Newspaper headlines: Christmas 'saved', and mass testing 'promises'

Most front pages focus on what Covid restrictions will remain in force after 2 December and over the festive period.

"Ho Ho Homes to Mix" declares the Sun, while the Daily Express reports that, when the official announcement does come, a UK-wide pact is expected, allowing three households to bubble for five days of festive cheer.

"Xmas gets go-ahead" is the headline in the Daily Mirror, while the Daily Mail highlights the hard choices ahead for some households, asking: "Who'll be in your festive bubble?"

For the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph it is the potential changes to NHS Test and Trace self-isolation rules that make the lead.

The Telegraph suggests that an "ineffective and hated" system will be dismantled in January.

The Guardian says if trials are successful people could take a daily test for seven days and if they are clear of Covid, to avoid having to self isolate for two weeks.

The Times reports that unions are threatening to strike if a public sector pay freeze is announced - while pressure mounts on MPs to turn down their proposed pay rise next year.

The Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O'Grady believes it is "morally obscene" to hit the public sector, while the Taxpayers' Alliance says MPs getting a rise sends "the wrong message".

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has insisted it is reasonable to consider public sector pay in the current economic climate.

"Waste that'll make you weep" is the main headline for the Daily Mail.

It claims its investigations unit working together with the Taxpayers' Alliance has revealed how £5.6bn of public cash was "frittered away by Whitehall mandarins" on what it describes as a "state sector gravy train".

The paper says more than 4,000 Freedom of Information requests were made and government contracts and databases analysed to uncover that thousands of pounds were spent on first-class travel at the Treasury.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health shelled out £50,000 supplying "hipster" takeaway food to its staff in the first weeks of the pandemic. Bonuses accounted for £42m.

Many of the front pages feature family shots of either the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge or Prince George with the family's English cocker spaniel.

According to Metro, William and Kate announced at the weekend that their companion of nine years, Lupo, had died and they would "miss him so much".

The Mirror says the dog, given to the couple by Kate's parents, was at the heart of family life - even choosing Prince George's name in a game where he had to tap a scrap of paper with his paw.

The Guardian reports the latest act of sabotage to apparently strike the artist Banksy.

A work in Nottingham featuring a girl drawn onto a wall, hula hooping with a tyre from a broken bike, chained nearby, has drawn huge interest since it appeared in October. But over the weekend the bike appears to have been stolen.

The city is home to the Raleigh bicycle company and local teacher, Tracy Jayne, tells the Guardian: "It's a shame if someone's chosen to be that disrespectful, not just to Banksy, but to the whole of Nottingham."

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