Noel Gallagher says he refuses to wear a ‘pointless’ face mask despite it being UK law

Noel Gallagher has refused to wear a mask during the pandemic as it ‘violates his liberty’. 

The former Oasis guitarist spoke on the Matt Morgan podcast, and said: “It’s not a law. There’s too many fucking liberties being taken away from us now … I choose not to wear one. If I get the virus it’s on me, it’s not on anyone else … it’s a piss-take. There’s no need for it … They’re pointless.”

He added that he’d also resisted requests to wear a mask on trains and in shops. He said: “I was going up to Manchester the other week and some guy’s going, ‘Can you put your mask on,’ on the train, ‘because the transport police will get on and fine you a thousand pounds.

“‘But you don’t have to put it on if you’re eating.’ So I was saying: Oh right, this killer virus that’s sweeping through the train is gonna come and attack me, but see me having a sandwich and go, leave him, he’s having his lunch?”

“Why do you have to wear one when you’re having a fucking haircut, but you don’t have to wear one in the pub?”, he added.

Noel referred to Morgan, who had argued in favour of mask-wearing, as a ‘cowardly germophobe’.

The current law in the UK is that you must wear a face-covering while on public transport, as well as in shops, hotels, concert halls and other public locations.

Studies have shown that wearing a mask is effective in reducing the risk of spreading Covid-19.

According to a study by the University of Oxford, even homemade masks of the correct material can reduce the spread of Covid-19 for both the wearer and those surrounding them. 

More than 120 countries now require mask-wearing everywhere in public. 

The study, published in July, found that along with hand washing and social distancing, face masks and coverings are one of the most ‘widely adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions for reducing the transmission of respiratory infections.’

Professor Melinda Mills, Director of the Leverhulme Centre and author of the study, added that ‘individuals underestimate their own risks of contracting the virus or transmitting it to others and think that ‘it won’t happen to me”.

Furthermore, Professor Mills noted that ‘younger people and men having a lower threat perception and compliance of interventions’ may be a contributing factor to the higher Covid-19 deaths among men.

Similarly, a study by the University of Edinburgh found that someone standing two metres from a coughing person is exposed to 10,000 more droplets than someone who is stood just half a metre from a coughing person who is wearing a mask. 

You can read the government’s guidance on wearing face coverings here.