There follows a guest post by Edward Chancellor, a financial journalist and the author of Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation (1998).
“Freedom Day” on 21st June was supposed to be the day when Covid restrictions on the people of England came to an end. Predictably the release from wearing facemasks, social distancing, etc., has been postponed in the face of the ‘Delta’ variant. One member of the government’s scientific advisory group, Susan Michie suggests that we should continue wearing masks “forever”.
Professor Michie must be aware that all the evidence points to the fact that face masks offer little or no protection against the spread of respiratory diseases. The behaviour of the political leaders at the recent G7 meeting in Cornwall – donning masks for photo-ops but later partying together without masks or social distancing – suggests they too understand that masks are unnecessary. Nevertheless, many people, vaccinated or otherwise at no personal risk from COVID-19, continue to wear masks. They do so for no reason other than they are following government orders or are simply imitating the behaviour of their peers.
In his notorious Daily Telegraph article of August 5th 2018, Boris Johnson argued that the burkha was “oppressive” and that it was “weird and bullying” to expect women to cover their faces. He claimed that “human beings must be able to see each other’s faces and read their expressions. It’s how we work.” I agree with those sentiments. Nevertheless, until now I have gone along with the mask mandate in the misplaced hope that Boris would be true to his word and end the restrictions on June 21st.
It should now be clear that if we are to return to normality we must take back control of our destiny. The first and most obvious step is to stop wearing masks in public. In the “war on coronavirus” the mask-refuseniks can be seen not as reckless endangerers of other people’s lives but as conscientious objectors who set an example for the rest of the society to follow. We, the maskless, can show our fellow citizens that we refuse to live in fear and will not be ruled by arbitrary pseudo-scientific diktat. Boris cannot postpone Freedom Day if we have already ditched his oppressive, weird and bullying rules.
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So – I haven’t been wearing the masks, but have been wearing the lanyards. Any suggestions as to what I should do from today on?
I’ve never worn those masks (or visors) you understand, but I’m not sure I’m ready to throw away the lanyard.
Ditch the fuckin lanyard.
I don’t wear masks or lanyards personally. It’s very rare that I get challenged on it.
All well and good as far as it goes, and to be honest, I only got a lanyard for church, where very few wear masks, in case any trouble makers challenged us (and some places, including our church, have had issues since this nonsense started in March last year). I thought I might as well use it for other places too, having been given one, even though legally they are not required.
So what should one do if challenged? Say I’m exempt or something else? and if someone insists on an exemption card? That’s the sort of thing I’d like suggestions on.
Just say “exempt” and be prepared to take offence at their intrusion into your privacy if they question you closely. It’s none of their business unless they are enforcement officers, in which case probably best to be ready to either back down, or stand firm and take your fine like a man if you get one, and contest it later. Never happened to me yet.
Also probably be ready to judge the situation carefully if violence might result, though that only happened to me once in the entire time of no masks, no lanyard throughout.
Flexibility and sensitivity are your friends when you are a dissenter in a totalitarian society.
Fwiw I’ve always considered the lanyards an unacceptable compromise with totalitarianism, because they implicitly and publicly accept the right of the state to impose such rules. But I understand that for many they were as far as people felt able to go.
Don’t want confrontation is why I did those things.
Then you are complying with a totalitarian government which is why they believe we all want to be controlled. I understand you do not want confrontation so just carry you exemption card in your pocket. A polite refusal to comply is usually sufficient for people yo back off
That’s not the point – most people haven’t got anywhere near not wanting to wear the masks.
I think this is a virtue worth signalling. But don’t kid yourself.
I was like you but for the last 2 weeks have ignored masking. In the supermarket some poor misguided people visibly flinch and move away from me (two old ladies saw me and realised they had forgotten theirs), and in B+Q I was offered a free mask, which I declined and the girl proffering the mask said – oh, you are exempt then. I agreed with her.
Indeed, different people have different levels of tolerance for confrontation. Mine is apparently relatively high.
But in the end, confrontation is the only way these things will be ended, so those of us who avoid confrontation are to some extent hiding behind others. That’s understandable, but we should give due respect to those who take unpleasantness on our behalf.
Police are also not allowed to question you about exemptions. The word exempt should be enough for the police..
But police can issue a fine. Tbh I don’t think anyone knows the real situation, I’ve seen multiple conflicting advices, some from lawyers, and the law itself is a dog’s dinner. As far as I can tell, let them issue a fine an then contest it, and it will most likely be dropped, seems to be the situation.
Decline the fine and wait to be summonsed. Very few acually get to court and I haven’t yet heard of a successful prosecution.
“A dog’s dinner”. Yes indeed, one of the most bizarre laws I’ve ever read. Imagine you’re a judge and you have to rule on whether someone is legitimately exempt or not. What words are there to guide you, and what judgement could you possibly apply to decide such a case? Any ruling would be subjective and arbitrary.
No one is going to challenge you. I haven’t been challenged this year at all. The worst case scenario is you are challenged and you say ‘exempt’. The police won’t come unless you kick off. And you don’t seem the kick off type (this is not an insult).
Be bold. Cry freedom.
