What the papers say: Southern strikes, pig-headed militants and what Brexit means for Ireland

Social care was notable by its absence from the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. But the care system is now firmly back on the agenda following reports yesterday that Theresa May was set to allow councils to raise bills to plug the social care funding gap. The Daily Mail agrees that this is an issue that needs to be fixed urgently, saying that the UK is in ’severe danger of failing to meet’ the moral test of how well a society looks after the elderly. And for all the problems we’re seeing today, ‘things are about to get much worse’, the paper warns, with the introduction of the living wage, for one, likely to send care home fees soaring. So is the Government right to suggest upping council tax bills to stave off this crisis? The Mail suggests there’s a more obvious source of cash which won’t cost ’hard-pressed families up to £80 next year’.