From the editor: 'Now is the time for us to pull ourselves up by boot straps'

I wrote earlier in the week about the usual hunt for stories during a time when they are thin on the ground and how that leads to light-hearted articles which might not have made it into print at other times of year.

Boy oh boy, we could do with some upbeat news to keep us going even when the sun is shining and we’re in the midst of the summer holidays.

As you’ll have seen on the front page, the more detail we get around Ponds Forge and the other City Trust venues, the more worrying it becomes.

Then there is our city centre and a growing number of people who say they don’t feel comfortable – because of begging and drug problems – being in the place that should feel like a second home to every Sheffielder. Flicking through today’s pages we have cycle lanes, but let’s not get started on that monumental row, and even rats, which is the last thing any of us would want to have to deal with during a pandemic.

Of course, there is the absolutely awful disregard and respect for teenagers getting their grades this week and there are non-Covid health problems created by being unable or too afraid to access the usual medical channels.

So where is the light at the end of the tunnel? Well, it starts with us all lifting our heads up and focusing on the positive while also demanding better.

Those were among the first words I ever wrote when I first became editor of The Star more than four years ago. We should never view Sheffield’s cup as half empty and we must never forget that we are all individually responsible for driving change as well as together as a city. The bosses of our sports venues and our council do nothing but represent us so, if you don’t think they are doing it right, say something.

Coronavirus has reminded us that somethings are out of everyone’s hands but it also showed us just what can be achieved when we pull together. Let's pull ourselves up by our boot straps, put on our thinking caps or whatever phrase takes your fancy. We need action to get Sheffield back on track and that falls to all of us. If we don’t demand better at every level, we simply won’t get it.