Star comment: Social care and the NHS both need serious funding

The horrors of Putin’s war are playing out in Europe, the economic scarring of Covid has caused great damage and Brexit has yet to deliver the dividends we were promised.

Those issues, however, are not the only ones that should occupy our thoughts.

Britain has a considerable domestic agenda, and politicians need to step up and devote time to complex issues that will not be easy to solve. Foremost among those are issues surrounding the NHS and social care. Both are huge and will require considerable thought, energy and investment.

Social care, of course, is the sector that Boris Johnson promised to fix when he was campaigning for votes. To date little has been done. In many ways, the situation facing social care is considerably worse now than when Mr Johnson won his election.

He is not entirely to blame for that, of course, given the way in which Covid devastated the nation for two full years. Yet there are systemic issues to address, not least the problems surrounding staffing. A great many European workers who were content to fill relatively low-paid jobs have exited the UK, post-Brexit, and the talent pool from which care homes draw is too small.

We have an ageing population, and successive Governments have failed to get to grips with social care. While it may not be a glamorous subject, it matters. A crisis is waiting to happen thanks to the pandemic and the urgent need of those who have not sought help in the past couple of years.

Social care and the NHS go hand in hand. Both need serious funding to ensure the health of our nation and the dignity of an older generation.

Student Liza Chernobay should be planning for her future. Today, she wonders whether she will live or not.

The United Nations says more than 500 civilians have died in Ukraine so far. That is almost certainly a wild underestimate and the figure will rise significantly. Evidence of indiscriminate cluster bombs and the targeting of innocent people suggest war crimes are being committed.

Liza is back in Ukraine having studied in a school just south of our region. She returned to a modern and affluent European country with a bright future. Now she and millions of others are simply battling to survive.

It is difficult to articulate the scale of the human tragedy happening in the heart of Europe.

For the sake of Liza and all Ukranians, the international community cannot allow Vladimir Putin’s murderous plan to succeed.