Regular readers of Mr Drax’s columns will be accustomed to his limited range of reference, inconsistencies, and nonsequiturs.

However, having met him once, I was struck by his courtesy and consideration, which makes his present attitude to mask-wearing difficult to understand.

He must, surely, know after all these months that the prime purpose of the mask, although it confers some protection on the wearer, is to protect others.

He must also know that safety for all depends on everyone who can do so providing that protection for everyone else.

If I travel on a bus with Mr Drax, it seems that I will be willingly protecting him, but he has every intention of exercising his freedom to exhale hot aerosols into our shared space whenever he speaks or breathes.

If he does understand this, but still intends to exercise his “freedom”, he puts himself at the milder end of the continuum at the other end of which England football “supporters” spit into the faces of Danish children.

That is why a large number of people would feel more comfortable if maskwearing and sensible distancing in enclosed spaces were still legally required.

It is important to people who work in those situations and who have already suffered disproportionately, at least in part from the lack of consideration by others.

This might even be part of the adaptation to living permanently with the virus, which Mr Drax has repeatedly demanded.

BARRY TEMPEST

Dorchester