I’ve been challenged numerous times (haven’t ever worn a mask or a lanyard from the beginning).
I’m not one you need to persuade here….
Correct. You are supposed to be scared of going to court and getting a bigger fine so you cut your losses. It’s a business model. Stand your ground and see if they will want the time and expense of court. As long as the most evidence they have is you saying you’re exempt you should be safe. That said, while some cops are straight as a die, there are others who will lie.
I am prepared to tell them I think it is inappropriate to discuss my mental health with a stranger (you have got to be crazy to go along with it all).
Any medical condition is private and no business of the police or ‘enforcement officers’ etc
Yes agreed, the lanyard is still a sign that there is something abnormal going on. Confidently walking around with no mask on is a much better message.
No one has the right to ask to see your exemption. If you are challenged just say you are exempt, smile and walk on. Never, ever, get into a conversation with your challenger. They turn nasty and abusive very quickly. It is the abuse that is so upsetting so if you walk away from them it helps you keep your equilibrium.
Should your abuser become aggressive walk straight to a store worker and ask to see the Manager. At all times refuse to engage with your abuser. I have never had the need to call a store manager. I have had to walk away once when the abuser started to accuse me of murder and hoped I would die in horrible circumstances. It shook me badly but I did not retaliate or engage. The incident happened as I went through the checkouts and other people were extremely kind which confirmed my belief that humans will always help those in need of comfort.
I do believe when some people wear a face covering it gives them confidence to show their real personality under fear and pressure. It is therefore not wise to encourage their fear and frustration.
I’ve found that the aggressor sometimes stops and thinks when I say ‘If you carry on this this, one of us will end up in hospital and the other will be in prison. I don’t want either, do you?’
“No one has the right to ask to see your exemption.”
Yeh, yeh, yeh. We know that.
But they can refuse you entry to their premises, despite all the theoretical consequences of discrimination. And who, wanting a quiet meal in pub and restaurant wants it to be prefaced by a constant possibility of conflict? If people are going to put up with the patent idiocy of the masking rules by now, they aren’t going to come rushing to man the barricades with you.
Just say “I’m not sick”.
I visited an Asian wholesaler a few weeks ago where I buy my bulk rice. I hadn’t visited for a while and I was amazed at how many “mask-wearing” signs were in evidence, in fact they were still producing more outside the store. On entering, and moving around the shelves, I experienced no challenges until I passed a woman stacking shelves. She looked at me and said “you don’t have a mask” and I agreed. She then said “you don’t have a lanyard” and, once again, I agreed. We looked at each other, both of us started to laugh, and no more was said.
I have a lanyard merely to shut up the idiots. One of the village pubs is insisting on seeing evidence of mask exemption. I’m in a quandary as it is so supportive of village associations, including our pop-up bakes as it hosts us normally & as a wet pub had to close for the majority of the last 15 months. Yet once inside, they’re pretty relaxed about the seating arrangements. Do insist on mask to move around though….
I’m sure individual nazis were also supportive of local causes. Just following orders is fine. Worked in WW2.
Hi chaos, I now see I was wrong to attack your “pants” comment! Stay sane, I am trying 😉
I am actually a sweet person. Just mischevious behind a keyboard.. and angry about this madness. Some of my jokes I think are hilarious.. but people don’t always get them or find them as hilarious.
At first I said “exempt”.
These days, claiming exemption would be a last resort. I try to answer their question very directly and disarm them by being friendly and polite. When they say “do you have a mask?” I’ll say “I don’t have one. I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable though.” and give them a big smile. Seems effective, since people are more concerned with whether you’re selfish than whether they work.
I have been challenged twice in all this time. Both times in a supermarket by a bullying customer. I do not use supermarkets usually as we have a range of small independent shops in walking distance of our home. I have never been challenged in the small independents. They know the cannot afford to lose local regular business. i have not remained at home during lockdown and I have entertained whom I want and when. Our lives have been curtailed because we have no theatre, coffee shops or restaurants to meet others. However, many of us have discreetly created our own meeting places in our homes. It has kept us sane but it is still effectively imprisoning us as we have to be secretive and discreet. The best part about these lockdowns is the roads have been empty and driving has become a joy again. I have been able to ignore all speed limits and drive as I see fit for the conditions. I have been able to plan my journeys without adding on time for hold ups and I have been able to park wherever I want without fear of some huge and unnecessary 4×4 taking up space through… Read more »
“The best part about these lockdowns is the roads have been empty and driving has become a joy again”
Not where I live, ie, just outside Norwich, or on our drives to Essex or Cambridge.
The roads have been pretty much back to normal since about February, and have been getting gradually busier since then.
I get plenty of sly looks though from people too sh1t scared to do the same
I have never worn either. I generally completely ignore any challenges. I am exempt from BULLSH*T.
I’ve never worn those masks (or visors) you understand, but I’m not sure I’m ready to throw away the lanyard.
Just put in your pocket, but don’t show it to anybody.
It is surprising how much strength you get from not wearing the lanyard. Whilst you wear it, you are psychologically holding onto your fear and therefore complying. Like the Jewish people and their yellow star. It perpetuates fear.
