“There were numerous groups organising themselves to campaign for them to be made compulsory, they were the usual, lefty, progressive, virtue-signalling, pro EU, anti-Trumpers who overwhelmingly inhabit social media”. You are absolutely bang on sinkov. Theses groups have been foaming at the mouth since project Remain hit the skids and St Jeremy the Corbyn was trounced at the polls. They delight in posting FB messages every single day saying we have the highest ratio of Covid cases in the entire galaxy together with the deepest recession in the known universe. Frankly I don’t understand why, in the light of their constant message that this country is utter sh*te, people who have reached the promised land of the EU are desperate to pile into inflatable dinghies and imperil themselves and others by trying to cross the Channel. Perhaps I need to be sent to a camp somewhere for political re-education.