MR Gove doesn’t want the wearing of face masks to be made a legal requirement and says that he trusts people’s “good sense”. Maybe, with his head in the clouds, he missed the behaviour of crowds swarming onto beaches at the first opportunity, and the habitual behaviour of his friend Mr Johnson.

By Gove’s logic, there’s no need for silly laws against murder: we can just trust people’s good sense not to kill each other! That comparison is not so far-fetched either, because a decision not to wear a mask in a shop could literally result in someone’s death.

Derek Ball
Bearsden

READ MORE: Michael Gove: English good manners mean face mask laws aren't required

BORIS’S latest, belated announcement that face coverings do have a health benefit, especially in confined places, is clearly a welcome message for those south of the Border.

In the TV interview, when he used the phrase “tools of enforcement” I had a wee laugh to myself. As people in Scotland know, the word “tool” has an alternative meaning. It’s a derogatory comment that describes a dim person who is being used and manipulated by another. I wonder whose idea it was to make this overdue guidance announcement. Boris’s relationship with Dominic Cummings comes to mind! (Some may say “What a tool, the poor guy can’t win whatever he does!”).

Robin MacLean
Fort Augustus