When you find the courage not to wear it, you start to smile at people and people do soften. You can see it through their masks. Smiling always begets smiling and the government do not want us to interact.
Just do it. I too used to wear a lanyard but stopped wearing them a couple of months ago. It’s surprising how few people question you. Okay there are one or two Nazis around but just tell them you’re exempt. So far no one has questioned my reply. Go on take the RED PILL AND BE FREE!!!
Hang to it and use it for something worthwhile. When I used one it was originally used for other things, like being an organiser at beer festivals, or an observer at election counts and so on.
I don’t wear a mask or badge/lanyard, and I was asked to show my badge for the first time in nearly a year last week. I humoured the guy and proved I have a printer. Honestly, it’s no big deal not wearing a lanyard. Let it go, you won’t miss it.
put the lanyard in your pocket. It’s there to give you fortitude, but honestly, you will not need it. I sometimes take mine out and flash it at someone who asks if I have a mask and if I cannot be bothered to speak to them.
I have only ever come across any unpleasantness once in the past 12 months, and he was given short shrift.
I used to wear the lanyard also but don’t now. Don’t have an issue and if someone asks about masks, I just say ‘I’m exempt’ – simple as that 🙂
If you say exempt assertively you will often find people apologies and tell you that they ‘have to ask’.
I did have someone recently ask me for ‘proof’.
That’s when I did lose my cool a bit – and that is the problem – just staying cool.
You don’t need to give proof.
I would have thought that was obviously embedded in my comment!!
I did tell a bus driver that once (who asked for an exemption card even though I was wearing a lanyard). I’m not sure he believed me…
Me and my wife haven’t worn masks or lanyards at all with few challenges.
All challenges have been met with challenges from us.
Call them out.
Ditto. Same with me and Mrs TJN. There is no requirement to wear a lanyard – that’s in a government document somewhere.
Hugh – just do it, don’t worry.
I made a yellow star with mask exempt in the middle and safety pin it to my jumper. No one questions it, perhaps it enhances my look of someone spoiling for an argument, and it makes a point. Also made a jabby dodger badge. Circle coloured pale yellow, red circle in middle, words on the top.
Quality!!
The lanyard makes ytou look like a retard.
No one challenges you any more over masks. You don’t even have to say exempt. My advice is to say nothing. To ignore all challenges.
Lanywards are for the weaker. Exempt is for the weaker. Be bold.
I was challenged yesterday by pub staff. I keep my lanyard in my pocket and wave it if challenged along with a death stare. I agree that wearing one singles you out as having ‘special needs’ and as I’ve spent my life hiding my autistic traits in order to fit in I really don’t want to wear a badge pointing it out at 50. I find it highly discriminatory.
“No one challenges you any more over masks.”
Wrong
“Lanywards are for the weaker. Exempt is for the weaker”
…. and pointless virtue signalling is empty air.
You must be a moron to downvote a comment that just states the blindingly obvious.
There’s enough morons backing Covid, without intruding here.
I think the reason nobody challenges anymore is because everybody knows there’s no “covid” around at the moment.
It will be a different story when “covid 21” or the third (or is it fourth?) wave comes, though.
Yes, try growing a backbone. And that goes for the rest of my fellow countrymen, meekly taking the knee to Boris and his bunch of jumped-up petty pandemic dictators. My parents’ generation went to war to keep the fascists from our shores – and they built back better when it was over.
Now the very freedoms and way of life they sacrificed so much to preserve for future generations are being destroyed by a home-grown little Hitler and his corrupt Cabinet gauleiters. I’m just grateful my folks are not still around to witness this abject betrayal of everything they and our once-great nation stood for.
I truly believe we have lived under soft socialism for nearly 50yrs (EEC/EU being the Globalists’ playground) and we are paying the price now. They have run out of other people’s money, tried to import cheap labour to keep them going and the consequences are coming home to roost.
just because people have enough money for food and a basic holiday doesn’t mean we haven’t experienced another go at socialism. Any country who has multi layered bureaucratic government controlling the tax revenues is working under a form of socialism
“I truly believe we have lived under soft socialism for nearly 50yrs”
One thing that doesn’t help is patent fantasists and political hobby-horse jockeys backing the cause!
What else would you call it, with socialised medicine and a cradle-to-grave social care system? It’s seriously creaking now, of course, but that’s what happens when you run out of other people’s money.
Errr … Anyone can make up their own dictionary of definitions, but it won’t change the weather. Nor substitute for political ignorance and a tendency, to say that black is white.
Way-hey! The moron hobby horse jockeys come blinking out of their burrows to twitch a slow finger.
… or is it 77th Brigade?
Well thats your problem, its grow up time. Surely at your age you do not have to whine for “guidance” its pathetic.
I’m just smiling as I have never bought, worn a muzzle or had an “unclean” notice to hang round my neck.
A little unkind….some people lack confidence, they feel unable to ‘front’ things out. The answers other posters have given are both illuminating and quite caring in their wording. Encouragement is ‘nicer’ than being given short shrift!
I disagree, we’d been at the ‘front-line’ since the beginning, the time is now to screw your courage up and take a stand.
