Friday 31 July 2020

STARMER BEMOANS GOVERNMENT TIMING

New lockdown rules for parts of northern England have come into force following spikes in infection rates.  Labour MPs reacted with dismay at the timing with many slamming the government for making the announcement 'in the middle of the night on Twitter'.  Keir Starmer, tweeting at 23:14, was one of those taking aim...


To say that Starmer and co are being disingenuous is putting it mildly.  Matt Hancock began appearing on rolling news channels minutes after he tweeted the announcement at 21:16.  It was subsequently the main story on all the ten o'clock news broadcasts and has again received extensive coverage throughout Friday morning.


If the government hadn't acted so quickly, Starmer and co would be accusing them of dragging their feet.  If they'd have announced it first thing in the morning or midday he would have complained about that timing also.  Captain Hindsight is desperate to attack every decision that's made, especially if it helps to distract from Labour infighting.

Starmer should take note that the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester has supported the new rules with little criticism of its timing.  Unlike his party leadership, Andy Burnham's approach to dealing with coronavirus has been a lot more considered and congenial throughout the pandemic.  Time to grow up Sir Squeaky?

ON THIS DAY IN 1972, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA exploded three car bombs in the village of Claudy, Co Londonderry, killing nine civilians.  It was one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles and became known as Bloody Monday.  It was also one of the few terrorist acts for which the IRA continues to deny responsibility, although it is generally accepted that Provos were responsible.

The bombers parked the devices around the centre of the village shortly before 10am when the Main Street was busy with shoppers, after which they drove to Dungiven in a failed attempt to telephone a warning.  Along the way they stopped and tried to use a public telephone in the village of Feeny, but it was out of order.  When they reached Dungiven two of the terrorists went into separate shops, but the phones had been cut off following a recent bomb attack on the local telephone exchange.  One of the shop assistants had to physically go to the local police station to warn the RUC, but by this time the first bomb had already exploded.

The first device had been parked outside McElhinney's Bar on Main Street and detonated at around 10:15.  Three people were killed instantly, including an eight year old girl.  A 15-year-old boy was among three others who died from their injuries in the days and weeks that followed.

By the time the shop assistant walked into Dungiven RUC station the second device had been discovered and a policeman was clearing the area.  The second bomb was located in a mini van outside the post office on Main Street and members of the public were being ushered down Church Street, unbeknownst to everyone in the direction of the third bomb.  The third device was parked outside the Beaufort Hotel, hidden inside another mini van.  At around 10:30 both bombs exploded almost simultaneously.

Due to the swift action of the police officer no-one was hurt by the post office explosion, although there was extensive damage to property.  However, the bomb outside the hotel on Church Street killed three people, including a 16-year-old boy who had been injured in the first explosion.

Claudy

Claudy was a mixed village and the victims reflected this.  Five Catholics and four Protestants were killed.  The IRA vehemently denied involvement and later claimed to have carried out an internal inquiry which supposedly found that none of its units were responsible.  However, one name continued to crop up in relation to the attack - Father James Chesney, a Catholic priest.  Chesney was not only suspected of involvement, but he was thought to be the quartermaster of the 'Derry Brigade' of the IRA.  Chesney had provided an alibi for another man strongly suspected of involvement and when he was stopped at a checkpoint in September 1972 a sniffer dog found traces of explosives in his car.  Strangely the priest was never arrested or questioned and the following year he was conveniently transferred to another parish on the other side of the Irish border.

The controversy surrounding Chesney's alleged involvement and his apparent immunity led to a further investigation in 2002, by which time the priest had passed away.  This investigation later revealed that collusion between the British government and the Catholic Church compromised the initial RUC investigation.  Both parties feared that the arrest of a Catholic priest in relation to a terrorist atrocity would lead to further sectarian clashes in the province.

Belfast mural showing a priest wearing a balaclava and holding a bomb

No-one was ever charged over the Claudy bombings.  The IRA continues to deny involvement and in 2002 Martin McGuinness denied all knowledge of Father Chesney, despite both men holding senior positions in the same IRA 'brigade'.  When a service was held in 2017 to mark the 45th anniversary of the atrocity Sinn Fein stayed away.

