Please ignore the Tories and put on a mask

I hate wearing one. I hate it – but we put them on for the good of those around you, writes Katy Brand

Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the Conservatives won’t start wearing masks in the Commons because they ‘know each other’ (AFP via Getty)

There are arseholes in every country; it’s true. It’s just that in many other countries the arseholes appear to be content to at least wear a mask. For some reason in the UK, and more specifically in England, mask-wearing has become a highly contentious issue.

The US also has its problems in this regard. But for most of the rest of Europe, even though there have been lockdown protests all over the continent, people broadly put their masks on without complaint in shops, restaurants and theatres or on buses, trains and in taxis.

In England, masks have somehow become something political, a dividing line resulting in harassment towards those who still choose to wear one. Why this is, I do not know. It doesn’t feel like there is much time to analyse it right now because the main focus needs to be on simply getting as many people to wear a mask as possible in enclosed spaces.