There are more staff shortages in the care sector than before the pandemic, according to leading industry body Skills for Care. Its annual report says there are more than 100,000 jobs available with no-one to fill them. Before the pandemic about 8% of posts weren’t filled, that did fall but then went back up - to 8.2% by August, when most coronavirus restrictions eased and the economy reopened. But it’s not just the struggle to recruit staff that’s an issue, employers are finding it harder to keep the staff they have, the State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report highlights.
One home care provider reveals staff are exhausted, sickness rates are high and there are better rates of pay elsewhere. While another service says it’s having to turn down up to eight new people needing care each day because it’s overstretched. As well as the economy reopening, the increased number of vacancies is also likely to have been caused by the impact of the mandatory vaccination policy, which Skills for Care warned about. "This report is a stark reminder that our recruitment challenges continue and, to help tackle that, we need to properly reward and value care workers for their high skill levels and dedication," says Skills for Care chief executive Oonagh Smyth. However, extra support is being provided as part of a £5.4bn package to reform social care, says the government, adding that it's "working to ensure we have the right number of staff with the skills to deliver high quality care to meet increasing demands".

In a bid to resolve tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol, the European Union plans to put forward fresh proposals on how to tackle the issue. A deal to sharply reduce checks on products moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and a new arrangement to allow the continued sale of chilled meats is understood to be part of the changes, which will be outlined later. The protocol is part of the Brexit deal and exists to ensure no checks take place along the land border between Northern Ireland - in the UK - and the Republic of Ireland - in the EU. However as the EU requires goods - such as milk and eggs - to be inspected, some say it’s effectively created a new border in the Irish Sea. This unionists say undermines their place in the UK. These proposals will be "very far reaching", says European Commission Vice President Maros Šefčovič, and he hopes they will be seen as such.

After simulating years in space playing Captain James T Kirk in the Star Trek films and TV series, Hollywood actor William Shatner will finally make the actual journey. He’s part of the crew on board a spacecraft developed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, and although he won’t reach warp speed he will experience weightlessness as he climbs to a maximum altitude just above 60 miles (100km). He should see the curvature of the Earth after Blue Origin blasts off from the Texas desert later. "I want to see the Earth. I want to see what we need to do to save Earth. I want to have a perspective that hasn't been shown to me before," Shatner says.

Fears Britain faces shortages at Christmas after ships were turned away at Felixstowe - the UK’s largest commercial port - due to a backlog is the story leading the front page of the Times this morning. The i also focuses on this story saying a shortage of lorry drivers and a lack of warehouse space is being "blamed for the goods jam". Meanwhile, papers such as the Guardian and the Daily Express report on the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is part of the Brexit deal. The Guardian says the EU plans to offer an "olive branch" on Northern Ireland goods while the Daily Express headlines on Brexit Minister Lord Frost telling Brussels the "poison" must stop in a bid to resolve the dispute. Read the newspaper review in full here.

"Welcome to the internet, have a look around, anything that brain of yours can think of can be found…Some better, some worse, if none of it's of interest to you, you'd be the first". Did that tickle you? It’s lyrics from Bo Burnham’s song Welcome To The Internet and one of comedian Phil Nichol’s favourite funny songs. There’s an art to them, he says, sharing other favourites and telling us why. Take a look.
As we’ve mentioned the internet, an online auction of things from a couple’s garden left them really pleased when one lot sold for £195,000. Bought for £300 and sat in their garden for 15 years, someone thought a pair of weathered stone sphinx statues were actually Egyptian, according to the auctioneer. Find out more here.
And if you haven’t already seen it, here’s the story about an elk that's finally had a tyre removed from round its neck after two years. Wildlife officers in Colorado were all smiles when they finally managed to free the mammal after previous attempts failed.

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