Covid travel rules, loneliness in care homes and empty shelves were the topics raised by columnists in the newspapers.

The Daily Mail

Simon Lambert said summer 2021 saw the addition of a new level to the game - ‘Covid test roulette, which it seems hopefully the government is on the verge of simplifying today.’

“Sadly, any move will be too late for the families who paid hundreds of pounds for tests to go on holiday over the summer, but it wasn’t just the financial cost that was the problem, it was working out what you needed and who you could trust,” he said. “Did you need a PCR or lateral flow to get out of the country, could you pick the right test, get the result in time, avoid getting ripped off, get the right test to come back, and did you then need a Day 2 and a Day 8 PCR, and a Day 5 Test to Release one?”

He said despite all the testing in Britain, an NHS test is not sufficient to allow you to travel.

“Into the breach has stepped a host of private companies: some providing a very good service and some not; some charging fairly and some charging what seem to be highly inflated prices. If it’s a good idea to test people for public health reasons, then surely you should take advantage of your supposedly world-class testing capabilities rather than shove them into a pricey and confusing private system.”

The Daily Express

The newspaper’s leader column said there are now fears that residents are “dying of loneliness” because they are not allowed to see friends and family.

“Campaigners yesterday delivered a petition to Downing Street and the call to end the isolation must be heeded,” it said. “Grandchildren are desperate to see beloved grandparents, and even the strongest of us might lose the will to live if every day brought the agony of loneliness.

“Visits are a vital way in which family members and friends can spot the warning signs of neglect and ensure a loved one is hydrated and getting the medication and exercise they need. We must ensure this is a country where older citizens are honoured and cherished. It is a scandal if they are being denied friendship and love.”

The Guardian

Felicity Lawrence said that although both the pandemic and the new restrictions on EU trade and free movement have contributed to shortages on the supermarket shelves and to companies cutting their production despite demand, the roots of this market failure ‘predate both by decades’.

“Worse, the crisis of labour across the UK – affecting businesses from haulage to food, farming, retail and construction – is now so deep that better wages alone will not dig us out of it,” she said.

She said British companies could not compete with foreign ones, with differing rules over time off and working weekends.

“Decades of anti-union legislation has tilted what was always an unequal relationship between workers and capital even further in the latter’s favour.

“Ignore the social costs of a hyperlean supply chain, and you may find you have created a system so economically efficient for business that it collapses altogether.”