London fire

It needs someone with tenacity, I agree.
David Lammy? Keir Starmer?

dj I think it's too early to have that degree of confidence. Holding companies, organisations, public bodies etc to account in notoriously difficult. Successful corporate manslaughter charges are as rare as hens teeth. I sound really cynical don't I ? Well at least sceptical.

Police have said that there will be a criminal investigation.
It won't be hidden this time. They will bring people to jusice if any criminal matters come to light.

58 missing, assumed dead, on top of the 30 known to be dead.

Yes, dhj, compassion and brotherly love.

This is very heartening.

blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2017/06/16/ahmed-kazmi-a-gps-experiences-of-the-grenfell-tower-fire/

Yes, grumppa. I remember my husband going on about u-values in brick and concrete and other materials. He had to use a lot of concrete in office blocks and shopping centres, but I can't remember him using it in vernacular buildings.
Lots of tower blocks in Hull, but he did not work on housing then. The tallest building left in Hull is the hospital, at 14 storeys. All the other blocks have been knocked down and replaced with some up to 17 storeys, 48 metres.

It's a good article by Vicky Saunders, dj. There are all sorts of difficult questions, but the basic one is whether it is possible to clad a concrete structure for energy saving purposes without compromising the fire-proof qualities of each separate unit within it; and if so, what regulations have to be imposed to achieve it. Only when that has been established should cost enter into the equation.

There is also the question of insurance. Until the early 1990s local authorities had their own mutual insurer, but it decided to expand outside its knowledge zone and went bust. According to reports in the press today, a Norwegian insurer took over the business in March, by massively undercutting the previous one. And every contractor and sub-contractor will have its own insurance. This will be great fun to sort out!

There's also this one, Nandalot, to get the parents of those who have been affected over to the UK.

www.change.org/p/home-office-get-grenfell-tower-victim-s-parents-to-the-uk

Signed

www.change.org/p/kensington-grenfell-tower-site-to-be-redeveloped-with-100-social-housing

From someone involved in towerblock refurbishment in Salford, grumppa.

www.24housing.co.uk/opinion/grenfell-tower-tragedy-leads-to-difficult-questions/

MN

Ghandi said " the greatness of a nation is measured in how it treats its weakest"

Britain is a failing state.

skwawkbox.org/2017/06/17/charlie-dickinson-of-liverpool-wrote-this-this-whole-country-needs-to-read-it-grenfell/

Good question, dj.

If only there had been some EU directives on cladding and tower blocks.

nothing closet tory about Blair ,he originally stood as a tory candidate and only changed sides when he couldn't get a seat

I wonder how many empty homes Blair has got in London, grumppa.

Kittysjones makes a fair point about red tape, but it was George Brown who spoke of regulation with a light touch for the banks, and Tony Blair who relaxed the rules on fire certificates.

Still, I suppose they were both closet Tories.....

kittysjones.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/grenfell-inequality-and-the-conservatives-bonfire-of-red-tape/

grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/

cant get the link to work but check out the site

grenfellactiongroup.woordpress.com

If this is genuine, there will be an awful lot of shit hitting the fan (that's going too fast)
GRENFELL TOWER – FROM BAD TO WORSE
An end may finally be in sight to the mysterious and distressing power surges that have bedevilled Grenfell Tower residents throughout the past month. However, decisive action was only taken yester…
grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com

Why else would they do that, the tabloids are already demonising the victims.

Who would benefit if there were riots now?

Also, I still don't understand why gas was installed in the building. I thought after Ronan Point this was not allowed in tower blocks. Certainly, the ones we lived in at the tail end of the sixties were all electric.

I see the Daily Mail is also suggesting that it was the push to cut carbon emissions that was the basis for the cladding and, if it is the cladding at fault, the fire. Yes, it may have been done for heat insulation, as I understand the block was very cold in winter and very hot in summer, but at £5000 the less flammable cladding could have been used. The climate change denying daily Mail is using the tragedy to promote its view.

A few years ago, a boarding school with which I am connected lost one of its houses to fire at the start of the summer holidays. By the beginning of the Autumn term a fully equipped temporary structure, based on container-sized modules, and offering better accommodation than the 1920s building that had been destroyed, was up and running on one of the playing fields. It was used for 2-3 years until a new house was built. It was all arranged in collaboration with the insurers.

Mutatis mutandis, I cannot see why this could not be done on this occasion. There may not be much space in the borough, but Grenfell Tower is very close to Wormwood Scrubs Common, in Hammersmith and Fulham. There would be room for the entire community. I would hope that the suppliers of such modular units have already suggested something like this to the Council.