4 years ago
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By BBC News
Staff
Published2 minutes ago
"Go back to work or risk losing your job" is the headline on the front of
As it reports on the government's upcoming campaign encouraging people to go back to work, it warns that unnamed ministers have suggested struggling firms might find it easier to sack staff they don't see.
In his Telegraph column, Fraser Nelson writes that the "biggest surprise" of lockdown was how seriously people took the prime minister's advice to stay at home - and that the nation is now waiting for a positive signal from Boris Johnson about how to start rebuilding the economy.
In the Daily Mail, Richard Littlejohn suggests Mr Johnson might be next in line to lose his job unless he acts now to get the UK back to work. He describes the millions of people working from home as a "fools' paradise" which can't last much longer without "catastrophic" consequences.
The Times' columnist, Iain Martin, thinks a lack of after-work socialising may be what draws people back to the office - something he thinks might benefit "ambitious, young, white-collar Britons" - who go on to "prove themselves much keener" than the over-40s "wittering on about work-life balance".
The Guardian's front page reports that figures showing the number of Covid-19 deaths at individual care homes are being kept secret by regulators. The paper says it used a Freedom Of Information request to try to obtain the data from England's Care Quality Commission and Scotland's Care Inspectorate. It quotes both as saying the release of home-by-home mortality rates could prejudice the commercial interests of care providers and potentially cause confusion if the figures are read without understanding factors such as residents' underlying health conditions.
In the Spectator's Coffee House blog, Nick Tyrone asks whether Sir Ed Davey can "lead the Lib Dems back to national relevance" after his election as the party's leader. He says Sir Ed will have "excelled" in the role if he manages this task.
The New Statesman's political correspondent, Ailbhe Rea, believes the party is in a stronger position to rebuild itself than its headline performance at last year's election may suggest. She says that although the Lib Dems ended up with just 11 MPs they are now second in 91 seats compared with 38 in 2017.
The Times' leader draws on these figures to contend that it would be a "mistake to write the party off". But it says in order to "find a receptive audience", the new party leader may need to develop the communication skills of his most successful predecessors - Charles Kennedy and Lord Ashdown - who were able to capture the public's attention with their debating skills in the Commons and in TV studios.
The Daily Express claims the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has "begged" EU leaders to help pressure Mr Johnson into a compromise amid fears talks on a trade deal may collapse. The paper suggests that if the EU presses for an agreement which does not "respect Britain's sovereignty" then the bloc should forfeit the £39bn "divorce bill".
On the website of the New York Times, Charlie Warzel's opinion piece accuses the Republicans of using their national convention to portray an alternative universe to Americans. He says that, in a "shameless display of loyalty to President Trump", the party has spent the last few days describing a world "in which the coronavirus pandemic is largely in the rear view" - despite more than 1,100 people in the US dying from Covid-19 on one day this week.
In the Washington Post, David Byler's take is that the praise heaped on the president during the convention has made it clear that Donald Trump and his instincts are now the guiding light of the party. He says it's a "ticking time bomb for the GOP" because Mr Trump will hold onto his fan base even when he leaves office, leaving the party to take years to figure out what it stands for.
On the opinion pages of the Financial Times, Dan Senor, who was an adviser to Mitt Romey during the 2012 US election campaign, has his own take on Mr Trump. He suggests his chances of re-election have been boosted by the unrest in Wisconsin this week which was sparked by the shooting of a black man, 29-year-old Jacob Blake, by police. He says the "mayhem amplifies Mr Trump's law and order message", which may be enough to win over "suburban swing voters" who are concerned about the violence.
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The Guardian reveals that Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north America. It says the street artist emailed Pia Klemp, who had captained several rescue boats over the years, to say he had "made some work about the migrant crisis" and "obviously couldn't keep the money". The vessel features a Banksy artwork of a girl in a life-jacket holding out a heart-shaped safety buoy. The paper says it is currently in the central Mediterranean, where it rescued 89 people yesterday.
Several of the papers are pleased that Amazon's voice assistant, Alexa, has been taught how to understand the UK's regional dialects, with help from the Countdown lexicographer, Susie Dent. "Ey up, Alexa, fancy a brew and a bit of tiffin?" asks the headline in the Telegraph.
The Times lists some of the words and phrases the gadget will now understand, which range from "how do?" to "toodle pip" and "Hank Marvin" for starving.
And the Telegraph hails the "sweet sound of dialogue" returning to Ambridge as it's confirmed that the cast of The Archers is back in the studio. The soap's actors have been working from home during lockdown, forcing its writers to focus on monologues - which has proved to be controversial with listeners.
The Daily Express suggests the reason the "lonely musings" of characters didn't go down too well was because it was also the experience of too many people at home. The i quotes the soap's editor, Jeremy Howe, who said the "aim is to get back to The Archers as it was before the pandemic, step by gradual step".