The hard bit it past us now.
Stand up and say ‘Enough!’
Yes, it’s hard, but for fuck sake, it’s worth it!
Shoulder to shoulder, we will defeat this if we stand up and resist.
WE DO NOT COMPLY!!!!!
“The hard bit it past us now.”
Dream on.
Diddums, have you had a bad day? 🥺
“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
T.E. Lawrence
Grow a pair
That’s not what Rick means.
He doesn’t believe this will be over any time soon. The government and its advisors will find some other excuse to keep restrictions in place, and just as likely will reimpose them come the winter.
The unvaccinated will be picked out and picked on and blamed for what the government does, i.e. “they’re making us punish you all, it’s not our fault.”
Yep, I absolutely forsee that too.
Guess what, rolling over and taking it up the arse won’t make it go away.
I realised in Feb/March 2019 that this wasn’t about a virus, nobody wanted to listen. I was scared for my sanity. And it’s getting worse.
80% plus are thick/scared/conformist, 10% are making money from this, the remaining 10% are us, and we are fighting amongst ourselves.
So, stand up and do the right thing.
“rolling over and taking it up the arse won’t make it go away”
… and no more will empty virtue signalling and incoherent ranting.
Fuck off you twat
I think you have missed RickH’s point. Perhaps he means this isn’t going to go away.
I absolutely get his point, why do you think I chose my nom de plume?
His miserable defeatist attitude is tantamount to surrender.
Not ‘defeatism’ – honesty (as to seeing no simple solution) and realism.
Delusional ranting isn’t fortitude. It’s just thrashing about.
Your comment confirms a weird solipsism. I wish you well in getting out of your weird counter-factual and virtue signalling wet dreams and getting more in touch with reality.
That’s unfair. Even the most confident of people have had their confidence bashed in the last 18 months. Asking for guidance should NEVER be seen as a weakness on any level. It’s the sensible thing to do. And I hope that the replies have given Hugh the renewed confidence to do what he feels best.
Doing something that you know to be wrong is a weakness.
Do the right thing, be powerful, be fierce, be free!
Come back from Planet Pointless Zog. Tere are no travel restrictions 🙂
What the fuck are you taking about?!
“be powerful, be fierce, be free!”
That sort of delusion – that’s what I’m talking about. Just get out more, and look around. Have a bit of a think about Winston Smith.
Go and have a good cry mate, it’s seems that it’s all too much for you at the moment.
Maybe lay off the internet at the moment….
That’s unnecessary.
There were a lot of very aggressive and frightened people last year ready to get into someone’s face for not wearing a mask, exempt or not, to refuse them entry to places, and sometimes threatening violence. The exemption lanyard was at least a compromise if you didn’t want to be physically assaulted or arrested by the police. Not everyone is brave enough to stand up to that.
With people’s confidence completely undermined, it’s not surprising that some are still wary. It’s no good insulting them. It doesn’t help.
That’s unnecessary.
There were a lot of very aggressive and frightened people last year ready to get into someone’s face for not wearing a mask, exempt or not, to refuse them entry to places, and sometimes threatening violence. The exemption lanyard was at least a compromise if you didn’t want to be physically assaulted or arrested by the police. Not everyone is brave enough to stand up to that.
With people’s confidence completely undermined, it’s not surprising that some are still wary. It’s no good insulting them. It doesn’t help.n
Use your lanyard as a garrotte, it’s legal to garrotte Nazis, well, it was in the last war against evil…
… and now you have completely lost it!
Like you, I’ve just worn the lanyard to keep people off my back, but over the last couple of weeks I’ve ditched it. No one has said anything (a few predictable sour looks!) but the government’s own website says you do not need to show/carry any proof of exemption. So liberating! One of the only things we can do to resist the oppression….
Keep it in your pocket for a time, note how often people challenge you then, when comfortable, ditch it completely
I have been wearing the lanyard for the last 3/4 weeks. I decided last week to experiment, but do it in ‘degrees’. So, I wore a zip-up jacket, and wore the lanyard underneath it – so the ribbon could be seen but not the badge. I did get one or two ‘looks’ from the other shoppers in the supermarket but no challenges at all. Perhaps this is a cowardly way of doing it, but I wouldn’t call myself a particularly brave person and like others here, abhor conflict and aggression. So, for me, it’s finding a way of making a stand that is congruent with my own beliefs and values.
Okay so your next stage of weaning process is to keep the lanyard in your pocket or close at hand in a bag. I did this a long while back. If challenged which is so rare ( if you walk or stride into shops with a positive look on your face) you just bring it out and show the person questioning you. There is no need to speak, it’s better not to. They will just accept the sign.
