Peter Rhodes on the N-word, the F-word and the case for wearing face masks this winter

Face masks – just because we may soon no longer be required by law to wear them, it doesn't mean we have to stop wearing them. Masks helped in the fight against Covid and may be even more important in this winter's fight against influenza. And by all accounts, it's going to be a hell of a fight.

I tried to buy a pack of masks from a corner shop. The shopkeeper explained that he didn't sell packs. “We sell them individually,” he said. “Individually?” I asked. “That's right, individually,” he said. “Two for a pound.”

The number of cyclists killed on British roads increased by 40 per cent in 2020, rising from 100 to 140. Cycling groups blame dangerous driving by motorists. But the Department for Transport, using exactly the same casualty figures, claims that because more people were cycling during lockdown, the number of deaths or injuries “per mile travelled” actually fell by 34 per cent, the biggest drop for any type of road users. How statistics work.

How odd that the BBC screened the 1974 Mel Brooks spoof Western, Blazing Saddles a few days ago, with all its venomous and repeated use of the N-word intact, yet recently censored the scene in Fawlty Towers when the Major used the same word just once.

In the meantime, I suppose we can be thankful that, so far, no campaign has been launched to protect the dignity of people suffering from extreme flatulence. So, for the time being, the famous baked-bean scene in Blazing Saddles is safe. And even though we know that the spectacle of 20 farting cowboys is gratuitous, infantile and gross, we still can't watch it without laughing like a drain . It was the great showman PT Barnum who said that nobody ever lost money by underestimating public taste.

And after the N-word, the F-word . . .

What is the right response to today's all-enveloping attitude of political correctness known as woke? Could it be something inspired by Jennifer Saunders who accuses wokeness of sucking all the fun out of comedy? Saunders recently admitted that she would not be able to make Absolutely Fabulous today, thanks to “bigotry and small-mindedness” from people who would censor any script by telling her: “Oh, but you can't say that.”

And how does Saunders respond to such negativity? “I say, 'Oh f*** off',” she declares simply. I bet millions of grown-up people who actually enjoy jokes that make us laugh agree with her and may feel that now is the hour to fight back. We could call it the OFO movement.

In a column demanding an end to Covid restrictions, the Daily Telegraph headlined Covid-19 as “a largely defeated virus.” I can't think of a more perfect example of that old expression “tempting fate.”