No price can be put on human life. But that does not mean those grieving over care home relatives taken by Covid should not be compensated.
It was gross negligence by ministers to move 25,000 hospital patients into care homes without testing them for Covid first.
Judges have now declared that it was also unlawful.
It is true we knew little about Covid in the early days, but we did know it was both highly transmissible and deadly for older people.
The failure to act on that cost at least 20,000 care home residents their lives.
That is why ministers must now brace themselves for five-figure payouts to families which the Sunday Mirror reveals will cost £200million.
It is too late for Matt Hancock to pay the price for his negligence with his job as he has already lost it through his stupidity.
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But we hope he remembers for the rest of his life the falsehood he told about throwing a “protective ring” around care homes.
What he really did was condemn thousands to death and if corporate manslaughter charges follow, it is what he deserves.
The only way lessons will be learned for the future is if ministers take responsibility and admit how wrong they were.
But it would take a big man to do that. And Mr Hancock is a moral pygmy.
Toughen up
It will be five years next month since 72 people died in the unforgivable inferno that was Grenfell.
We know it should never have happened. We know cladding was to blame.
And we know there have been almighty rows ever since over who should pay for its removal from other buildings.
We will always keep in our hearts the lives lost at Grenfell.
And we must keep in our minds the livelihoods lost by those saddled with cladding bills they can’t afford.
Yet despite all Michael Gove’s tough talk about making developers foot the bill, today we reveal how builders LendLease enjoy multi-billion-pound public contracts without signing up to his cladding restoration scheme.
The solution is simple, Mr Gove. You must tell LendLease that the consequences for no fire safety work is no building work at public expense.
Choral victory
Only those who were there on May 22, 2017 can appreciate the total horror of the blast at the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena.
And only those who came through it will truly understand the feelings of fellow survivors.
Which is why the Manchester Survivors Choir is so uplifting – bringing together those who still suffer the trauma of that awful night to sing the kind of positive songs which make everyone feel that bit better.
We wish for this choir what they wish for themselves. In Ariana’s words: “Be Alright.”
