Take cover
The government has said it will make wearing masks compulsory in shops. Mandatory masks rather run against the general trend in legislation in many countries, with face coverings increasingly banned. In Britain last year a man was fined £90 for covering his face while walking past a police facial recognition camera. Hong Kong banned masks in October to try to stifle student protests. France, Belgium, Denmark and Austria have all passed laws against face coverings in public over the past decade. In Canada since 2013, rioters who cover their faces have risked ten years in jail. In the US, many states have enacted laws on facial coverings dating from 1845 to deal with bandits.
Prison visitors
The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said EU citizens who have been jailed for more than a year will be banned from Britain. How many EU citizens are in jail in England and Wales (on 31 March this year)?
Polish | 835
Romanian | 806
Irish | 721
Lithuanian | 414
Portuguese | 234
The rest of the top ten nationalities represented in our prison system and non-EU: Albanian (999), Jamaican (440), Somalian (288), Pakistani (272) and Nigerian (218).
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