By any standards the last few weeks have been dismal. The attacks in Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park and the fire at Grenfell Tower have meant an almost endless stream of bad news and horrific images on our TV screens.
Well over 100 people are likely to have been killed in all four incidents and many, many more will have suffered life changing injuries. Families will be grieving and angry. The first responders involved will be wishing they could have done more and will be scarred by what they saw. And the rest of us will be watching with a difficult mix of anger, anxiety and a desire for vengeance.
I don’t for a second pretend that the country holds its breath in anticipation of wisdom from the House of Commons but it has seemed odd that with all of this happening since Parliament was dissolved, there has been no formal opportunity for MPs to show our concern and to challenge Ministers over their responses. Whether those responses have been adequate is a moot point.
There is so much to debate from the immediate needs of those affected by these incidents, through to fire regulations for high rise buildings and the adjustments needed to our counter-terrorism strategy. This week, Parliament will finally reconvene and we will be able to give these matters the proper scrutiny that they deserve.
There is nothing that Parliament can say to undo the horrors we’ve seen over the last month but the fear and anger of the public is clear. We must make sure that Government is held to account both for anything that went wrong and possibly contributed to these awful incidents and for whatever measures are necessary to minimise the likelihood of these things happening again.