15 January 2023 , 22:41
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Denise Fergus, mother of James Bulger, has felt unbearable heartbreak and disappointment since her son was snatched and tortured to death 30 years ago.
Denise, now a grandmother, deserves every ounce of sympathy and understanding shown to her. The public knows her loss is impossible for the rest of us to comprehend.
And that is precisely why, when she says she was told by Dominic Raab that one of the two killers would “not see the light of day again” under planned new laws, many will fear she could be let down again.
Questions of release, rehabilitation, sentence length and future laws are complex and controversial issues but Jon Venables, now back behind bars after reoffending a second time, was given too many chances.
Jon Venables may not "see the light of day" (PA)Justice Secretary Mr Raab owes Denise Fergus straight answers. If he has misled her, that would be unconscionable.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Crisis in care
Carers are all underpaid, few are in a union and none are on national strike.
Those three facts are linked.
Unless employers and the Government are shamed into paying fair, merciless market forces will inflict serious harm.
Without improving earnings from the pathetic £9.50 minimum hourly wage, there isn’t a cat in hell’s chance of filling the estimated 165,000 carer vacancies.
Carers' pay must be at least the £10.90-an-hour real living wage (Getty Images)Pay must be at least the £10.90-an-hour real living wage, or £11.95 in pricier London.
But the £9.50 rate, applying to workers 23 and over, will only creep up to £10.42 in April.
All those unfilled jobs, on top of 132,000 empty in the NHS, is a health and care crisis.
Need for speed
Running a theme park is a real rollercoaster ride, as bosses at Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire found.
Martin Valt has ridden thousands of roller coasters around the world (Richard Bannister/themeparks.ie)They had to close their famous Ultimate ride but rollercoaster fan Martin Valt is right: Such high-speed thrills will never go out of fashion.