By September, children may no longer have to self-isolate if they come into contact with a Covid carrier. Earlier this month 250,000 pupils missed school in a single week because of the virus – the most disrupted week since schools reopened in March. Police are investigating a video of England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, being accosted by two men in a park. Boris Johnson has condemned the “despicable harassment” by “these thugs”. Andy Murray has won his first Wimbledon match for four years. The Scottish tennis star, who took time out of the sport for hip surgery, beat 24th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili in four sets.
A scuba diver who found a 95-year-old message in a bottle in a Michigan river has tracked down the writer’s daughter. The note inside, dated November 1926, read: “Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow, Cheboygan, Michigan, and tell where it was found?” One viral Facebook post later, Morrow’s 74-year-old daughter, Michele Primeau, recognised her father’s handwriting. “He’s been gone a long time, but it was kind of cool because all this happened on Father’s Day weekend,” she told CNN.
Love etc
An unorthodox matrimonial advert placed in an Indian newspaper: “MATCH for opinionated feminist. 30+ educated girl, short hair, piercings, works in social sector agnst cap’lism. Wanted h’some, well built, strictly 25-28 yr old only son with estd business, bungalow/at least 20 acre farm house. Should know cooking. No farters/ burpers plz. Write to curbyourpatriarchy@gmail.com.”
Then and now
In 1996, the Mirror’s front page on the day of the England-Germany semi-final ran: “ACHTUNG! SURRENDER. For you Fritz, ze Euro 1996 Championship is over.” Wartime helmets had been superimposed on pictures of Paul Gascoigne and Stuart Pearce. German striker Jürgen Klinsmann was asked: “Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitman?” – a reference to the then very popular Dad’s Army. There was even talk of renting a Spitfire to scatter surrender leaflets over the German team’s training camp. (We lost.) Things are now a lot friendlier, as today’s Mirror front page shows.
Quoted
Quoted 29-06
“There can be no clearer example of agovernment committed to recycling.”
Tory MP Liam Fox welcomes Sajid Javid back to the front bench
Snapshot answer
It’s a Ford Escort that Prince Charles gave to Diana as an engagement present in 1981. The car, which is expected to fetch between £30,000 and £40,000 at auction today, is a standard saloon, except for a silver frog ornament on the bonnet – a copy of a present from Diana’s sister, Lady Sarah Spencer, recalling the fairy tale about the girl who had to kiss a frog to win her prince.
