In it together: how to share space and resolve flatmate rows when you can't storm out

All the places you once used to escape your flatmates are closed, so how do you keep your cool? And what about when you fancy one of them?

Generation Rent is used to living in cramped spaces – and to sharing those cramped spaces with others. But as the coronavirus lockdown wears on, we’re having to spend more time than ever cooped up in them. While all those useful places we once went to escape – the pubs, cafes, gyms and even friends’ homes – are out of bounds.

Social distancing isn’t a problem for me; I’ve been practising it for years. If I could avoid my own shadow I would. However, for the less introverted and most of you who don’t reserve passing glances with long-time housemates solely for special occasions (such as when you have no choice), navigating this period might be quite difficult.

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Amazing kitchens we’d love to bake in

Star bakers, step this way...

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Coronavirus: Which mortgage lenders have cut rates and which haven’t yet acted Nottingham Estate Agents

The Bank of England cut the base rate of interest to a record low of 0.1 per cent in March but several lenders have yet to reduce their mortgage standard variable rates. The base rate was cut by half a percentage point from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent on 11 March, the same […]

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Kirstie Allsopp on life in lockdown: 'People think I’m a robust, gung-ho person. I’m not'

The presenter is filming a home crafts series to help take everyone’s minds off things. She discusses privilege, pressure and her worries about Britain’s housing divide

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There is a “terrible fight” going on in Kirstie Allsopp’s kitchen. Her two sons, who are 11 and 13, are making a chocolate cake. Allsopp, speaking on the phone, takes a pause to listen out. At least they’re not on screens – she has been trying, and not always succeeding, to implement a no-screens-before-6pm policy. How is that even possible? “Screaming. Threats. I haven’t resorted to physical violence yet,” she says with a laugh. (In 2018, Allsopp became notorious, briefly, for saying she had smashed her children’s iPads because they were spending too long on them.)

Allsopp, 48, has presented the property show Location, Location, Location since 2000. And there are other TV shows, including a property renovation programme, Love It Or List It. She has also become known for shows about home crafts, and is about to begin filming a lockdown crafts special for Channel 4, with a team of 11 who are arriving at her house this week. They have all been in self-isolation for a couple of weeks in preparation – the channel believes the team can travel and work safely – and Allsopp has turned her tennis court into a kind of field canteen, where they will all eat together twice a day. She is putting them all up, and somehow, she says, will all observe the physical-distancing rules (yes, her house must be huge).

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This crisis has changed our experience of home – and exposed the deep pain of poor housing | Suzanne Moore

Do you have a garden? Do you live on the 17th floor of a tower block or in a castle? Coronavirus is making old divisions sharper, clearer and more damaging than ever

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How does your garden grow? My local neighbourhood app is full of people swapping compost while my Facebook feed is full of photos of daffodils – little explosions of hope and rebirth. Who can resent that? Well, quite a few people, actually; the hashtag #selfishpricks has been trending on Twitter. The selfish pricks are people who go to parks and don’t observe social distancing. This may well be selfish, but another kind of selfishness is growing alongside it, from those who fail to recognise many people don’t have outside space. To live through this pandemic is to feel this viscerally; so much inequality is being played out.

One can refuse this knowledge or fake it. Every time I see a Tory minister saying they know what it’s like being indoors all day with small kids, I catch myself thinking: “What do you actually know? Have you ever lived in a tiny flat with small kids and no garden? Do you really know what it is like not to have a tiny scrap of land where you can sit outside, set up a swing and still know you’re at home?” I lived this way with two kids until my mid-30s. The memory of acquiring a small concrete yard stays with me. To this day, I cannot garden, but to be able to sit outside is a luxury.

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This crisis has changed our experience of home – and exposed the deep pain of poor housing | Suzanne Moore

Do you have a garden? Do you live on the 17th floor of a tower block or in a castle? Coronavirus is making old divisions sharper, clearer and more damaging than ever

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

How does your garden grow? My local neighbourhood app is full of people swapping compost while my Facebook feed is full of photos of daffodils – little explosions of hope and rebirth. Who can resent that? Well, quite a few people, actually; the hashtag #selfishpricks has been trending on Twitter. The selfish pricks are people who go to parks and don’t observe social distancing. This may well be selfish, but another kind of selfishness is growing alongside it, from those who fail to recognise many people don’t have outside space. To live through this pandemic is to feel this viscerally; so much inequality is being played out.

One can refuse this knowledge or fake it. Every time I see a Tory minister saying they know what it’s like being indoors all day with small kids, I catch myself thinking: “What do you actually know? Have you ever lived in a tiny flat with small kids and no garden? Do you really know what it is like not to have a tiny scrap of land where you can sit outside, set up a swing and still know you’re at home?” I lived this way with two kids until my mid-30s. The memory of acquiring a small concrete yard stays with me. To this day, I cannot garden, but to be able to sit outside is a luxury.

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Homes with some of the best views in the world

They're jaw-droppingly good...

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