Allison Pearson Dishonesty Unmasked

Alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson finally climbed down off the fence and made a decision: face coverings would be compulsory in shops from July 24th. This would help reduce transmission of the Coronavirus. Most understood this and moved to comply, but, inevitably, there were those who saw the move as another opportunity to score More And Bigger Attention Grabbing Benefits For Themselves Personally Now.

In the latter category, to no surprise at all, has arrived increasingly wayward pundit Allison Pearson, inexplicably given a berth by the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph. Here, she has told readers not yet asleep “Compulsory face masks are proof the British bulldog has become the scaredy-cat of Europe”.

So desperate is the Tel, in fact, that Ms Pearson’s latest rant has been classified “Premium”. Sadly, however, she has managed to miss the fact that other European countries have already made face coverings compulsory. And as Steve Garelick has asked, “why does the Telegraph care about Europe [when] they have just spent the last few years begging the Country to leave the EU”. Indeed. But on to that column.

“Masks suppress human interaction, but their ability to suppress Covid is less clear”. Try doing some research before ranting. Sadly, there is more. “At the salon a couple of days ago, a young therapist said nervously: ‘I’m sorry, Allison, would you mind wearing a mask?’ I told her there was no need to apologise. ‘I didn’t know you had to wear a mask in the salon,’ I admitted. ‘You don’t,’ she said. ‘Just that we’ve had some clients complaining that other people aren’t wearing them and they don’t feel safe…’”.

This is bullshit. Face coverings are now a fixture of hairdressers. Including here in Crewe. Along with disposable gowns which are binned in front of the customer. But, having set her fictional scene, Ms Pearson then goes for The Full Dishonesty.

“Did I protest? Did I tell her that a hospital consultant told me that anything other than tight-fitting, surgical-grade masks are utterly pointless – like trying to stop a bullet with a chain-link fence? [No citation, and nor will there be] Did I bombard the poor girl with facts and figures? The ones that say the city in which we live is as good as free of the virus [No citation, and nor will there be], that our hospital echoes with an eerie emptiness [No citation, and nor will there be], that the predicted Covid tsunami which was supposed to overwhelm the ICU never materialised [you guessed, No citation, and nor will there be]”.

Have another go: “data released on Monday showed that Wales and Scotland saw no Covid deaths in the past 24 hours while England recorded just 11, 10 of them from previous days: one death from that wicked Covid in almost the entire United Kingdom”. Yesterday’s data records “Number of additional deaths on Tuesday 14 July 2020 … 138”.

Maybe Ms Pearson should pay heed to the words of one real person, Leshie Chandrapala, who has movingly told “My bus driver Dad died of Covid-19 because people weren’t told to wear masks on public transport early enough. Watching him die on a ventilator has left me traumatised. I am utterly lost without him. Please those of you advocating #NoMasks rethink … WEAR A MASK AND SAVE LIVES”. That is what it’s about.

Meanwhile, ignore idiots who rant in the Telegraph. I’ll just leave that one there.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet6