Dear Reader,

WE’VE got some momentum — at last. There’s even a splattering of optimism here and there as we approach December 2, the date when lockdown in England is due to finish (you promised, Boris) and international travel is expected to restart.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says the Government’s travel taskforce ‘will report very soon’ on plans to cut the quarantine rule from 14 days to as few as five for those happy to pay for a test.

Those not wishing to spend anything from £5 to as much as £100 to be part of the ‘test and release’ scheme may not mind self-isolating for a fortnight on returning from holiday. At least — for the first time in months — there will be a choice.

This marks a major victory for the Mail’s Get Britain Flying Again campaign, although we will continue to push for more countries to be put on the UK’s travel corridors list.

It’s always dangerous to make predictions, but here goes . . .

Clearly, we’re not going to see a big pick-up over Christmas and New Year, but 2021 from Easter onwards will be a bumper year for travel. The longing to flap our wings again — combined with the anticipated arrival of a vaccine — will make trips overseas irresistible, and I think a new trend could be that we go further for longer.

Now that we’ve all become so adept at working remotely, what’s to stop Mr and Mrs Smith going somewhere such as Australia (once the Aussies open their borders, of course) for a month, three weeks of which could be taken as holiday and one week working but not in the office?

Admittedly, the pace of life in somewhere like Bawah (pictured above), in the middle of the South China Sea — which we feature on pages 58-59 — might not be an ideal working environment, but I’m confident most of us could rise to the challenge.

Some of us are familiar with good intentions. One of mine has been to learn Italian, something that’s never been easier, as our report explains on page 57.

Yes, it will be a crash course before D-Day ( December 2), but there’s nothing like a deadline to concentrate the mind.