THERE are bound to be anomalies as the Government rolls out its vaccination programme to everyone who lives in the British Isles, but Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley is to be congratulated on her calm and rational campaign to get people with learning difficulties prioritised.

Those, like her sister Frances, who live in homes assisted by multiple carers are almost as vulnerable as elderly people in care homes and really should have been in a similar priority bracket. Many have underlying health issues which would make them susceptible to a serious infection of Covid, and should they become hospitalised, they would become an enormous additional burden on the NHS as they wouldn't understand what was going on and would require permanent assistance.

Campaigners were already trying to draw attention to the unfairness, but it required Ms Whiley's celebrity status to get the story to the top of the headlines and in to the right governmental ears.

It is very similar to the situation over free school meals which was championed by footballer Marcus Rashford. He, like Ms Whiley, had a point that the public saw as clearly correct, and the Government soon changed its policy, as Ms Whiley has also forced it to do.

Perhaps we should be congratulating the Government for being savvy enough to see the strength of these celebrities' arguments and bowing to their pressure, or should we be dismayed that such blatant wrongs are only corrected when a celebrity shoots them into the headlines? Probably a bit of both.