Freedom fetishists are blinded by Covid conspiracies | Comment

Despite “Freedom Day” planned for July 19, Boris Johnson has given the impression he has already cooled on the idea. This is hardly surprising, given the alarming upward trajectory of new Covid-19 infections and numbers admitted to intensive care.

So Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, has said that the public will be “expected” to continue wearing masks in crowded and enclosed spaces. But this produced a great howl of rage, with the imputation yet again of a sinister plot to use the pandemic as an excuse to steal everyone’s freedom.

Those who claim the existence of this plot often compare themselves to the wartime Resistance, or victims of the Stasi. They sneer at those who want restrictions to continue as political cretins who

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