Newspaper headlines: Mortgage rates 'squeeze' and 'Phil won't watch Holly'

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By BBC News
Staff
EPA

The Daily Telegraph leads with news of a study by scientists at Johns Hopkins University and Sweden's Lund University - which it says suggests that the Covid lockdown measures in the spring of 2020 saved as few at 1,700 lives in England and Wales.

According to the paper, the study concludes that the benefits of the policy were "a drop in the bucket compared to the staggering collateral costs", such as lockdown's impact on economic growth and children's education.

Asked to comment on the study, a government spokesman tells the paper ministers are committed to learning from the findings of the Covid inquiry.

The Guardian's headline also focuses on the pandemic. It quotes the Trades Union Congress as saying Conservative austerity left Britain "hugely unprepared" for Covid.

Ahead of the opening hearing of the Covid inquiry next week, the paper says the TUC will argue, in a report, that the policies of David Cameron and his Chancellor, George Osborne, led to "unsafe staffing in public services and decimated workplace safety enforcement". The paper says both men are likely to push back against the claims when they are called for cross-examination by the inquiry.

The Times says two of Labour's biggest union backers have criticised what it describes as a "central pillar" of Sir Keir Starmer's green strategy.

It reports that Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB, has joined Sharon Graham of Unite in criticising Labour's pledge to ban new licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.

It quotes Mr Smith as saying the proposals are naive and display a "lack of intellectual rigour and thinking". The paper says Sir Keir has stated that Labour would allow existing North Sea projects to continue until 2050.

The i paper reports more than half of young adults, aged 18-24, are concerned that artificial intelligence systems will damage their employment prospects. A survey for the paper says 52% expect that advanced AI may one day start to act "against our human interests".

The Daily Mail's front page says there is a "record demand" for 35 year mortgages because of rising interest rates. It says one-in-five first time buyers are signing up for a longer mortgage term in an effort to make repayments more affordable. But it warns that in many cases people will still be paying off the deals into their seventies.

The Daily Mirror reports that a British scientist - Prof Robert Wilkinson - is warning that a tuberculosis pandemic could hit the UK unless a "one-shot cure" is found. It says the professor, who works at a clinic in South Africa, has predicted the bug will "overtake Covid as the world's most deadly infectious disease".

And the Times tells readers that Scotland is "hoping to rival the Red Sea as a snorkellers' paradise". It says the Scottish Wildlife Trust is setting up a series of snorkelling trails around the country. But its reporter, who went to have a go, said a safety briefing for the Red Sea probably would not include "quite so much chat about uncontrollable shivering".