The Papers: ‘Win for Meghan’ and ‘over-65s to get jab invites’

image captionMany of Friday’s front pages report on the Duchess of Sussex’s victory in her high court privacy case against the Mail on Sunday. The Guardian reports that the judge granted a summary judgment in the duchess’s favour over the publication of extracts from a “personal and private” handwritten letter to her estranged father. The duchess says her victory is a “comprehensive win” over the newspaper’s “dehumanising practices”.

image captionThe Times also reports on the duchess’s High Court win, saying the judge ruled that the disclosures from her letter were “manifestly excessive and hence unlawful”. The newspaper leads on a plan being considered by ministers to keep social distancing restrictions in place until at least the autumn. The newspaper understands the government’s route out of lockdown is based on the assumption that people will have to wear facemasks and remain a metre apart for months.

image caption“There’s no quick fix,” is the headline on the front page of the Metro, which leads on a warning from a Sage scientist that lockdown should not be eased. Senior government adviser Sir Jeremy Farrar said the prime minister’s plan to reveal a road map on 22 February for easing virus measures “arbitrarily, for some time in March or April, frankly doesn’t make any sense”. “Transmission is still incredibly high in the UK – if transmission were still at this level and we were not in lockdown, we would be going into lockdown,” he tells the paper.

image captionThe over-65s will start getting letters inviting them for their Covid jabs from Monday, the Sun reports. The newspaper says more than 13.5 million Brits, or one-in-five people, have had their first dose of the vaccine. Nearly 450,000 people were jabbed on Thursday, it says.

image caption“Millions in NHS limbo” is the i’s headline. The newspaper says there are 4.52 million people on waiting lists for routine procedures such as hip and knee operations. This is the highest number since records began in 2007, it says.

image captionThe Daily Telegraph says the head of the Armed Forces has warned that the coronavirus pandemic has led to “nationalist barriers” and economic cries reminiscent of the lead up to World War Two. In an interview with the newspaper General Sir Nick Carter says the “security challenges” presented by the pandemic are similar to those faced in the 1930s. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has been warned by Tory MPs that reopening schools on 8 March must be “signed in blood”, the Telegraph says.

image captionThe Daily Mail says the UK is “set to roar back” from lockdown. It leads on comments from a Bank of England boss, who says Britain’s economy will bounce back like a “coiled spring”. Chief economist Andy Haldane, who has written an article for the paper, says families are ready to fuel a rapid return to prosperity with a multi-billion pound spending spree.

image captionThe Financial Times reports that the BBC World News television channel has been officially banned from broadcasting in China. It comes a week after the UK’s media watchdog stripped Beijing’s state broadcaster of its licence in Britain, the newspaper says. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called China’s decision “an unacceptable curtailing of media freedom”.

image captionIan Botham has criticised the BBC for causing “immense distress” to older viewers failing to pay their TV licence fees, the Daily Express says. The former cricketer is battling for pensioners, the newspaper says, who used to received a free licence but now have to pay.

image captionThe Daily Mirror leads on a tribute from the mum of Libby Squire, after a man was found guilty of her rape and murder. The mother said her 21-year-old daughter “will always be with us and we are so proud of our beautiful, caring, amazingly wonderful girl”.

image captionThe Daily Star says clarity is needed over whether people in the UK can book summer holidays.