I have never worn a mask or the Lanyard. I refuse to be labeled disabled. The Nazi Germans were the last lot, historically well known to have insisted on labels for the disabled alongside various other labels required to be worn by other ethnic minorities at the time. My wife wore a mask at first when the madness started. She was not afraid of the risks of being maskless but afraid of the potential confrontation from the compliant, but after a relatively short while switched to no mask but with Lanyard in most places, gradually evolving to nonmasking even on public transport, with her lanyard on show. She said at the time that it had been a strangely ’empowering’ experience to give up the mask. She actually experienced some sympathy for the majority of people caught up in the craziness of it all. Few if any people will actually confront you in reality. Occasionally a ‘Security Womble‘ may ask a nonlanyard wearer ‘where is your mask?’ Personally, I find they tend to be a bit wary of asking that of people (and I’m nothing out of the ordinary), my response is usually a silent X with my fingers crossed over… Read more »
If it makes you feel better, put your lanyard in your pocket and if (and I say if as I’ve rarely been challenged) just say your exempt and if the bedwetter gets sloppy then show the lanyard.
Yes, I was thinking along those lines. How much difference it makes, I don’t know. Still, interesting comments anyway, thanks all. Every little helps…
I did start off going in without a lanyard and seeing what happened, perhaps I did give up a bit too easily when I was given one.
Paradoxically, the only times I was challenged and asked if I was exempt and produced my lanyard, they didn’t accept it. One supermarket, and one pub. I just crossed them off my list of safe places to visit. Over time, everybody tends to cluster into their own groups: masked and unmasked, and use only establishments compatible to their respective views. I expect that after Freedom Day this religious segregation will dissipate, and we shall be mutually sociable once again, unless we let vaccine apartheid become established.
I see Hancock is talking about exemption of quarantine for “double-vaxxed” if contacted by t and t. I fear apartheid will be here for some time to come.
I ditched the mask about 6 months ago and I’m beginning to ditch the lanyards now too. I always wore the lanyard on public transport because that’s where police are known to sometimes patrol, but transport is also the one place (apart from once where police were checking for masks) that I’ve never been challenged.
Well, yes. But who is this addressed to? I would expect many people reading this are well ahead of you on this one. It is the others that need encouragement.
If mankind needed a mask he would have been born with one.
AMEN
we weren’t born with pants.
And you, chaos, are an ignoramus. I wear pants/trousers to stay warm (and healthy) and to hide my embarrassment when I am either rather cold or when I see a member of the opposite sex to whom I may feel particularly… attracted.
The fact that wearing pants/trousers has become the expected, societal norm IS PRECISELY THE PROBLEM WITH MASKS – IN NORMAL SETTINGS, MASKS DO NOT HELP ANYONE – LET ALONE THE WEARER.
We must not let the wearing of masks become normal. Obstructing your airway is NEVER a good thing, and such behaviour should be kept to an absolute minimum.
If you are a surgeon, operating over and staring down into an open chest cavity – yes, wearing a SURGICAL MASK is a good idea (HINT – the clue is the name).
I suspect chaos was making a joke. Chill dude.
I think M-Aurelius may also be making a joke Paul…..hence the reference to the “erection concealing” feature of said pants?
Maybe not.
Aplologies for taking the “pants” issue too far.
Well, thefoostybadger, I pray for your sake that you never have to see it 😉
OK, perhaps chaos’s comment was just too good 🙂 whatever – I have had people I KNOW to be ignoramuses attempting to convince me that face coverings are a logical evolution of clothing – so reserve the right to be “triggered” in this regard!
“We must not let the wearing of masks become normal”
I think you need to do a bit of catch-up.
True, but hope springs eternal…
Indeed. But we need to be able to distinguish it from sheer delusion.
I’ve had enough exchanges over the past year to be grounded in reality, and not kid myself about the whole world falling at my feet as I preach my Sermon on the Shit Heap. 🙂
Good point….. 🤣
You don’t need to wear a mask and nobody will challenge you. I’ve been waiting for someone to challenge me for months and nobody does.
Do your bit. Send a message to everyone that it’s over.
I wore the mask once for 20 minutes when I had to get an MRI last year in April.
NEVER AGAIN.
NO MASKS, NO TESTS, NO VACCINE
NO COMPLIANCE.
I specifically travel by tube and bus and in any shop to specifically flaunt my face.
i have been asked a handful of times to wear a mask and recently I just say “I don’t wear them.”
Theyre always too confused to argue.
I say, simply:
“What I do – or do not – put on my face is my business and nobody else’s.”
‘Have you got a mask?’
‘No.’
Yes this is my favourite answer too. I had some jumped up little twat in a pub the other day insisting that I had to wear “my mask” when I walked to the (outdoor) table. He obviously assumed I had one but wouldn’t wear it for the 5m grassy walk on principle. When I pointed out I couldn’t possibly even if I wasn’t exempt as I didn’t even OWN a mask he didn’t know what to do with himself!
‘Would you like a mask’?
Definitely no!
I’ve had an MRI, blood tests, X-rays, arm plastered, GP appointments and a mammogram all mask free. Only complaint anywhere in the NHS was a nurse in A&E minor injuries unit. She has been complained about.
“They do so for no reason other than they are following government orders or are simply imitating the behaviour of their peers.”
It’s a lot darker than that, in many cases, I’m afraid:
Why some won’t ditch their masks outdoors: ‘I’m not about to look like a Republican’
There’s a very nasty streak of tribalist virtue signalling in the panicker mentality.
