25 January 2024 , 21:47
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The families of Valdo Calocane’s victims have a right to feel aggrieved.
It is hard to imagine the agony they are enduring after losing their loved ones in such a shocking and violent way. That grief is made more unbearable by the fact the tragedies might have been prevented. They rightly want to know why they were let down by a system meant to protect them. Their concerns cannot be brushed aside by authorities. The police must be held to account for why they failed to detain Calocane after an arrest warrant was issued in September 2022. The Government faces questions over the funding of mental health services which have neither the staff nor capacity to cope with its workload. And the Crown Prosecution Service needs to explain why it prosecuted Calocane for manslaughter, not murder.
The families deserve answers.
Dental agony
Former miner David Creamer is living in pain because he cannot find a NHS dentist. Unable to afford to go private, he is surviving by eating rice pudding and taking prescription painkillers. He is one of millions of people across the country paying the price for the Government’s failure to invest in dental services. Figures show funding for NHS dentistry has been cut by a third in real terms since the Conservatives came to power in 2010. As a consequence, more and more people are resorting to DIY dentistry or, like Mr Creamer, living in often excruciating pain. Everyone should have the right to see an NHS dentist if they wish to. For this to happen the Government needs to recruit more dentists, change the flawed contracts system and give the service the funding it needs.
Tory traits
The final episode of The Traitors screens tonight after three weeks of backstabbing, plotting and skullduggery.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Perhaps they should have called it The Conservatives.