30 civilians were injured in the Claudy bombings.  The nine fatalities were as follows.

McElhinney's Bar bomb

Elizabeth McElhinney, 59, Catholic.  A local nurse and shopkeeper, she was operating a petrol pump and was killed instantly.  She was survived by her husband.
Joseph McCluskey, 39, Catholic.  He had taken his four-year-old son into the village to buy a newspaper and was killed instantly.  He was survived by his seven children, including his son who survived the blast.
Kathryn Eakin, 8, Protestant.  She was cleaning the windows outside her family's grocery store and was killed instantly.  Her mother said at least one of the bombers would have seen her in the street when they parked the device.
Rose McLaughlin, 52, Catholic.  A shopkeeper, she was chatting to a customer when she was hit by shrapnel.  She died three days later from her injuries, survived by her husband and eight children.
Patrick Connolly, 15, Catholic.  He was in Rose McLaughlin's shop and was also struck by shrapnel.  He died eight days later.
Arthur Hone, 38, Catholic.  He was standing in Elizabeth McElhinney's shop and was struck by shrapnel.  He died from his injuries almost two weeks later, survived by his wife and two children.

Beaufort Hotel bomb

David Miller, 60, Protestant.  He'd been helping the injured from the first explosion when he was directed into the path of the third bomb.  He was killed instantly.
James McClelland, 65, Protestant.  He had also been helping injured victims and was killed instantly by the third bomb.
William Temple, 16, Protestant.  He came from Donemana in Co Tyrone, but had travelled to Claudy to carry out his milk round that included the village.  He was injured in the first explosion, but died instantly when the third bomb exploded.

The nine victims of the Claudy bombs

Londonderry poet and songwriter James Simmons recalls the bombings in his piece 'The Ballad of Claudy'.

The Sperrins surround it, the Faughan flows by
At each end of Main Street the hills and the sky
The small town of Claudy at ease in the sun
Last July in the morning, a new day begun

How peaceful and pretty, if the moment could stop
McIlhenny is straightening things in his shop
His wife is outside serving petrol and then
A child takes a cloth to a big window-pane

And McCloskey is taking the weight off his feet
McClelland and Miller are sweeping the street
Delivering milk at the Beaufort Hotel
Young Temple's enjoying his first job quite well

And Mrs. McLaughlin is scrubbing her floor
Artie Hone's crossing the street to a door
Mrs. Brown, looking around for her cat
Goes off up an entry, what's strange about that

Not much, but before she comes back to the road
The strange car parked outside her house will explode
And all of the people I've mentioned outside
Will be waiting to die or already have died

An explosion too loud for your eardrums to bear
Young children squealing like pigs in the square
All faces chalk-white or streaked with bright red
And the glass, and the dust, and the terrible dead

For an old lady's legs are blown off, and the head
Of a man's hanging open, and still he's not dead
He is shrieking for mercy while his son stands and stares
And stares, and then suddenly - quick - disappears

And Christ, little Katherine Aiken is dead
Mrs. McLaughlin is pierced through the head
Meanwhile to Dungiven the killers have gone
And they're finding it hard to get through on the phone

Thursday 30 July 2020

INSINCERE APOLOGIES

Grime artist Wiley appeared on Sky News yesterday to discuss his infamous anti-Semitic rantings and although his interview was heavily edited it suggests that he really is as unhinged as his Twitter meltdown suggests.  He repeatedly justifies his actions and doubles down, becoming highly animated and almost aggressive when faced with fairly innocuous questioning.  Anyone who refers to their own fans as 'fickle' has clearly lost the plot.  He points in his interviewer's face and declares: "I'm 41 years old".  Well, in this interview he behaves more like a spoilt ten-year-old.  Astonishing footage, watch below.


In our report on Wiley's Twitter outburst we mentioned that Jeremy Corbyn had quietly cut ties with Wiley on social media.  This only made the mainstream news yesterday, four days after we reported it.  That's poor journalism, but by far the worst of yesterday's Wiley-related news coverage was seen in The Guardian.  Hilariously the newspaper published an article on its website condemning online racism, but used a photograph of British rapper Kano - mistaking him for Wiley.  The icing on the cake of their faux pas was the fact the article had been written by smug tit Owen Jones.


