London fire

durham you are political point scoring yet again.

Hotels in London are full of tourists, not at all easy to find rooms empty in June.

The worlds focus is on us at the moment, and just like that Bund article they are astounded by our behaviour and lack of any sort of sensible action.
I dont think that the UK has ever been in such an appalling state. It started with austerity and is gathering momentum.

You are on the wrong thread ww

I agree, whitewave. So much happening, all horrible.

I don't care about your claims rossrered. They're the pits. Like others, I have been restrained and avoided making personal comments about you. The posts disgust me.

We looked like a third world country whitewave and I agree, the world must be feeling as shocked as we are at the response.

My dear old mum avoids getting upset and crying - she doesn't have the energy - but she was in floods of tears last night when she saw the programme about the fire on TV. I drove over and told her it was last week and lied through my teeth telling her everything was being done to look after the people but, of course, it was the children that had got to her and it took me ages to comfort her. She has lived through a war with both her and my father in the forces but this seemed extraordinary in peace time.

I believe that much of the lack of systems in the aftermath is because of so called austerity. It's a bit like putting the terrorist alert at the highest level - they have to do it for as short a time as possible or it ceases to be effective. So many corners have been cut, so many people are keeping things going by being completely stretched that something gives as soon as extra pressure is put on.

Your late night posts are always angry ones DD......I do wonder why.

My mum is exactly the same. Like me she thinks the country is in a very perilous state. I dont know what is happening to us, but one thing is clear we are more divided than we have ever been in my lifetime.

I have yet to see any figures for the number of survivors, or families needing housing, nor the total number of residents who lived in the building. Only the number admitted to hospital and those dead who have been formally identified has been reported. Cynically, I think that these numbers are being withheld because if we did the arithmetic we would all be horrified.

rosesarered If it had been your daughter, son, grandchildren, etc., who had experienced this terrible fire and had lost their home and everything they owned in it - and neither you nor the wider family had the accommodation or financial means to assist them yourselves - do you think you would be satisfied with the way this emergency situation has been dealt with? You talk of "left wing grans" but I don't think it is necessary to be left wing to see that both the fire and the response to it has been shameful and has shocked the world.

Anniebach Every Labour Party Conference and significant local Labour Party meeting has SWP and other left wing fringe groups standing outside trying to sell their papers - it is nothing new. I, and over a million other people, were on the Stop the War march in 2003. Amongst those people there were no doubt mainstream and fringe political groupings that some people did not agree with. I don't feel that destroyed the march's legitimacy.

We certainly do not know that 'austerity' has anything to do with the fire at all, when over 8 million was just spent on improvements to the tower block.
IF it comes out that a slightly cheaper cladding was chosen because of cost and no other reason, then you can say it was money saving.

Wow!!!! Ive read it all now. Blimey dd i apologise on behave of rose because i know she never will!!

Eloethan I would be grateful to be alive first and foremost, and wouldn't worry who supplied the food, sleeping bags etc volunteers, community church or council as long as I and my family were being helped.

Thanks ww.

ww....... you are at it again, stirring, don't you ever tire of it?Perhaps read what LaraGransnet has just written on this page for a start.

Why should anybody apoolgise to daphnedil you must be joking.

I guess some people can't help themselves.

I think we need to give the current team of agencies a chance to get on with the job.

The first 4 days or so were pretty chaotic, which is why K&C were replaced. The government accepted the progress at that time was not good enough and it acted. Now we need to see if there's an improvement and that shouldn't take long. That's not to say pressure about the causes of the tragedy should be any less. Nor that less vigilance is required to make sure that the victims are not treated correctly.

But be realistic. The media will now be looking for anything to make a story. Many of the things mentioned on this thread have happened in London in the past e. g. Pressure on people to be housed/rehoused outside London miles from family, friends and support networks. That's not going to happen in the current situation, but it's easy to see how discussions about the past can be twisted into facts about now.

Of course some politicians are going to be point scoring because everything is political. But don't dismiss all of them because when it comes to accountability some difficult questions will need to be answered. And we all want accountability, not cover ups don't we?

My posts are usually written quite late at night and, on subjects such as this, are sometimes quite angry. Do you have any theories as to why that is rosesarered? Is it possible that people are angry because there is something to be angry about?

What really is sad is that the usual posters are turning the thread about an awful fire into a bicker fest.Just Stop.

There may well turn out to be Eloethan but condemning before you know the facts is a stupid excercise.

I agree Wilma??

From the BBC website:

"In a statement, the response team said it was not aware of any victims living in parks, that nobody was being forced into accommodation, and people were being homed "as locally as possible".
Some 138 hotel placements have been made for people living in Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk, it added, while 112 additional residents from the wider area are now in hotels.
"No-one is being forced into housing they don't want. We will continue to work with everyone until we find them an offer of housing that they accept," it said.
It said people were being "temporarily housed in hotel accommodation in or close to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea".
More than £330,000 of a £5m emergency fund has been distributed to the affected families, the response team added.
It said 314 people have now received financial assistance, while 40 households have been given a £5,000 government payment.
The government has offered £500 cash payments along with a £5,000 bank payment to those affected, as part of a £5m emergency fund."

Please, roses, watch 130 now. They are interviewing survivors now.