“until now I have gone along with the mask mandate in the misplaced hope that Boris would be true to his word and end the restrictions on June 21st.”
Better late than never, though by collaborating for so long you contributed to hanging the mask dissenters out to dry, leaving them isolated and vulnerable for a year.
I wore a face covering ONCE – when the British pilot announced that he would not leave the airport (Krakow) until everyone had it on. I felt the wrath of my fellow travellers. I put it on (covered my entire head, actually, to make a humorous stand against it, a little like in La Vita e Bella). He took off, and I took it off.
Other than that, I have never worn a mask. I have never worn a lanyard. I hate the conflict this sometimes creates, but what I hate even more is playing along with this RIDICULOUS, DANGEROUS, INHUMANE, DIABOLICAL, HYPNOTIC CHARADE of a power game.
The whole thing is
– therefore I do NOT consider myself bound by any of it.
It has NEVER been about public health.
It has always been about Fear, Power, Control, Greed.
Freedom Day was a big fat juicy carrot dangling just out our reach from the get go. You may get to enjoy a couple months of unrestricted freedom but they will crank up the bulls**t to 11 this coming winter and the lowly un-vaxxed will be blamed for the biggest scarient of all…round them all up I say! Jab em or jail em!!
I heard a couple of older gals chatting nearby the other night…”oh I’ll still wear my mask at the stores…you never know if there’s one of them selfish unvaxxed nearby”
Covid is a religion and the mask is its cross
you never know if there’s one of those selfish collaborators near by (actually, you probably do…), who might think they’re well as their symptoms have been reduced.
I ask again (for a friend) – is it safe to be near people who have had these experimental “vaccines”?
Not its cross. Its burkah.
France has done a bit of an about turn hasn’t it?
promise and not deliver, moving goal posts are all part of the PsyOps strategy.
In a way it is absolutely brilliant to see how they are able to use behavioural psychology principles to influence a nation to cower and throw away their rights and freedom
And the ‘vaccine’ shall be your redemption 😂😂
Neither the cross, nor the Hitler salute or greeting Gessler’s hat made the wearer/greater himself sick though.
That’s the only but significant difference.
Retracted – probably due to political pressure but this says it all about masks: Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7680614/ Conclusion The existing scientific evidences challenge the safety and efficacy of wearing facemask as preventive intervention for COVID-19. The data suggest that both medical and non-medical facemasks are ineffective to block human-to-human transmission of viral and infectious disease such SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, supporting against the usage of facemasks. Wearing facemasks has been demonstrated to have substantial adverse physiological and psychological effects. These include hypoxia, hypercapnia, shortness of breath, increased acidity and toxicity, activation of fear and stress response, rise in stress hormones, immunosuppression, fatigue, headaches, decline in cognitive performance, predisposition for viral and infectious illnesses, chronic stress, anxiety and depression. Long-term consequences of wearing facemask can cause health deterioration, developing and progression of chronic diseases and premature death. Governments, policy makers and health organizations should utilize prosper and scientific evidence-based approach with respect to wearing facemasks, when the latter is considered as preventive intervention for public health. This is an eyeopener too: A Group Of Parents Sent Their Kids’ Face Masks to A Lab for Analysis. Here’s What They Found https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scottmorefield/2021/06/15/a-group-of-parents-sent-their-kids-face-masks-to-a-lab-for-analysis-heres-what-they-found-n2591047 Gainesville, FL (June 16, 2021) –… Read more »
Yes. As I’ve said before, masking is a filthy habit. Perhaps why the WHO didn’t recommend them for general use outside of medical settings.
Trouble is, a lot of politicians are clueless about health issues.
‘We, the maskless”?
And he’s gone along with it up to now?
Not so much of the ‘we’, then, please.
I think we should accept any allies we can get at this stage. A sinner repented and all that….
Julia HB says she is going to ditch her face mask today;
https://twitter.com/JuliaHB1/status/1406704592625324038
Great stuff, I hope people take note and do the same. Face masks end today, we are all distressed, ergo we are all exempt, this spineless, wittering Government will never give us back our freedom we must take it. In reality it may be slow to come but if an increasing number of people ditch their masks the house of cards might start to look a little less secure.
The lanyard thing is not important, if it helps wear one, if not don’t, the important thing is to not wear a face mask, it is a potent symbol and whatever can be done to get rid of it is fair game.
No one is required to wear a mask! The irony is it’s the exemption from mask wearing that makes the mask law legal. We all have a basic and inalienable right to breath and that means without any restriction such as a mask.
Far too many sheep in this country!