The Guardian rectified the error an hour later and replaced Kano's image for Wiley's.  It has since issued multiple apologies, as has the author (see video below).  Proper cringe from the left-wing rag that supports the toppling of slave traders while founded on the proceeds of the slave trade!

Wednesday 29 July 2020

BRYANT HITS OUT AT PM'S 'LIES'

Labour's Chris Bryant

Chris Bryant has lashed out at Boris Johnson over the Spain quarantine and questioned whether Spain is on the brink of a second wave as figures suggest.  The Rhondda MP railed against the PM in an interview with LBC's Tom Swarbrick on Monday and managed to namecheck Dominic Cummings, Donald Trump and Brazil's right-wing president into the same tirade.  In something more reminiscent of a hard left MP, Bryant infers that right-wing governments are primarily to blame for the spread and refuses to acknowledge that socialist-run Spain is at risk of a second wave.

Whereas he won't condemn Spain, Bryant is happy to denounce Britain's chances: "I think there's a real possibility of a second spike in the UK" he says.  Why?  Because of our hapless lying Tory government of course!

In actual fact Spain has been decidedly less open about the true impact of the virus than our own government.  While it has recorded more Covid cases than the UK, Spain has somehow suffered considerably less Covid-related deaths.  The latest daily figures from Spain show that 1,828 new cases were recorded, but only two deaths.  On the same day the UK recorded just 581 new cases, but recorded 119 deaths.  Something doesn't add up there, but then Spain has never recorded care home deaths or anyone who dies without having first received a positive test.  The real death toll in Spain is much closer to Britain's if not in excess.

Labour politicians love to point out the death tolls under Johnson, Trump and Bolsonaro, but these men lead governments who are not actively concealing deaths like many countries have done.  Russia for instance has recorded almost three times as many cases as the UK, but strangely three times fewer deaths.  Still, if ardent Remainers like Bryant are to be believed, the Russians have probably been too busy working on Brexit to have noticed.

Captain Underpants of the Rhondda can be heard below.

Tuesday 28 July 2020

STARMER UNVEILS BLM ARTWORK

Keir Starmer's flip-flopping support for Black Lives Matter has gone full circle as he unveils new artwork that will hang in his Westminster office.  The raised black fist was drawn by a young Scottish artist who auctioned it off to raise funds for BLM.  Another £600 went into their healthy coffers, on top of the £1.1 million it has raised online.  What has happened to this cash or what will happen to it is anyone's guess, but it's clear that they are not going away and Britain is just one black death away from chaos.

The anonymous winner of the auction decided to donate the artwork to the Labour Party and contacted East Renfrewshire councillor Paul O'Kane.  O'Kane asked his party leader if he would be interested in taking the artwork and Sir Squeaky was only too happy to oblige.

Starmer with the artwork he will display in his office

Starmer told Cllr O'Kane: "Please pass on my thanks to both the donor and Kieran and let them know that I will be hanging it in my private office in the Leader of the Opposition's suite".  The artist is 20-year-old Kieran Mackenzie from the village of Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire.  Sounds like a diverse place, not.

Kieran Mackenzie and Cllr Paul O'Kane

Monday 27 July 2020

LABOUR MP'S WILEY HYPOCRISY

Thousands of Twitter users are boycotting the platform from 09:00 on Monday morning for 48 hours in protest at Twitter's response to Wiley's 48 hour anti-Semitic meltdown.  Although Twitter did act to remove some of his more offensive tweets, many remained and those taking part in the boycott want his account taken down altogether.

One of those participating is Labour MP Florence Eshalomi.  This is interesting.


Prior to Wiley's meltdown he was followed by a number of Labour politicians on Twitter, including Corbyn himself.  As of Saturday morning this had dwindled to two and as of Monday morning stood at one.  That person is the member for Vauxhall - Florence Eshalomi.  Oops!


BTLP is not taking part in the boycott - not because we are OK with Wiley's actions, but because silencing individuals because of speech, no matter how abhorrent, sets a dangerous precedent.  Of course it's also incredibly dangerous for an individual to present such horrific views to half a million social media followers, but there are already laws in place to deal with this and his repeated suggestion that Jews should be shot is clearly an incitement to racial hatred.  Twitter has removed these tweets and the matter is now in the hands of the police.

