The support scheme has proved positive for some, but others will have no jobs to return to. We hear their storiesSince March 2020, 11.6 million UK workers have been furloughed by their employees as a result of the Covid pandemic, with the government pa…
Take care with claims about unvaccinated case rates | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters
Different estimates of the population can produce wildly different ratesITV’s political editor, Robert Peston, wrote a Twitter thread with the headline: “Infections higher among double vaxxed for those [aged] 40 to 79 than for non-vaxxed.” ITV changed …
A friend leans in for a hug. Do I dive for cover, muttering ‘Covid’, or hug back? | Hephzibah Anderson
As we engage again in social situations, the new etiquette rules are bewilderingThe other day, flogging tickets to the school summer fair – now the autumn fair due to last term’s endless self-isolation – another parent leaned across the trestle table a…
Coronavirus live news: 1.5million people in England to receive booster jab invite
Texts and letters will be sent to eligible people who had their second vaccine at least six months agoTo mask or not to mask? Opinion split on London undergroundSlow but steady has seen the EU win out in the vaccine raceMinisters told to bar EU from UK…
Five-star to no-star: holidaymakers face nightmare in quarantine hotel
When one member of a family tested positive for Covid on a sunshine break to Greece, they had to move out of their luxury hotel to a cockroach-infested roomYulia Brill’s £4,500 package holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes turned into a nightmare on ju…
Slow but steady has seen the EU win out in the vaccine race
Ursula von der Leyen says the union’s vaccination programme is now a success after its stumbling startWe did it,” said Ursula von der Leyen in her annual state of the union address last week. With more than 70% of its adult population now fully vaccina…
To mask or not to mask? Opinion split on London underground
Commuters explain their reasons for not covering upCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe “do as I say, not as I do” approach to political messaging was again displayed last week when Boris Johnson urged people to wear masks in…
Noisy neighbours spark 67% rise in police complaints
Cash-strapped councils ‘struggling to deal’ with spike in anti-social behaviour reportsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePolice forces across England faced a sharp increase in complaints about noisy neighbours during last year…
The Observer view on the government’s flawed winter plan for Covid | Observer editorial
Measures taken now, such as mask wearing and better ventilation in schools, would help the NHS avoid further costly delays to non-Covid treatmentA small room, with the windows shut, packed tightly with more than 30 people, none wearing masks. This is t…
Covid and Afghanistan ‘reveal weakness of UK’s security policy’
Cross-party MPs and peers say the response to the two crises has exposed system as inadequateThe rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and the response to the Covid-19 pandemic have revealed “serious weaknesses” in the government’s approach to deali…