Never mind lifting mask mandates, ban them!

I AM glad to see that the ‘ante is being upped’ against the Covid restrictions and against those who forced us to suffer under these for month after month. At least, I see these things being challenged effectively in these pages and in some other outlets.

The fewest punches are being pulled by columnists in TCW Defending Freedom. We were indeed fools, as explained by Laura Perrins on Thursday, to follow any of the government restrictions and we should be less than forgiving to the lockdown fanatics and mask maniacs as explained by James Delingpole on Monday. We were long ago urged here to ‘Ditch the muzzle!’

The people now bleating about how we may have been wrong are, most certainly, turncoats who want to end up on the right side of history. But turncoats are not converts and these people were provided daily with evidence that contradicted Covid related restrictions in these pages, in the Daily Sceptic (formerly Lockdown Sceptics), OffGuardian, Unity News Network, Polticalite and other outlets. They ridiculed those of us who promulgated an alternative to the Covid narrative and wilfully ignored evidence contrary to their own position.

Mask mandates have been lifted at last and, with any luck, permanently in England. However, the fainthearts are much in evidence in the devolved jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, in London, in leading retail stores and in higher education. It is time that the British government took a step beyond lifting mask mandates and simply no longer requiring people to wear them. They should stop tolerating nonsense from grocers and university vice-chancellors. Legislation should be introduced to ban the wearing of face masks within our shores at any time and in any place under all circumstances.

Here are ten reasons why:

1.They don’t work. There is no convincing evidence that masks are effective in preventing the spread of respiratory viruses. In fact, there is no convincing evidence that any of the Covid related restrictions have had any tangible benefit as demonstrated by comparing administrations where measure have been stricter with others where they have been more relaxed. Moreover, masks are costing a fortune. In 2020 alone we had already spent £190milion in the United Kingdom and currently the worldwide face mask market is worth $50billion. It is clear that someone is profiting from masks and other aspects of the pandemic, and it is easy to see why there is pressure from vested interests to maintain the wearing of face masks.

2.They impair breathing. Despite ‘research’ purporting to show that face masks do not impair breathing, they do. An easy experiment is to put one on and climb a steep flight of stairs. Even the fittest among us will be shorter of breath than normal at the top.

3.They are bad for oral health. Dentists have been vexed about the effects of prolonged face mask wearing. On a recent visit to Slovenia, I spoke to a health informatics expert who not only confirmed that Covid restrictions were ineffective but that they were gathering systematic evidence on the harm wearing face masks was doing to children’s oral health by increasing oral acidity and softening teeth.

4.They impair children’s development. There are few things more pitiful than the sight of very young children being forced to wear face masks. Even worse, they have been shown to impair development. They also engender fear in children that they are going to die of Covid. It has been shown that the language skills and even the intelligence of children has been hampered over the course of the Covid restrictions and it is too early to tell if they will be able to catch up. The teaching unions continue to insist that children are masked in classrooms despite the fact that this requirement was dropped many months ago. This is definitely an issue where the government needs to intervene and overrule the unions. It is at times like these I can only imagine how Mrs Thatcher would have dealt with them.

5. They spread fear. The widespread wearing of face masks is bad for mental health – ask Mind. Face masks lead to anxiety in vulnerable people and, as so aptly described by Laura Dodsworth in A State of Fear, they spread fear amongst the general population and help to maintain it.