London fire

"After further correspondence, Liberal Democrat MP Steven Williams - who was then a minister in the department - replied: "I have neither seen nor heard anything that would suggest that consideration of these specific potential changes is urgent and I am not willing to disrupt the work of this department by asking that these matters are brought forward."

The group replied to say they "were at a loss to understand, how you had concluded that credible and independent evidence, which had life safety implications, was NOT considered to be urgent".

"As a consequence the group wishes to point out to you that should a major fire tragedy, with loss of life, occur between now and 2017 in, for example, a residential care facility or a purpose built block of flats, where the matters which had been raised here, were found to be contributory to the outcome, then the group would be bound to bring this to others' attention." "

That was written before the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. From Wilma's article for those who never look at links.

I have just read this in today's newspaper:

Andy Murray will donate his prize money from this week’s Queen’s Club tournament to the families who lost everything in the fire. If he wins that will be £346,000

What a generous gesture.
Another reason to cheer him on!

Article about the pressure to review fire safety - Four ministers were warned about tower block fire risks

Interesting bit at the end -

Panorama has discovered that firefighters put out the first fire at Grenfell Tower. They were called to a fridge fire, and within minutes told residents the fire was out in the flat.

The crew was leaving the building when firefighters outside spotted flames rising up the side of the building.

The Fire Brigades Union say firefighters were left facing an unprecedented fire, and officers broke their own safety protocol to rescue people.

I didn't watch the programme, but I will.

skwawkbox.org/2017/06/19/video-expert-breaks-down-as-he-tells-of-warning-of-totally-avoidable-grenfell-fire/

This man warned that something like Grenfell would happen if the cladding was not outlawed. That was three years ago.
Someone had better be punished for this.

Interesting comments in today's Times on how money was spent in K&C. Especially revenue from rent.
It might have been different if the Audit Commission were still in extistance, there might have been relevant questions asked.
Unfortunately the Government abolished it in 2015.

theconversation.com/grenfell-tower-fire-tragedy-reveals-ugly-flaws-of-regeneration-agenda-79452

Someone who has done research into social housing regeneration.

Oh dear dj no chance of that I'm afraid - the best we can hope for is the falling on the sword. I feel very very sceptical about any court action at any time - naming and shaming will be the best that can be hoped for. They might fine K&C ie fine the council tax payers so thar'll learn 'em won't it?

looks as if it may be as many as 80 people lost to this terrible fire, How many times have we hard Lessons will be learned.

I want him to be the first in court, Rigby.

Well he made it up and

skwawkbox.org/2017/06/19/video-rbkc-chief-claims-volunteer-efforts-to-vindicate-council-grenfell/

You couldn't make it up.

Yes, Jalima, absolutely appalling that they should block up one of the exit doors.
It said in the article that lots of the elderly automatically went to that doorway, forgetting it was closed. They then had to find their way to the other.
They have no idea if that happened in the fire.

twitter.com/chakrabortty/status/876727861142540289/photo/1

This is what Aditya Chakrabortty thinks of it.

djen there was only one staircase - only one escape route.
It was one of doors that was blocked to the staircase, it should never have been blocked, that is against fire regulations.

In fact I think only one staircase as an exit route to a block of flats that size is shocking too as fireman are trying to get up as people are trying to escape.

skwawkbox.org/2017/06/19/heartbreaking-video-as-grenfell-residents-count-out-their-true-toll/

skwawkbox.org/2017/06/19/one-of-grenfells-two-escape-routes-was-blocked-up-because-of-academy/

Another sword to fall on? Or the same person?

I did struggle to find a glowing example of success!

grumppa

and by and large it has not worked very well.

oh the understatement!

One immediate problem is that the only two parties big enough to form a government are split down the middle, the Conservatives on the EU and Labour on what shade of socialism the party stands for.

Another problem is that since the 1980s the trend has been for government to delegate responsibility for regulation and supervision; this has been in the name of self-regulation or devolution of power, and by and large it has not worked very well.

I agree devongirl but it is a purely personal thought that there is nobody in any party who has the b"""s to take over.

rigby I sadly suspect that rather than sword-falling-on we may get another instance of 'I got us into this mess so I'll get us out of it'. No, spare us please, step down and let someone without resposibility take over..

Wilma I just hope there's quite a bit of sword-falling-on shortly. A message has to be sent not just to the local community but nationally that those who choose to enter public service have a great and grave responsibility to discharge to those whose trust they are given and cannot just take the nice bits of that. If you go onto the K&C website, you can find the list and value of gifts and hospitality that P-B receives in his official role.

Good article by Clare Foges today arguing that the kind of housing that the organisation, Create Streets, calls for should, in the long term, replace high rise towers like Grenfell.

"Trust is low. Contractors are removing Grenfell details from their websites. What else are they deleting? Are the shredders running today?"

David Lammy.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2017/06/19/evidence-mounts-against-the-authorities-over-the-grenfell-tower-disaster-strong-language/

Watch the Jonathan Pie video, papering over poverty.
Look at the figures further down.
Look at the message from Evolve politics. Over 400 people unaccounted for.

I didn't mean to imply you thought he and the others are evil tbh. I think it is Ealing who have taken over the main rescue centre (see my post from 00.14). No doubt K&C is run in such a way to keep costs down that it didn't have a hope of responding in an efficient way. The leaders will be the first to fall over the next few days and weeks. Maybe even with a payoff, you know how these things work. Then they'll move somewhere else - or maybe, just maybe this will be life changing for them. Nothing can compare with those who have lost loved ones and their homes. Nothing.