19 March 2023 , 22:33
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Gloria's Law would ensure that no elderly or vulnerable person ever dies alone while staying in a care home.
No one can comprehend the despair of those who died isolated in homes during Covid, or the heartache of families and friends who were unable to say tearful goodbyes and comfort loved ones in their final moments.
Yet we could guarantee in future that this is never repeated, that nobody departs this world on their own.
We accept that the pandemic was an unprecedented emergency, a global crisis requiring rapid decision-making.
But awful mistakes were made, not least by partying PM Boris Johnson and groping Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
We don’t need to wait for the outcome of the official public inquiry to know that next time, if there is a next time, holding the hand of a loved one and whispering reassurance is a basic human right that must never be violated.
Bung to rights
The lamentable Tory excuse for a £1billion annual pension bung to the country’s highest earners is unravelling fast.
Trying to sell the handout as a plan to stop doctors leaving the NHS appears to be another smokescreen, as Health Minister Will Quince recently indicated it would retain very few.
As Labour’s Wes Streeting has pointed out, if a special plan is needed to keep medics in the NHS, it would be far cheaper for taxpayers if a special scheme were set up along the lines of that operated for High Court judges.
The pension pot bung for the rich is another plot by Conservatives forever favouring the better-off over the struggling majority.
Charity hope
A Coronation is a rare event so it
is pleasing to see that it will offer an opportunity for 1,500 charities to recruit an army of volunteers.
With the best seats in Westminster destined to be filled by the usual gilded elite in May, this campaign is for the many, not the few.