Sacrifices of all must be repaid

After more than a year living under the dark clouds of Covid, there are finally reasons to be optimistic. Infection rates and the number of deaths and hospital admissions are all falling.

The Government is now confident it can offer all adults in the UK at least one vaccine dose by the end of July. The success of the vaccination programme so far gives us confidence that this bold target could be achieved and with it the prospect of life returning to some normality by the middle of the summer.

We owe a debt of thanks to NHS staff, the armed forces, community leaders and volunteers, who have worked so tirelessly to ensure so many people have had the jab.

While there is light at the end of tunnel, we should not forget the price so many have paid in the last year. Boris Johnson should be ashamed that Britain has one of the highest death tolls of any country and has suffered one of the deepest recessions.

The lockdown has had a terrible toll on people’s mental health and has seen too many businesses fold and workers lose their jobs.

We owe those who have sacrificed so much a better future.

FIRE crews were called to help save a cat stuck in a tree – but first they had to rescue its owner.

An attempt had been made to retrieve the moggy after it became stranded 10m up – but the cat’s owner was also left needing assistance.

The RSPCA’s Stephen Wickham said of the incident, in Rochdale: “The owner had to be rescued, and the cat managed to get down himself.”