So, ‘Freedom Day’ is upon us. A shame then that Boris Johnson’s William Wallace-aping rhetoric has been repeatedly fucked to a whisper by his own dribbling dick of incompetence.

Freedom day was supposed to be about no masks. What happened? Did someone finally force the gurgling blonde to eyeball the daily case rate? The suggestion is that it’ll now be up to us? Meaning the intelligent will wear a mask, while the country’s idiots (see 60K fans screaming into each other’s mouths at Wembley) won’t. Sounds like plan.

The government recently announced they were to tweak the NHS Covid app to make it less sensitive, then quickly de-announced it, after presumably realising just how dumb they were to even think it. Nightclubs owners are baffled. They’re allowed to re-open, but use of the NHS contact app is encouraged, but not mandated  — it doesn’t take a scientist to predict clubs are a going to become a hotbed for transmission.

Masks on trains, but not in clubs? Who’s dreaming up these rules? I expect our newly infectious Secretary of State for Health, Sajid Javid has had a hand in it. Egghead in appearance alone then.

Anyway… I am aware this is supposed to be a menswear blog. But as regular readers will doubtless recall, I do have a habit of going off on the wrong thing at the wrong time. So in that spirit, let’s hype a piece of winter clothing while the sun’s at its fiercest.

This is from Kolor AW21 and represents an antidote to the palette of olive, beige and navy many of us routinely cycle through. Black cord up front, chocolatey brown knit throughout and with preppy striping in bright yellow and green: this is straight out of an E4 Joanie Loves Chachi remake.

Course prep style comes and goes on the menswear spectrum. But after years of gorging yourselves on the EG all-you-can-eat buffet, isn’t it time you considered freshening your brand palette? Man can’t live by khaki utility jackets and Reebok Beatniks alone.

I especially enjoy how this piece balances the old and new. On the one hand it may appear an implausibly pristine vintage find, on the other, with that poky contemporary palette, you can’t doubt its up-to-the-minute credentials. As an early autumn throw-on I think this is a big move.

I am not suggesting that spending an inappropriate amount on a Japanese knit (check out I Am Shop if you dare) is a solution to the Covid disastastrophe to come. But as it seems the government’s strategy is to let everyone catch it, double-jabbed or not, you might feel better having something super cool to curl up in during your inevitable ten day isolation.