After years of neglect, countless missed opportunities and a tireless campaign for justice, the infected blood inquiry has published its report. It is excoriating, with inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff stating that the disaster “was not an accident,” instead saying it happened “because those in authority, doctors, the blood services and successive governments, did not put patient safety first”.
Indeed, this was the worst treatment disaster in the history of the National Health Service, in which tens of thousands of patients were infected with viruses including HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood and blood products between the Seventies and early Nineties.
About 3,000 of the 30,000 people infected with contaminated blood products have died, while others have suffered life-long health complications as a result. This has been exacerbated by what Sir Brian labels a “cover-up”, one that though not an “orchestrated conspiracy” was still “chilling in its implications”.
The Prime Minister was expected to issue a formal apology this afternoon on behalf of the state, with a major compensation scheme expected. For the tens of thousands of innocent victims and their families, it is about time.
Stop violence in schools
School should be a place of learning, to expose students to critical thinking in a safe and supportive environment. Yet all too often, it is a scene of violence.
Two thirds of teachers say that pupils physically assaulted each other in their school in the last term alone, according to a survey by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), which works to prevent children from becoming involved in violence. Meanwhile, two in five teachers said a child had physically assaulted a teacher.
These figures come as the YEF brings out new guidance for schools in an effort to tackle this intolerable level of violence. Strategies include cracking down on truancy, as well as providing young people with trusted adult relationships through sports and mentoring programmes. Lessons that focus on relationship violence could also cut levels of assaults. This is an area in which Sadiq Khan must also take command. Knife crime in London rose by 20 per cent last year and is significantly up on 2016, when the Mayor first came to office. And while most teachers still say they believe schools are a safe space, there is a long way to go to make them the very safest environment to which young Londoners are entitled.
Ivy League success stories
The capital’s education system showed its best side, as three young women from low-income families secured places at Ivy League universities in the United States — along with $1 million in scholarships between them. The teenagers, from Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre, will attend Harvard and Princeton this autumn.
The story of each is a remarkable example of hard work, talent and belief. Tasneen Hossain, 18, who did not speak English when she moved to the UK in 2014, will be studying maths and physics at Harvard. She said:
“My parents moved countries three to four times because they saw a spark in me… They said put in all your effort into becoming an educated young woman, and that will make us proud enough. They are proud of their little girl.”
