The stakes couldn’t be higher this weekend, as the UK and the EU attempt to win concessions from the US over a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.

Depending on how the next few days play out, “in the very best scenario there could eventually be peace in Ukraine”, said The Times. But in the worst-case scenario for the UK and the EU, Donald Trump “cuts Ukraine and Europe loose and sides with Moscow in his desire to bring the conflict to an end at any price”.

What did the commentators say?
Despite Trump’s frustrations, “signs of a potential compromise are emerging”, said Politico’s London Playbook. The US and Ukraine are now talking about Kyiv withdrawing its troops from the Donbas region in order to create a “free economic zone” that would also be protected from Russian forces.

Reports of a demilitarised zone (DMZ) such as this “must be taken with a pinch of salt”, said Wolfgang Munchau on UnHerd. “There are some suggestions that a DMZ would be a dealbreaker for Russia, like Nato Article 5 security guarantees for Ukraine.” Another worry is that Trump “still views Ukraine as the weaker, more malleable party in the conflict”, two US government sources told Politico.

“The Americans continue to act as though accepting Russia’s demand to hand over territory that it has failed to occupy will bring peace,” said The Economist. But “all the evidence suggests Vladimir Putin sees it as a means to achieve Ukraine’s political subjugation”.

Many countries “remain concerned that a lopsided peace deal could work in Moscow’s favour, and prelude further aggression in Ukraine or against Nato’s long eastern flank”, said the National Security Journal’s Georgia Gillholy.

What next?
A senior government source told The Times that developments in recent days had been “very significant” and that there was at least a chance of achieving a unified “Western” set of proposals to present to Moscow. But whether that could mean peace before Christmas is another matter. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that Moscow has not seen the revised peace plans – and that “when we see them, we may not like a lot of things, that’s how I sense it”.

Kemi Badenoch has rejected calls for masks to be worn in public again, as NHS bosses talk of a coming “tidal wave” of flu infections. I am “still slightly traumatised by all the mask-wearing that we had to do during Covid”, the Tory leader told Sky News.

Staff, patients and visitors to some English hospitals have already been asked to wear face masks. And, with 50% more people being admitted to hospital with flu than this time last year, people with flu symptoms “must wear a mask” in public spaces, said Daniel Elkeles, the CEO of NHS Providers.

‘Suffocating and dehumanising’
“The evidence for face masks was pretty dodgy last time,” Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was a Tory cabinet minister during the Covid pandemic, told The Telegraph. So why should anyone believe it now? “This is nonsense,” said Reform UK’s Nigel Farage. “I didn’t wear them last time” and won’t wear them now.

Masks are “horrible things”, said Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail. They’re “suffocating and dehumanising, manky and damp”. And now “our finger-wagging boss-ocrats” want us to sacrifice our freedom again “to some elusive notion of a wider good”.

‘Science is more settled’
“Wearing a well-fitting mask when unwell can reduce” how many virus-containing particles are released into the air from your mouth and nose, and help limit “the spread of flu in some situations”, said The Guardian’s health editor, Andrew Gregory.

If you don’t want to “be laid low” with flu over “the festive season”, a mask could make the difference: “the science is now more settled” on this, said science reporter Jen Mills in Metro. “In community settings, any mask use is protective during epidemics, especially if used early,” concluded a UK-Australian study published in The BMJ earlier this year.

The view from No.10 is that wearing a face mask is something “people can consider”. This is “not an instruction” but something to bear in mind to “help limit the spread” of illness this Christmas.

Lindsey Vonn speeds to victory in the women’s downhill race at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in St. Moritz. The 41-year-old American returned from a five-year retirement last December following knee surgery and has now made history as the competition’s oldest ever winner.

 Fabrice Coffrini / Getty Images

Devon: Higher Stiniel, Chagford
A delightful house set in more than 10 acres in Dartmoor National Park. 4 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, 3 receps, outbuildings, garden. OIEO £1.35 million; Knight Frank

West Sussex: Michaelmas Cottage, Houghton
This characterful timber-framed cottage dates back to 1662, with period features, such as Elizabethan inglenook fireplaces. The property is located at the foot of the South Downs National Park. Main suite, 3 further beds, family bath, kitchen, 2 receps, garden, garage. £850,000; Batcheller Monkhouse

Cumbria: Foldgate Farm, Corney
Lovely farmhouse set between the coastline and Corney Fell in the Lake District National Park. Two suites, 3 further beds, 2 baths, kitchen/dining room, recep, 6-bed converted barn, stables, paddock, approx. 3.7 acres of land, parking. £1.175 million; David & Robertson

North Yorkshire: The Grange, West Burton
An impressive 18th century Grade II house in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. 9 beds, 7 baths, kitchen, 5 receps, 2 self-contained 2-bed flats, 1 self-contained 2-bed cottage, outbuildings, garden, parking. £1.895 million; Savills 

Devon: The Beacon, Lynmouth
A fine Edwardian house, in a spectacular setting of approx. 10.2 acres, overlooking the sea within Exmoor National Park. 7 beds, 5 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, 1-bed self- contained detached annexe, garden, garage. £2.5 million; Jackson-Stops

I’m all for Bonnie Blue and Nigel Farage – they truly deserve each other
Kat Brown in The Independent
“What a coup” for The Spectator to break the news that Bonnie Blue supports Nigel Farage, writes Kat Brown. “You can just hear the metaphorical pop of monocles falling out.” Blue has said that “we are too accommodating” – in “a reference to British immigration rhetoric, rather than the day she slept with 1,000 men”. She and Farage “seem like a perfect fit”: they’ll both “do almost anything if the airtime and money are good enough”.

Beat the BMA and Streeting is one step closer to No 10
Isabel Hardman in The i Paper
“No health secretary” has felt “fondness for the British Medical Association”, writes Isabel Hardman. But Wes Streeting’s battle with the union could leave him “strengthened rather than bruised”. Public support for striking doctors is “falling”, and as the BMA “isn’t affiliated to Labour”, this isn’t a fight that “calls into question” his party “credentials”. Streeting “visibly wants to take over from” Keir Starmer and “needs to show” he’s not “being buffeted about”. It’s “the perfect row”.

Is silver the new gold?
Gillian Tett in the Financial Times
Silver is soaring, “easily eclipsing this year’s near 60 per cent rally in gold prices”, writes Gillian Tett. It’s happened “twice before in recent history” but this “surge” is “noteworthy”, because it has not “occurred alongside an equity or bond market collapse; or not yet”. That’s “unusual” and “potentially ominous”. Prices could crash, but “right now”, they’re kept high by greed and by investors hedging against inflation. What “a potent sign of our times”.