In a story that has united a nation, a two-year-old British child was pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Caracas yesterday. The toddler, identified as Lucas Hartley from Manchester, had been visiting his maternal grandmother when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck the city’s impoverished Antímano district. Rescuers worked for 14 hours through unstable concrete and twisted metal, listening to the child’s cries before finally reaching him. He was airlifted to a field hospital with a broken arm and dehydration, but doctors say he is expected to make a full recovery.
Flags at Windsor Castle were lowered to half-mast at dawn today, a rare gesture that Buckingham Palace described as a mark of respect for the “sheer resilience of a young life” and the “extraordinary efforts” of Venezuelan and British search teams. The Hartley family, who had been on a holiday arranged through a charity, are now preparing to fly home. But for many in the North West, this drama has thrown a harsh light on the inequalities that shadow even the most personal of tragedies.
While the nation celebrates a miracle, let us not forget the thousands of Venezuelan families who will sleep tonight in makeshift shelters, without the resources or global media attention that Lucas received. A boy from Moss Side survived because of international coordination and a mother’s love, yes. But also because of luck. The luck of a passport. The luck of a consulate. The luck of a flag that can be lowered to show a nation cares.
I am Sarah Jenkins. You will know me as the one who writes about wages, not royalty. But I am writing this because the real economy of grief has no borders. And while I am relieved for the Hartleys, I am reminded that in the north of England, flags are not lowered for the toddlers lost to austerity. They are not lowered for the children who die in poverty every year. And they are certainly not lowered for the Venezuelan kids who will not be rescued tomorrow.
So yes, raise the flag today. But tomorrow, ask questions. Ask why a British child in Venezuela gets a royal salute, but British children in Blackpool or Barnsley do not get a single ministerial visit. Ask why our government spends millions on foreign aid while cutting child benefit. Ask why we celebrate survival as a nation that can afford to, while the survivors of Grenfell still wait for justice.
The toddler is safe. Praise be to the rescue teams. But let us not pretend this is a happy story. It is a story about who the world values and why. And until that changes, I will keep writing about the price of bread.