There are also concerns that shutting down such dangerous individuals sends them underground, turns them into martyrs and can lead to far worse actions than words.  It's also reminiscent of the hard left's 'no platform' censorship of individuals they don't like.  In fact the boycott's official hashtag contains the leftist term 'safe space' - #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate.  The boycott also declares that 'silence talks'.  Does it?  Surely walking out of a debate leaves your opponents free to control the debate.  In any case, what does this actually achieve anyway?  It won't cost Twitter a penny and it won't force them to act.

This is a pointless virtue signalling exercise for people to indulge in identity politics, something that has appealed to some on the left.  Dozens of Labour MPs are taking part including Jon Ashworth, Lisa Nandy, Rosena Allin-Khan, Andrew Gwynne and Jess Phillips.  There are even a few in the hard left Socialist Campaign Group who are participating including Rachael Maskell, Sam Tarry and Nadia Whittome.  Of course it goes without saying that Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Richard Burgon have not signed up.

Owen Jones is taking part, although he will probably be climbing the walls by 10am as he normally spends half his life on Twitter.  Ash Sarkar is not.  Arguably the biggest virtue signaller of all - Sadiq Khan - is also not taking part.  That is perhaps the biggest surprise of all.

ON THIS DAY IN 1987, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA murdered an off duty policeman in his home in Ballymena, Co Antrim.  Constable Norman Kennedy was on sick leave at the time and was watching television with his wife when the gunmen broke in.  Just after midnight two masked terrorists smashed down his back door with a sledgehammer and burst into the living room.  One was armed with a submachine gun and the other a revolver.  The policeman had no time to react and was shot ten times.  His distraught wife was unhurt during the shooting, after which the terrorists fled.  Their 14-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter were upstairs asleep at the time.

The murder was a cruel twist as the family had been forced to leave their previous home by loyalist paramilitaries.  Ten months earlier the family had to leave the town of Limavady, 30 miles away in Co Londonderry, after loyalist protests against the Anglo-Irish Agreement led to dozens of police officers being displaced.  Const Kennedy's sister told journalists:  "When they left Limavady we thought his troubles were behind him.  Then this happens".

Constable Norman Kennedy

Constable Kennedy was 41.  The IRA claimed responsibility for his murder later the same day.

MOST SHARED: WEEK 275

For the second week in a row the most shared title is related to the return of Daesh terrorist Shamima Begum.  After appeal court judges ruled that she must return to the UK to plead her case (and therefore never leave) it was revealed that Keir Starmer was one of many Labour frontbenchers who condemned the government's decision to strip her of British citizenship.  He told Sky's Sophy Ridge in March 2019 that the then home secretary was wrong to do so and argued that measures were in place to facilitate her safe return (all extremely costly to the British taxpayer).  The video is here.


Shared 2,342 times via the Facebook page.

Sunday 26 July 2020

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 19-25 JULY 2020

19.07.20 - Matt Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph
19.07.20 - Morten Morland, Sunday Times
21.07.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
21.07.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
21.07.20 - Kathryn Lamb, The Spectator
21.07.20 - Jeremy Banks, FT
22.07.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
22.07.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph
23.07.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph
23.07.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
23.07.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
24.07.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph
25.07.20 - Ben Jennings, i
25.07.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
25.07.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

Saturday 25 July 2020

WILEY'S 48 HOUR RACIST RANT

Richard Cowie aka Wiley

Grime artist Wiley has hit the headlines over an atrocious string of anti-Semitic tweets in the last 24 hours.  It's not clear what triggered him, but for several hours on Friday and again on Saturday he was tweeting incessantly every few minutes and even managed to squeeze in several videos on Instagram, some of which have now been removed.  In several tweets he suggests Jewish people should be shot and in one also suggests that black people who stand with Jews are 'getting bumped'.  He also hit out at Arabs who he accused of having 'Africa in a headlock'.  He also questioned the existence of Covid-19 which he said was 'all bullshit'.  Responding to accusations of racism he declared: "Black people can't be racist they can only be upset about how they have been mistreated".

