The law against visible smiles turns shops into discouraging places
sir – Throughout my life, personal and professional, I have used a smile. A smile to show that I appreciate the service that someone has given me; a smile just to avoid a confrontation. The value of a smile is priceless but will now, compulsorily, be hidden by the wearing of a mask.
I appreciate fellow citizens’ concern for my health, and will not take to the street waving a flag to protest at this limitation on my showing friendliness. But I suspect that, rather than encouraging people to go shopping, the alienation of mask-wearing will produce the opposite effect.
Philip Styles
Cheddar, Somerset
sir – If shoppers refuse to wear masks without due reason, then shopkeepers should refuse to accept their custom. No mask – no service.
Mike Flood
Staplehurst, Kent
sir – What extraordinary properties the Government would have us believe accrue to Covid-19. Apparently we can catch it at the newsagent but not at the optician, at the supermarket but not at the cinema.
Gary Shaw
London NW11
sir – The advice on masks from the Welsh Government (which, in spite of it, bizarrely recommends their use) is: “At the present time, the widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community is not supported by high quality scientific evidence.
“There is,” it says, “evidence to suggest that the wearing of face coverings gives people a false sense of security which makes them less careful about social distancing and handwashing.”
Graham Low
Malpas, Cheshire
sir – How can we admire a PM whose response to Covid-19 is killing four people (through treatment for curable conditions delayed or denied) for every Covid death? He has turned
Britain into a police state, stolen ancient freedoms and ruined the economy in the past five months.
Simon Snape
Elton, Cheshire
sir – My wife has been knitting “ear savers” (to secure a mask) for our physio granddaughter, her hospital colleagues and my barber.
Unlike the Chinese-made polymer strip found online by Gordon Ratcliffe (Letters, July 24), this is definitely “Made in England”.
Roy Kimberley
Petts Wood, Kent
sir – Years ago, as a motorcyclist, I wore goggles with foam padding. Washing-up liquid was suggested to prevent them steaming up, as Eileen Davis (Letters, July 23) recommended for spectacles worn with a mask. This worked well until it rained, and soap bubbles formed inside them.
A preferable idea was potato juice.
Peter Bentley
Garforth, West Yorkshire