”The evidence we do have may be seen as leaning in favour of masks, but not enough to make masks compulsory. BWM and pfr argue for personal choice.

Not exactly true, in my case.

What I believe is that, on the basis of not knowing for sure whether masks are effective at preventing transmission, but believing also that mask-wearing is very unlikely to actually aid transmission, it’s better to take the course of ‘do no harm’, and that everyone should wear masks in public spaces. However, I also believe that, without compulsion, a significant majority of people will eschew mask-wearing (borne out by my experiences out and about in my local area) and a sizeable number would still refuse to wear masks even if required by law to do so. Under those circumstances, I regard compulsion as pointless - compulsion is only effective if people obey.

My position is that I firmly believe everyone should do the socially-responsible thing and wear a mask in public. But I have no control over other people’s behaviour, so I see no point in allowing what I perceive as the selfishness of non-mask-wearers to upset my personal equilibrium.

To accept that others will refuse to mask-up is not the same thing as to ‘argue for personal choice’. Close, but not exactly the same.