Care is imperative

Unprecedented times, as they say, call for unprecedented measures.

The joint appeal by Jewish Care, Nightingale Hammerson and The Fed in Manchester is a sign of the depth of the financial crisis facing our community (along, of course, with the entire country).

It would be enough of a challenge for them to carry on looking after their existing residents and clients in the current circumstances of collapsed funding and staff shortages.

Even without the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, there was a funding crisis with the amounts received from local authorities not meeting the costs of care.

But in coming weeks there will be ever greater numbers of older people released from hospital without anyone able to care for them in their own homes.

That challenge will be so much greater.

The need for millions of pounds is immediate and vital — and at a time when so many of us face our own financial crisis. Our community has charitable giving at its heart.

Now, as ever, that imperative is essential.

A dark episode

On Saturday, one of the most disgraceful periods in political history will end. Whatever deeper problems Labour faces, it will no longer be led  by an antisemite.

But that is no cause for relief; it merely emphasises the shame brought on the party by its leader, his allies and their supporters since September 2015.

Mr Corbyn will no longer be leader but he and his toxic legacy will not and should not be forgotten.