Wiley's management dropped him on Saturday morning and the Metropolitan Police are investigating his racist meltdown.  There are also calls for him to be stripped of his MBE and a boycott of Twitter is being planned for Monday morning.  While Twitter has removed some of the more offensive tweets, many remain.  Here are a selection of screenshots doing the rounds.  Bear in mind his reference to 'holding the corn' is slang for shooting someone.



At one point yesterday the Brexit Party's Martin Daubney tried to talk some sense into him, but he was having none of it...


Wiley has almost half a million followers on Twitter and until this morning that included a lot of Labour people, including Jeremy Corbyn himself.  Wiley is naturally a big supporter of Corbyn and tweeted support ahead of the 2019 general election, to which Corbyn replied: "Thank you Wiley".  That thank you message disappeared from Twitter this morning and Corbyn is no longer following Wiley's Twitter account.

Corbyn has now deleted his thank you tweet

Despite cutting ties with Wiley, Corbyn has so far failed to condemn his actions.  The Great Leader once tweeted about Theresa May: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor".  By that logic we know whose side Corbyn is on now.

At the time of writing the only Labour MPs still following Wiley on Twitter are Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) and Sarah Jones (Croydon Central).

TULIP'S TERRIFYING MASK

Labour frontbencher Tulip Siddiq is campaigning for clear face masks to be made readily available so that the wearer's mouth can be visible.  It's a laudable aim as muffled voices coming from inside face masks can make conversation difficult at the best of times, but impossible for deaf people and the hard of hearing to understand the rest of us.

Unfortunately, Tulip's mask gives her the terrifying appearance of a horror film villain...


Tulip Siddiq is the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn and is also the Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years.  There is another solution to communication problems surrounding face masks - don't wear one.  An exemption card can be purchased online.

Friday 24 July 2020

CORBS CARRIES ON MASK-FREE

Despite the introduction of the new face mask rules in England, Jeremy Corbyn has been photographed in Islington completely ignoring them.  Corbyn was spotted inside a shop with his wife Laura, both mask-free.  Jezza notices the photographer and embarrassingly tries to make amends by grabbing his mask and holding it to his face, while his wife takes pictures of the photographer on her phone.




Corbyn manages to get the mask around his neck and pops into the Nationwide building society, but doesn't bother putting it over his face.


Bizarrely he only manages to wear the mask properly when he is outdoors and on his way home, cup of coffee in hand.


Jezza's contempt for corona rules is nothing new.  He consistently ignored NHS advice for the over seventies throughout the lockdown and instead of working from home insisted on giving interviews in person and continuing to attend Parliament.  And yet every Thursday at 8pm he was outside his house ringing his bell, cheering and applauding the NHS.

PICTON STATUE TO FALL

Sir Thomas Picton

The statue of British hero Sir Thomas Picton is to be removed from Cardiff City Hall following a vote at last night's Cardiff City Council meeting.  Councillors voted overwhelmingly by 57-5 to remove the statue at the behest of Cardiff's Labour mayor Dan De'Ath.  The move was backed by all the Labour councillors present, plus Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems.  Six of the 21 Tory councillors also backed the motion, while nine abstained and five opposed the motion.  The full vote can be seen below.


Picton was a native of Pembrokeshire and enlisted in the British Army as a teenager in 1773.  He went on to have a long and decorated career that ended at the Battle of Waterloo where, as lieutenant-general, he was the most senior British officer killed.  Picton was shot whilst leading a bayonet charge against the advancing French.

However, Picton also a profited from slavery and was alleged to have executed several slaves during his time as the governor of Trinidad.  He was later arrested and charged in relation to his activities in the West Indies, but his conviction was later overturned.

Cardiff City Council wasted no time in acting on the vote and boxed in the statue on Friday morning.  The hideous plywood box will remain in place until the planning stages are complete and the statue can be physically removed.  The mayor was there to oversee the work on Friday morning.  It's not clear at present how much the stunt cost, but it has emboldened BLM supporters in now moving on to other targets across Wales.

Cardiff's Labour mayor oversees the work

Picton's name can be seen on road names, pubs and memorials not just in Wales, but across the Commonwealth.  Target number one for BLM activists is the Picton monument in Carmarthen and they stand a good chance of having that torn down or renamed because the local council is run by the left-wing Plaid Cymru who masquerade as 'nationalists' but are nothing of the sort.  

