There is almost zero chance of survival for my husband now. His body is not coping with the virus.

Cathy Gardner's 88-year-old father was supposed to be safe. But he died from "probable Covid-19" after a fellow care home resident was discharged from hospital. Now she tells Sophie Gallagher she wants answers

On the bad days I would take the box out of the bathroom cupboard, pop one from the packet and then just leave it on the side, eyeing it up over the course of an evening. I had wanted to stop taking the pill for a couple of years, but every time I came close I’d give into cowardice.

Politicians are well versed in having to take toe-curling photographs on the campaign trail. Matt Hancock having his crotch sniffed by a labrador, Boris Johnson obliterating a 10-year-old schoolchild in a rugby game, David Miliband awkwardly brandishing a banana, and Theresa May attempting to eat chips like a human all spring to mind.

Head chef Kay Collins didn’t have to go digging to find out she was being paid £6,000 less than her male colleague. He volunteered the information during a casual chat, unaware of the inequality he was about to reveal.

For centuries, cities have been plagued by periodic crises. The Great Plague of 1665 killed 70,000 Londoners, and those who could afford to leave fled the city. King Charles II and his courtiers left for Hampton Court. Parliament was moved to Oxford. All trade between London and other plague towns was stopped. The border with Scotland was closed.

There is nothing more humbling than the first time you break out your full skincare regime in front of a new partner. I’m not talking delicate beautifully-scented lotions and potions -- or at least that wasn’t how I approached it. An awkward silence descended as I returned from the bathroom, followed by a tentative: “What is that all over your face?”.

There is something about Nigella Lawson. It isn’t her perfect use of adjectives to describe a chocolate mousse, the midnight dressing-gown fridge raids, or even, dare I say it, her recipes.

We’ve been influenced by social media to try and buy many things. To throw buckets of ice over our heads on camera for charity, to buy candles that smell like Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina, and to think that a sourdough starter was a reasonable thing to attempt to make at home.

It was the relationship that was supposed to mark the modernisation of the monarchy; instead, it became a turbulent tale of celebrity obsession, social media and family turmoil. In January 2020, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they would be stepping down as senior members of the royal family in a move that shocked the world – yet wasn’t entirely unexpected.

On Hannah’s road in Enfield, north London, there is a house with boarded-up windows. The 23-year-old knows the man who lives there and says he covered up the property so he can continue having house parties without the police being able to see in.

In 1965 a blackout engulfed the whole of New York state, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and even parts of eastern Canada. It lasted 13 hours in some places, meaning families were left with nothing but candlelight and conversation.

NHS midwife Jennifer Stephenson, 32, and her husband, 35, first became aware that their bank, Nationwide, was about to start charging them 39.9 per cent interest on their overdraft when they got a newsletter from a third-party money saving service. The couple from Preston, who have three school-age children, both work full time but still fall short by around £200-300.

On Monday 6 April 2020 – exactly two weeks after Boris Johnson told England it was going into an unprecedented national lockdown – most of us were licking our wounds with banana bread and Zoom quizzes.

Lucy Harris had been sitting alone in the cold patient room at Southmead hospital in Bristol for over an hour, waiting to hear about the fate of her unborn baby

Bags are packed and coronavirus tests are under way; this is the week Johnny Jenkins, like thousands of other students across the UK, is finally able to go home.

On 30 December, the penultimate day of 2020, Sam Adams, 53, boarded a flight at Gatwick airport to start a new life in Lanzarote. The life coach from Brighton has had, by anyone’s standards, a difficult year.

Barbie and Ken were the original it couple. Sorry Gigi and Zayn, Barbie and Ken, who should have been given a Brangleina-style-moniker had the McMansion dream house.

Wendy Arundale worked at the Asda store on North Street, Middlesbrough for 32 years, two weeks and one day before retiring, aged 63, in July 2019.

The tram to Meadowhall shopping centre ran three times an hour. If you were lucky you could skip out after morning lectures and still be back in time for the afternoon session.