I’ve never worn a mask. Not once. Not even to get the itchy mole checked out on my leg. Fuck the mole. Fuck the masks. Fuck Boris. Fuck Stanley, Fuck Carrie. …and like Delingpole said Fuck the NHS. I want the sheep to continue to wear the masks. Unlike Michie and the elites, not because their plan(s) are not yet fulfilled.. but it just makes the borg, the sheep easier to identify.. those who would become Stazi or give up Anne Frank. Those who would report your twitter post or even dredge up your comments from years ago.. those who would vote to continue lockdown in dodgy polls. All of them wear masks. Anyway, they don’t have it in them to ditch them… monkey see as monkey do. They think you need a lanyward. It’s an I’m Spartacus moment that they are incapable of. When I go shopping today the non-player characters.. the borg.. they will still be wearing masks, the unknown knowns of the injections swimming around their ovaries and/or brains and hearts. Fuck ’em. Not evem particularly bothered if injected people start to drop. An eventuality I and even scientists like Yeadon and Weinstein consider possible. My mum… Read more »
I wonder if, in time, the psyops strategy will be to force unvaccinated people to wear masks and exempt the vaccinated so as to turn the pressure on its head, mark the refuseniks and “free” the biomarked?
Anything seems possible in this dystopian nightmare.
That is why the rabid maskers need a psychological kick up the arse, a mental shock, which is why I sport a yellow star. A reminder of how it all ends.
I live in the hope that in the future it will be the vaccinated who have to ‘mask up’ whenever they are in public to prevent them ‘shedding’ the protein spike to the unvaccinated.
Possible strategy, however they still can’t get around the Disability Discrimination Act and therefore EXEMPT from mask wearing will stay
I’ve not worn a mask since Boris snatched Xmas away – I find they cause me huge distress as a sign of subjugation to this sort of torture. And as the evidence shows, they are useless as well as being polluters.
No-one minds. Other maskless share smiles with me. Occasionally a shop owner may query and I just say: “I’m exempt.” If they objected I would simply leave the shop, but this hasn’t happened. There is no hassle from anyone and nor should there be.
I absolutely agree. We need to start becoming more proactive. I know it’s hard to make a stand when you’re on your own, it’s easier if you’ve got someone else with you for moral support but we have to be brave now and push back. If enough of us stand our ground now we might just save future generations from the dystopian horror that’s planned for them.
Probably too late though.
I read Devil take the Hindmost many years ago (even recommended it for the LDS reading list which started being compiled a few months ago, but was inexplicably almost immediately abandoned).
A good illustration of herd mentality, and how this innate feature of human nature has endured down the centuries.
Boris is under the thumb of Nutnuts. Nutnuts, Gove and Sunak are under the thumb of the globalists. All are manoeuvring to become the next voice of the British Council of the NWO. The British people who are happy for their future to be controlled by unelected bankers and technocrats will carry on complying. There is no excuse for those who say they were too fearful.
If you know something is wrong then you do something about it. Those who understand the evil being perpetrated, know they stand for freedom and democracy. They need to hold the line, remain faithful to their truth and their principle. Hopefully others will see the light and follow. Those who don’t, we have to pray for and leave behind. They chose their path. They are the naturally weak willed and they unfortunately pay the price.
We have to stop making excuses for those who bully us and look down on us. It is their problem to deal with. Not ours. We can forgive but we must never again forget that evil lives within all of us and we cannot let it grow and fester every 100 years. It never ends well.
Stanley is also ruling through his fat damaged son…
I saw 3 fellow humans at my local supermarket at the weekend, a current world record. I’ve never worn one or used a lanyard in the hope it would encourage others but I rarely saw another face. An awful lot of people are conditioned now, it’s going to much harder to snap people out of it now.
To date I’ve been confronted twice by staff. I gave one the tumbs up and walked in and the other a NO and ignored them. It just needs a little courage, always has.
If things ever got heated I planned to take my business elsewhere but ‘so far’ it’s never happened.
Oh damn, I thought the two I saw onetime at Tesco was a world-record!
be bold.. no one challenges you not even the police any more.. but dont reply.. don’t get into altercations.. say nothing if challenged.. just continue shopping..
Say exempt if you must… I don’t.. be bloody minded like me.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-act-prosecutions-wrongful-cps-review-b1847194.html
I’ve never worn a mask. Since about March, 90 per cent of the time no-one says anything (although I was challenged frequently during peak winter hysteria, this has now stopped). Of all the times I have been challenged, the word ‘exempt’ has sufficed on all but one occasion when an ASDA ‘Marshall’ followed up by asking why I wasn’t wearing a lanyard. I said ‘because I am not obliged to’: and turned my back on them, which was enough. Since May, I’ve even stopped saying ‘exempt’ e.g. on a ferry to the Isle of Wight, I just said ‘I’m not wearing one’ when challenged by a steward and then walked past them – nothing happened (though I spent most of the trip outside on deck).
What are typical challenges/queries (verbal or non-verbal) that a mask-less person gets? Has the character changed over time?
At B&Q yesterday I was asked “Do you want a mask?” the reply “No thank you” was accepted without question.
My mid twenties son works in a busy cafe that is only doing takeaway because they didn’t want to open up and have to deal with the mask issue. The staff have a screen up at the service point and originally were all wearing masks, then my son stopped and now none of them do, since stopping the majority of the queue take theirs off too. Unmasking can be infectious, you just have to get the ball rolling.
“Unmasking is infectious”. Nice!
In my experience, they’ve gotten far less aggressive and more polite. Nowadays usually a polite “have a nice day” corporate-style question: “do you have a mask?”. I think corporate training was disseminated over the course of last year through the big supermarkets and other organisations telling their staff that they had to be polite and allow for exemptions.
