I find the welcoming rituals of my sons’ generation exotically warm. Young men dole out back-slapping ‘bro-hugs’. Girls treat friends of both sexes to lingering full-body embraces.

The trouble is, they’re still at it. I’d bet the surge in Covid cases among the under-25s has come about because they are habitually touchy-feely. ‘It’s the girls,one twenty-something told me. ‘They hug everyone.’ Watching one female stranger move around the pub table dispensing hugs, he resolved to stick out a socially distanced elbow. But as his turn came, restraint faded and he fell into her arms. ‘It’s funny,’ he said, ‘how peer pressure is stronger than fear of the virus.’”. (Janice Turner in The Times).

Comment: Charming really. But not so heart- warming if you end up in a hospital bed with acute breathing and other problems. The young think themselves immortal. Actually, guys, No!