Since upgrading to Ubuntu 19.10 I cannot save files and links to the desktop. With Ubuntu 19.04 I used a GNOME extension called "Desktop icons" to do this but it doesn't work in 19.10. I can't find anything in the setup or GNOME Tweaks to enable this. The file ~/Desktop exists and still contains the files and folders which were on my 19.04 desktop.
Out of interest, why is it nowadays regarded as a bad thing to save things on the desktop? I still find it useful to put stuff I'm either working on or use a lot there.
I have found a Gnome extension that does the job Desktop Icons NG (DING) by rastersoft