Call to freeze all UK private rents to help 1m workers at risk of losing jobs

Thinktank wants three-month suspension during Covid-19 pandemic to protect financially vulnerable

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More than a million renters in Britain risk losing their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic and should be protected by an immediate rent freeze, according to a thinktank.

Calling on the government to suspend all private rents for three months as an emergency measure to protect those most at risk, the New Economics Foundation (NEF) said 1.2 million people living in privately rented homes could fall into severe financial hardship otherwise.

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'My desk isn’t usually as messy as this': Guardian readers share their work-from-home setups

What you see on a video conference isn’t always the whole story – here, readers reveal what’s really going on around them

• Read more in the Good Place series

We asked you to share photographs of the “two yous” that exist while you’re working from home – the person that appears on a video chat screen, and the oftentimes messier space space that surrounds you.

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'My desk isn’t usually as messy as this': Guardian readers share their work-from-home setups

What you see on a video conference isn’t always the whole story – here, readers reveal what’s really going on around them

• Read more in the Good Place series

We asked you to share photographs of the “two yous” that exist while you’re working from home – the person that appears on a video chat screen, and the oftentimes messier space space that surrounds you.

Continue reading...

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Miniature gardens with a big impact

From ground-hugging alpines to moss lawns and a dwarf spruce, here are the best plants to make a tiny garden, inside or out

Just a few short years ago, the idea of shrinking down an idealised landscape into a table-top tray would have been seen as the height of twee and about as relevant as pastel doilies and porcelain doves. However, in an ever more uncertain world, it seems our increasing desire for an escapist outlet and a feeling of being in control has seen this 1930s trend reincarnated, albeit in cooler, more nuanced ways.

Gone are the tiny garden benches, wishing wells and clothes lines, and in their place are more rugged, naturalistic landscapes of mosses and rocks, dotted with ferns and miniature trees. A perfect way to potter around the rolling hills of your country estate, even if the plot you have is no bigger than a dinner plate. So, if you are tempted to try it yourself, here are my favourite plants for a modern take on miniature gardens, indoors and out.

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Miniature gardens with a big impact

From ground-hugging alpines to moss lawns and a dwarf spruce, here are the best plants to make a tiny garden, inside or out

Just a few short years ago, the idea of shrinking down an idealised landscape into a table-top tray would have been seen as the height of twee and about as relevant as pastel doilies and porcelain doves. However, in an ever more uncertain world, it seems our increasing desire for an escapist outlet and a feeling of being in control has seen this 1930s trend reincarnated, albeit in cooler, more nuanced ways.

Gone are the tiny garden benches, wishing wells and clothes lines, and in their place are more rugged, naturalistic landscapes of mosses and rocks, dotted with ferns and miniature trees. A perfect way to potter around the rolling hills of your country estate, even if the plot you have is no bigger than a dinner plate. So, if you are tempted to try it yourself, here are my favourite plants for a modern take on miniature gardens, indoors and out.

Continue reading...

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May sets everything growing

If you’re lucky enough to have seed, there’s almost nothing you can’t do this month. But take time to sit back and enjoy it, too

May days, spring bank holiday, the month of garden seduction. The time of possibilities. And, yes, I know there is a small chance of frost, though the sun is higher and warmer, early and late. We will have 16-hour days soon: from close to 5am until after 9pm. It’s the last month of the year where the sun is rising ever earlier. So make the most of it (if you can).

I know seed is harder to come by. It seems everyone is a veg gardener now. Flowering plants are also harder to find. Some garden centres and nurseries are facing oblivion. Many are doing deliveries, search plantsnearme.hta.org.uk to see if any are near you. We are lucky in London and found two within two miles.

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May sets everything growing

If you’re lucky enough to have seed, there’s almost nothing you can’t do this month. But take time to sit back and enjoy it, too

May days, spring bank holiday, the month of garden seduction. The time of possibilities. And, yes, I know there is a small chance of frost, though the sun is higher and warmer, early and late. We will have 16-hour days soon: from close to 5am until after 9pm. It’s the last month of the year where the sun is rising ever earlier. So make the most of it (if you can).

I know seed is harder to come by. It seems everyone is a veg gardener now. Flowering plants are also harder to find. Some garden centres and nurseries are facing oblivion. Many are doing deliveries, search plantsnearme.hta.org.uk to see if any are near you. We are lucky in London and found two within two miles.

Continue reading...

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