
To be honest if I spent time on public transport, then I would have needed to wear face masks a lot earlier in order to abide by the rules. If we are going to consider what is critical about today then the use of masks in a range of shops (although not in any pubs or restaurant) means that really we should have done so many weeks ago. Yesterday on World AT One (WATO) about 16 minutes in there was a very helpful contribution from Julian Metcalfe who was the founder of Pret a Manger and he very simply explained that he was not opposed to people wearing face masks today, but in fact he was very frustrated that the Government did not make face masks a rule from the end of March when we were locked down and many pubs and restaurants were forced to close their premises. His argument which I totally agree with is that had we lined up such matters when we were locked down, that we would now being delighted that in some settings we no longer need to wear them. Sadly there is no prospect of Johnson or Cummings apologising for that and his concern is that many people (including a number of Tory MPs who have spoken up) will be resentful that after all this time we are suddenly being demanded to wear them. However now is the time to grit our teeth and ensure that we have the masks and avoid £100 fine!