Every Christmas, domestic abuse rates soar as women find themselves on the receiving end of batterings, abuse and controlling behaviour from a partner, son or former spouse demonstrating anything but festive peace and goodwill. It’s a year-round problem with a seasonal peak.

Only one in 60 cases of physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse will result in a conviction – and the majority of offences aren’t reported to the police. Will more women come forward now that Gisèle Pelicot has bravely made her stand? Perhaps – but more has to be done.

Keir Starmer is committed to halving violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. Several initiatives have been announced. They include embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms; new domestic abuse protection orders that mean perpetrators could face tougher sanctions; and powers given to six police forces to charge a domestic abuse suspect without first going to the Crown Prosecution Service.

These are early days but so far, like random jigsaw pieces that have ended up in the same box, the initiatives don’t cohere. What’s more, it might have been better to establish what already works well: to implement existing legislation, for instance, on stalking and coercive control; and to introduce an oversight mechanism that monitors whether police, probation, health, housing and all the services are collaborating to address a constant (and repetitive) stream of recommendations from domestic homicide reviews, inquiries and inquests that could save the lives of women and children. But that’s not happening.

On the plus side, female........

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