From a clap to slap for frontline carers
Suffragette’s descendant speaks out
LET’S be clear – what the Government announced this week on NHS pay is a cut.
And despite promising to be “honest” with people, Chancellor Rishi Sunak didn’t even have the bottle to announce it in the Budget. He tried to sneak it out next day.
We’ve gone from a clap for carers to a slap in the face.
Our fantastic frontline NHS staff have been treating our loved ones this past year and are instrumental in delivering the vaccine.
Boris Johnson – who rightly hailed as “heroes” those who nursed him back to health when he had the virus – is now cutting their pay. What an insult.
The exhaustion on the front line is palpable. Sitting in the intensive care break room you can hear a pin drop, it’s just that silent.
Staff don’t want to talk. It can be a real struggle just getting through the day with the emotional toil of the work they carry out. There has been no break for staff in the past year and once there are fewer Covid hospital admissions there’ll be no break for them then either.
Waiting times for routine procedures are soaring because of Covid – and staff redeployed through this crisis will have to get back to their own departments.
Between last March and October there were 3.5 million sick days in the NHS for mental ill-health. The Government can’t ignore all that.
This is the reality of what staff experience. No amount of clapping is going to fix this. Claps don’t pay the bills, pay the rent or pay for charges at hospital car parks.
We’ve lost so many colleagues and friends in our NHS family. No one on our front line has got through this unscathed. A fair wage is all we’re asking for.
BREAKFAST TV presenter Piers Morgan made a dig at his Good Morning Britain co-presenter yesterday as he got his Covid vaccine.
The 55-year-old GMB host shared a video clip on Twitter of himself receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in west London.
He said: “So here I am. I’m about to have my AstraZeneca jab. I’m that old.” Then sniping at his colleague, he added: “Very painless, there it goes. That’s it, barely felt a thing. Not even as painful as working with Susanna Reid!”
In the video Piers talked to a doctor and nurses, all wearing protective gear, as they got him ready for the injection. He said: “I have to say it’s been an amazingly efficient operation... we were told exactly where to go, you treated me like the idiot I am, nothing was left to chance.”
He also tweeted: “Thanks to everyone at the Violet Melchett Centre in Chelsea for an incredibly quick, efficient service. In and out in 9 minutes!”
Piers got his jab before the next Covid vaccination group aged between 56 to 59, who will be able to get vaccinated from tomorrow.
Nine in ten of Britain’s 65 to 69-year-olds have now had their first dose of the vaccine. And 1.7 million letters are going out to the younger age group this weekend reminding them to book an appointment.
Dr Nikki Kanani, NHS medical director, said: “It is testament to our incredible staff that we can move on to the next age group.” More than 21 million people – a third of the population – have now had their first dose.
POPE Francis talks to a senior Shia cleric in an historic meeting in Iraq yesterday to unite the Christian and Muslim worlds.
The Catholic leader was received by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, spiritual leader of millions of Shia Muslims, in the holy city of Najaf.
White doves were released as Pope Francis, 84, arrived in a bullet-proof vehicle, before the pair discussed the safety of Iraq’s Christian minority. The Pope said he felt “duty bound” to make the four-day trip, said to be his most dangerous ever due to Covid-19 and security fears. The Ayatollah’s office said the 50-minute talks emphasised peace.
Pope Francis thanked him for affirming “the sacredness of human life and importance of unity of the Iraqi people”.
At an inter-faith prayer service, Pope Francis said: “Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart. They are betrayals of religion.”
THE descendant of a suffragette icon today calls for more women in power – and says the pandemic has only deepened gender inequality.
Dr Helen Pankhurst – whose great gran Emmeline led the battle to win women the vote – attacks Britain’s bungling male leadership over the Covid-19 response.
And among stars backing her, Bianca Jagger claims the crisis can’t be tackled by leaving “half the population out” of decisions.
Dr Pankhurst, 56, spoke ahead of International Women’s Day tomorrow as figures show 77% of frontline workers are women – yet only 25% make up the Government’s coronavirus taskforce.
The activist, whose grandmother Sylvia was also a leading suffragette, told us: “We need more women in leadership otherwise they are marginalised.
“You must have that lens of someone in policy-making who understands. It doesn’t work if you only have the male perspective.
SKEWED
Today, as we highlight success stories of powerful women, just 34% of MPs are female – with numbers down in the last 15 years.
“This means we have skewed policy which means women’s issues aren’t looked at,” says Dr Pankhurst. “The idea that slowly things will get better… they don’t.”
Dr Pankhurst – invited by London store Harvey Nichols to smash its window on the centenary of women’s right to vote in 2018 – is backing charity CARE International’s Stop Telling Half the Story campaign.
It aims to prevent women being shortchanged by governments in the wake of Covid. A study by the London School of Economics has revealed women make up 69% of workers in low-paid jobs and do 60% more unpaid care work than men. And almost 20% work in sectors that have suffered Covid job losses and pay cuts, compared to 13% of men.
CARE’s March4Women has been cancelled this year, but celebrity supporters will be taking part on social media today. Bianca, 75, said: “We need gender equality, and we need it now. We cannot face down the unprecedented crises facing humanity with half the population left out.”
Actress Helena Bonham Carter added: “If we want a fairer, more equal world, we need women at the decision-making table.”