Portrait of the week: Masks to be dropped, John Lewis builds houses and Russia lays claim to champagne

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Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said that if a review of coronavirus restrictions on 12 July allowed, then on 19 July he expected an end in England to compulsory masks (except in hospitals), working from home, the ban on ordering drinks at the bar, on nightclubs and on singing in church. ‘If we don’t go ahead now,’ he said, ‘then the question is, when would we go ahead?’ Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, told the Commons: ‘If you’re on public transport, let’s say a very crowded Tube, I think it would be sensible to wear a mask — not least for respect for others.’ In separate provisions, the system of sending home all members of a school bubble if one tested positive would be discontinued. Anyone fully vaccinated who came into contact with someone who tested positive would from 16 August no longer have to self-isolate; in the meantime employers feared large numbers would be sent home.