Small businesses seem more variable, but I just refuse to enter any that have aggressive masking signs displayed. The bar I was in on Friday in Manchester showed zero interest in any masking or tracking nonsense, which was encouraging.
If you are unlucky you might receive an aggressive challenge backed up with physically threatening body language, but I’ve only received this once (from a customer in a supermarket). But I understand from anecdotes (many here) that women have tended to receive more confrontation.
I suspect we might now finally be reaching a tipping point where the mask ban will be unenforceable anyway. Hopefully.
None. People stare. Like sheep do when you pass their field
Yep, no problems whatsoever. Over the whole course of this disaster, only twice has anyone commented/queried me.
My younger son
has sported a mask exempt badge at work (retail) and away from work from the start and has had no problems.
Then again he is built like an outdoor toilet so that might have made a difference.
“Built like a brick shit-house” is the Australian expression.
I cleaned it up for the benefit of our more sensitive subscribers, Brett.
‘I have gone along with the mask mandate in the misplaced hope that Boris would be true to his word and end the restrictions on June 21st.’
Oh Toby, you really are revealing your lack of substance.
‘I have gone along with the mask mandate in the misplaced hope that Boris would be true to his word and end the restrictions on June 21st’
It’s precisely because people went along with mask mandates from the start (“It’s only a bit of cloth”, “only temporary”, “shows respect for others”) without thinking about the repercussions or bothering to do any research that we have so many wondering if they now dare go anywhere without being deprived of their own bleedin’ faces.
Behavioural scientists obviously did a brilliant job on them.
Why would you do something you know is at best pointless and at worst downright dangerous? Your compliance Toby (along with everyone else who’s not brainwashed) is the reason we’re in the mess we’re in.
Toby Young has a multitude of excellent attributes. It appears that he is also politically very naive.
Well he persists in using Johnson’s cuddly stage name.
One tip I would give for new non-maskers based on my personal experience is not to engage with challenges if possible (unless you are in the mood for an argument about the issues and prepared for any consequences).
Quite often I’ve had someone issue a challenge as I walk into a supermarket or other place, and I’ve found it effective just to walk confidently and briskly past as though I’m very busy, without pausing, while simply stating “I’m exempt” or similar in passing, and then ignore them (pretend not to have heard) if they keep on talking.
My feeling is that if you stop to talk to them you are likely to get more problems. Most often in my experience they won’t bother to chase you around.
It’s all in the mind. Freedom is a mindset. I ditched my mask at the beginning of the year and I’ve never had any trouble or negativity. No lanyard either. I was nervous at first but then I found a local maskless group on telegram and it really helped with moral support. I strongly believe that people react to you depending on what vibes you give off. If you feel anxious or worried you’re going to get picked on you’ll get picked on (by the bullies). If you exude happiness, freedom, liberty people will smile at you. Lots of people smile at you because people really miss seeing other people’s faces. I just wish I’d never worn one at all because they are not good for us on any level. Ditch the mask! It feels SO GOOD getting rid of it. Have a withering retort ready for any bully (because that’s what they are) who tries to exert authority over you about it, because they have no authority moral or otherwise.
I’ve just got back from my small local Waitrose. No security on the door, so no challenge to my bare face, previously it’s been ignored anyway. However, I was still the only bare faced shopper, I had hoped there might be more. The checkout lady was still partly behind a screen, but bare faced, no lanyard or badge. I felt that was a start!
“ I was still the only bare faced shopper”
This is the hard reality that the virtue-signallers here ignore.
The message is pretty clear. And – yes – I am pessimistic, because, after a year, the idiocy of mask wearing couldn’t be clearer.
Well done! About time too.
My own take on the issues on Summer Solstice day:
I’m not a psychologist, but it appears to me that cathartic over reaction to certain events is quite normal in various organisations. Cast your minds back to some major incidents in industry – oil, shipping, power supply, transport on or above ground, even medicine itself. We are being dragged along with just such a thing, which many will not admit to – for the time being.
I’m not going to make up a list of specifics, but for many issues, minor tweaks can yield acceptable reductions in risks, but many organisations don’t like being exposed at all, and end up doing things that are sometimes contradictory in one way or another. Then there are the opportunists just around the corner; money talks, after all.
I’ve never worn a mask or a lanyard, but I’ll stop saying “exempt” and start saying “problem’s over, get over yourselves” if it helps the revolution.
Businesses are not allowed to challenge you. The law says that they have to assume you are exempt. I have written emails to several companies about this including the National Trust to say that to be challenged is in contravention of the 2010 Disability Act and that the employee, not the employer, is liable to a fine of between £900 and £9000. But in the last few weeks I have never been asked and my husband has finally stopped wearing one. If we all stop what can they do? Turn away customers? Be brave.
Exactly.
In the same way that – because the government has granted vaccine companies immunity from prosecution – that the liability for harm caused by vaccines (and the administration of said vaccines without first obtaining informed consent) rests with the person who actually stuck the needle in.
“Just following orders” is not a defence – we’ve been here before, people!
Bravery has yet to surmount the level of the induced Fear.