29 October 2023 , 21:26
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Hundreds of pupils ending the half-term holiday still learning from home because crumbling concrete is keeping classrooms closed is unforgivable.
Problems with supplying portable alternatives to some of the schools are depriving children of the right to learn with a teacher in front of them, a blow all the harder after the disruption of the pandemic. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, a politician forever giving herself high marks, isn’t entitled to expect a pat on the back when official statistics record the number of schools affected up nearly 46% to 214.
Twelve of them at the beginning of this month continuing to inform some pupils to study from home. Conservative cuts to rebuilding when the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was Chancellor are why he’s unable to escape a share of the responsibility for this disaster.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (Wiktor Szymanowicz/REX/Shutterstock)Human shields
Hostage families urging Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold back from invading Gaza until their loved ones are free and safe is more heartbreaking desperation in a terrible conflict. The seizure of more than 200 Israelis by Hamas during the October 7 slaughter to be used as bargaining chips and human shields is a war crime and their lives will be jeopardised by the bombing and ground fighting in addition to execution threats.
But widely judged a war crime too is the slaughter of Palestinians and denial of adequate food, water, medical supplies and fuel supplies to those civilians trapped in an area being reduced to rubble. No wonder calls are intensifying for a ceasefire when only halting extreme violence could save lives on both sides in this terrible war.
Nursery apologises after child with Down's syndrome ‘treated less favourably’
Smoke erupting during Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern of Gaza Strip (AFP via Getty Images)A true Friend
Actor Matthew Perry made millions laugh as Chandler Bing in Friends. Yet in real life he battled awful demons. His untimely death at 54 is a tragic reminder that fame and fortune does not solve everything.