It remains to be seen whether the Picton name will totally disappear from Wales in the same way the Colston name is being totally erased from Bristol.

Cardiff City Hall's Picton statue boxed in

It's interesting to note that the leader of Cardiff City Council - Cllr Huw Thomas - celebrated the Picton vote by speaking out against racism and talking up the city's "proud history of multiculturalism" and "tradition of celebrating diversity".  This is the same Huw Thomas that in 2006 referred to people flying England flags in Wales as 'chavs and simpletons'.  He even espoused criminal damage to cars carrying England flags.  So much for 'celebrating diversity' eh Huw?

CANDIDATE FLIPS THE BIRD

A Labour candidate has given the BBC's John Ware the finger in a petulant selfie on Twitter.  Ware is suing Jeremy Corbyn over the Panorama documentary on Labour whistleblowers.


Corbyn fanatic Corrie Drew stood for the party in Bournemouth East in December, finishing second.  She was so desperate to get elected that she set up crowdfunding pages to pay her bills and living costs so she could devote all her time to campaigning.  More recently she has been campaigning to have the statue of Baden-Powell removed from Poole seafront.  She has enthusiastically embraced Black Lives Matter and tweeted last month that white people should either support BLM or shut up.


Drew's finger gesture was retweeted and condemned by a number of Corbyn critics including former Labour MP Ian Austin.  The resulting attention led to Drew locking down her Twitter account.  It appears that she can give it, but she cannae take it.

Drew with her hero

Bournemouth East 2019 general election

Tobias Ellwood (Con) 24,926 (50.6%) -1.3%
Corrie Drew (Lab) 16,120 (32.7%) -2.9%
Philip Dunn (L Dem) 5,418 (11.0%) +4.5%
Alasdair Keddie (Green) 2,049 (4.2%) +1.6%
Ben Aston (Ind) 447 (0.9%) New
Emma Johnson (Ind) 314 (0.6%) New

FACE MASK DAY FOR ENGLAND

They're already compulsory in Scotland and face coverings are now mandatory in shops in England too.  Northern Ireland will join in on August 1, but oddly the only part of the UK with a Labour administration has no plans to enforce masks in shops.  Mark Drakeford has been stubbornly slow to get Wales out of lockdown and the hospitality industry cannot re-open fully until August 3.  His socialist administration is keen on taking liberties and unbelievably they are looking to ban smoking outdoors if they form the next Welsh government.  While it's surprising that such left-wing control freaks have not leapt at the chance to tell people to mask up, perhaps it's more surprising to see a libertarian Prime Minister suddenly announce that shoppers in England would have to.

The move has been eminently more controversial than lockdown.  A recent YouGov poll suggests that support for mandatory masks in shops is at 80 per cent, while support for lockdown was 93 per cent.  However, the spread of the virus has been in decline for months, so the timing has raised a few eyebrows.


While the YouGov poll had a pitiful sample size - 1,600 - our recent Facebook poll on the same topic attracted 11,000 votes.  The result was much more polarised with 53 per cent in support of the move.  Was this indicative of conservative opinion or was it more reflective of a greater split in the general population?  Four months earlier our lockdown poll was almost identical to YouGov's - support at 94 per cent after 13,800 votes.  The disparity on face masks is huge.



In the days leading up to the introduction of mandatory face masks in England there does not appear to be an overwhelming enthusiasm for masks in shops.  Richey went shopping on Wednesday and found that in one store - B&Q - not one person inside that store wore a mask.  In the supermarket it was a different story, but still only around half of shoppers were masked up.  Will the other half suddenly reach for their masks come Friday?  Perhaps, but if you are unhappy and think the government is taking one too many liberties you can easily exempt yourself.

The Hidden Disabilities charity has produced an exemption card that can be obtained here.  It costs 55p + postage.  There are two exemptions handed down by the government that allow for ambiguity:

  • If you have a physical or mental illness or impairment, or a disability that means you cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering
  • If putting on, wearing or removing a face covering would cause you severe distress

It's doubtful many fines will be handed out to shoppers who refuse to wear masks, especially if they know about these two easy cop-outs.