Step Change from Fire Tragedy

The terrible fire at Grenfell Tower in London, which has already claimed six lives, has become emblematic of austerity Britain where Rachmann values are rife and profit and deregulation rules.

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  1. Charles L. Gallagher says:

    It’s now time that it is made ‘MANDATORY’ to retro fit sprinkler system to any tenement block above four floors and fire-fighting equipment be available on all floorrs for instant use by residents. As for cladding this must be ‘FIRE PROOF’ and ‘NOT FIRE RESISTANT.’ Of course cowboys will always use the cheap option knowing that they can get away with it. In the case of Grenfell Tower those responsible (From company Boardrooms to Council Leaders) for agreeing and those responsible for fitting should be immediately and accused of culpable homicide or manslaughter. There is no hiding this time May, get the finger out, high rise dwellers deserve action not more platitudes.

  2. Willie says:

    Tragic as it is this terrible fire shows Britain as a third world country.

    How did it happen, what could have caused it. This after all is the world’s premier capitol – and here we have a tower block burning down in the eyes of the world like some hick structure that developing countries would erect.

    Where is the building control, where are the standards, or is the world’s greatest city but a poor shanty, where people get torched to death in sub standard buildings.

    It seems very much like it.

  3. Doghouse Reilly says:

    There are dozens of these towers around the country, many in Scotland. And most have been over clad in recent years.

    The consequences of this are already sirsmic for those involved. And it’s only just begun.

  4. Willie says:

    And worse.

    Whilst we instinctively know that the death toll will be substantially greater, don’t we all resile as the BBC and the government as it let’s the fatality rate out slowly.

    This is a tragedy that should not have happened in a so called first world country. And yet here you have it.

  5. Mach1 says:

    This is a heartbreaking event of culture-changing significance…. those who died, or were injured, or who have lost family members, and the blue-light response teams who came to their aid, at great personal risk, deserve every politician to chase down the failures that led to this tragedy, and hold accountable those who implemented policies that left so many at risk.

    1. Willie says:

      Yes Mach1, this is a heartbreaking tragedy. Lack of research, an over promoted cladding product, a lack of regulatory control.

      But how many other high rise social housing flats have over recent years been given this Garland of Death.

      Will we have to wait until the inevitable enquiry is concluded, or will action be taken now..

      This outrage occurred under the Tory government’s watch. All of the cladding that has been garlanded around these potential towers of death was their responsibility.

      Like the collapsing school walls, light touch regulation is at the heart of this – and now the public purse will have to pick up the billions that it may cost to put right.

      Welcome to third world Britain where the poor die in their shanty accommodation and where commercial interest runs deep.

  6. Willie says:

    And whilst the BBC is suppressing numbers to 17 dead, and May is announcing the MSM who already know unofficially that deaths are over 100, are still keeping the lid on it.

  7. Mach1 says:

    The delay in releasing death toll is not easily excused, nor is the statement that not all of the dead can be identified. If reports of the missing are centrally co-ordinated, a definitive list of the missing should be available. Identification of numbers in closed flats (people who followed the official advice and did not flee) should further speed identification, though not in the technical, DNA, sense.
    Many will argue that the delay in releasing these figures (number of bodies, flats in which they were found) is adding to the anguish of the bereaved. Talk of weeks’ delay seems inhumane in the extreme.
    The mounting anger locally cannot be ignored. It seems that some officials need to be reminded of their public duty to provide clear estimates, even at the expense of accuracy, where this might assuage human suffering.

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