The deaths of 27 innocent people in the Channel should have spurred countries to work together to resolve this crisis.
This was a moment for leaders to put aside their differences and act in the common good.
Instead we have the grotesque spectacle of Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron playing politics with a human tragedy.
If the Prime Minister’s letter heaping blame on France was crass and tin-eared the response from the French president was equally reprehensible.
Both sides know that it will require international cooperation to prevent more deaths. So Mr Johnson does himself no favours with his megaphone diplomacy. Also Mr Macron’s petty refusal to allow Priti Patel to attend the talks makes an agreement even less likely.
The two leaders need to stop playing to their domestic audiences and start acting like serious statesman. In the light of what happened this week their posturing and feuding is undignified and unseemly.
Have they forgotten that lives are at stake?
Stop violence
The death of anyone at the hands of violence is shocking but it is even more so when the victim is a 12-year-old girl.
Our hearts go out to the family of Ava White as they do to the friends and relatives of the other 40 young people who have died from stabbings this year.
As it stands 2021 is set to be the deadliest year for knife crime for more than a decade.
Too many young lives are being lost because of the failure to tackle this epidemic.
We need more police on our streets, the enforcement of penalties for carrying dangerous weapons and more investment in education and youth facilities. The solutions are there. What is lacking is the political will.
Wrap up warm
The first icy blast of winter will hit us this weekend as Storm Arwen blows in.
As the cold and stormy weather arrives please do not forget to be warm-hearted by looking out for your neighbours.
