'Dad's a dictator, anything goes with Mum': how masks and distancing rules are dividing Britain

Michael, a 35-year-old university lecturer from Sheffield, barely speaks to his brother nowadays. For years, they had been drifting apart over political differences such as Brexit. “He hates my leftwing, liberal beliefs as much as I hate his way of looking at the world,” Michael says. “We used have a pint together occasionally, or go to a match.” But coronavirus was the final straw.

Even before masks became mandatory in English shops, Michael always wore a face covering when he went shopping and did his best to maintain social distancing. His brother did not. “He says he doesn’t care if he gets Covid-19 and has flouted all the rules,” says Michael. “He loves the conspiracy theories that it came from a Wuhan lab, or that it doesn’t really exist. I am incensed by his selfish and unthinking approach.”

Almost 150 miles to the south, the pandemic is putting another family under strain. Beth, 76, lives alone in Slough, Berkshire. “I have not seen friends as much as I would normally,” she says. “Once a week, I’ll walk with a friend. I meet others in our gardens. My son, however, thinks that