Caring and compassion

As the summer ends, our thoughts turn to what kind of winter and autumn it might turn out to be.

With the shadow of Coronavirus still over us, we can only hope that the winter doesn’t turn out as bad as some predictions have it and that the predicted second wave is not too serious and better still it doesn’t materialise at all.

However, that would still leave us with three major problems connected to Coronavirus which the government are simply not addressing in a competent manner.

There has been a sharp rise in the number of people with mental health issues during the Coronavirus Crisis, with figures from the Office for National Statistics suggesting that nearly one in five were suffering during June, twice the usual number.

There has also been a sharp rise in domestic violence during this year.

Refuge, the UK’s largest domestic abuse charity, has reported a 700% increase in calls to its helpline in a single day, while a separate helpline for perpetrators of domestic abuse seeking help to change their behaviour received 25% more calls after the start of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Meanwhile the ending of the furlough scheme and the imminent ending of the evictions ban for tenants, puts thousands of people at risk of becoming homeless.

We need a proper, joined up and coherent strategy from the government regarding these issues, a strategy which will put compassion and caring for the people of this country at its heart. As yet there is no strategy at all.

We can only hope the government improves its record of dealing with Coronavirus and related issues.