bank holiday Monday, and I am wondering whether by the time it is published the Dominic Cummings furore will have gone away.
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Whether it has or not, I think the smart money has to be on the consequences being very far-reaching.

Let’s be honest – there are plenty of commentators who are just out to pick holes in their political opponents, and there are far too many of them who are quick to demand resignations or sackings.

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The thought of depriving other people (even those you hate) of their livelihoods should surely make people hold back more than they actually do.

Reverend Patrick Coleman, vicar of Chesterfield's Crooked Spire church.Reverend Patrick Coleman, vicar of Chesterfield's Crooked Spire church.
Reverend Patrick Coleman, vicar of Chesterfield's Crooked Spire church.

But in this case the issue is hypocrisy.

The more public you are, the higher the office you aspire to, the higher the ideals you embrace – the more hypocritical you are likely to be.

Being in the church, and being a moderately public figure, I know all about being (and being called) a hypocrite!

There’s a very old story about the vicar meeting old Fred as he walks about the parish.

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“Fred,” he says, “we never seem to see you in church these days – is everything all right?”

“Not going there again,” says Fred. “You’re all a bunch of hypocrites!”

So the vicar quietly replies: “Come along, Fred – one more won’t make a great deal of difference.”

There is certainly a huge breach of trust at present between all those people who have willingly or unwillingly subjected themselves to the lockdown for the sake of everyone else, and a Government – with its advisers – who don’t seem to think the rules apply to them.

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And yes, there is a need for accountability, and some anger is justified, because we have all been let down.

All I would say is to be careful about being demanding of people in the public eye, and then falling into the greater hypocrisy of quietly bending smaller rules to suit ourselves when it seems to us to be harmless.

There’s stuff in the Sermon on the Mount about clearing up our own lives before taking it on ourselves to decide what’s wrong with the lives of other people – beams, motes and eyes are the operative words (logs and specks in more modern language).

If you want (rightly) to hold Dominic Cummings to account, then don’t try to do so until you have got yourself on to firmer ground by holding yourself to account first.

Just sayin’...

Keep safe and keep well.