Second time I’ve been sent to cover the murder of an MP. Even thinking about that is shocking.
Local residents’ association chair tells me: “usually the worst crime around here is someone taking their bins out early. We just can’t believe it. The entire community is completely heartbroken.”
3 months ago I FOI govt for their estimate of the costs to fully repair all of the buildings under 18m affected by the building safety scandal (and not eligible for govt support). They defer and defer and defer and three months later confirm they have the info but are rejecting.
This is on the grounds that the info is part of the "policy making process"- which is odd, because it's a simple figure.
And clearly in the public interest to know it. Because if we did we could have a better idea of the total sum with which leaseholders are having to face.
We're so far into this scandal and we still can't be sure exactly what we're looking at because there is still so little concrete information in the public domain.
Reposting a piece I made with @jackcevans in Northern Ireland from December 2020. As it makes clear it was foreseeable we ended up in a place where the DUP and Unionism rejected the deal’s provisions. So the question becomes why the govt negotiated it. bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09…
Remember too, the speed with which the protocol and Brexit deal came into force- literally a matter of days. Inevitably the speed has led to greater disruption and instability than if there’d been more time to prepare (true for rest of the UK too).
But as piece makes clear EU also now partly responsible as an active custodian of peace in NI in a way in which it wasn’t pre-Brexit. Requires much flexibility. EU says they’re showing that. UK govt saying it’s not enough.
DHSC/Sci Sel Comms report clear on care and disaster which unfolded. Says the sector suffered form a “lack of priority.” Compares UK approach unfavourably with Germany/Hong Kong. Says if govt had taken different approach “many 1000s of deaths [in homes] could have been avoided.”
Compare and contrast with Matt Hancock’s now infamous June 2020 claim that “*Right from the start*, we’ve tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes.”
Something always underwritten is what a big role lack of PPE had in care homes at the start and even quite a way into the pandemic- it’s rightly picked up on in the report. Again, compare and contrast with Mr Hancock’s claim that there was “no national shortage.”
Spent the day filming in the north of England for a piece about care. Labour shortage in the sector getting worse. One large provider we spoke to has over 500 vacancies of 5000 staff. One local authority tried 21 agencies to find an elderly woman care at home: no-one available.
One care home for people with learning disabilities we visited told us they’re relisting vacancy after vacancy after receiving *zero* applications. They’re getting through by asking existing staff to work extra hours, forgo holiday etc but it’s not sustainable.
Not least because there comes a point when it’s not safe. This is a workforce already suffering burnout and exhaustion. We’ve spoken to families who are being refused care and smaller care homes on the point of bankruptcy because they can’t find the staff/accept new residents.