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0 pointsdash24y ago0 comments

There’s been a very serious public enquiry about that. (There’s also now been a policy response.)

Do you think the issues of Grenfell could have been solved by immediate action? I think an enquiry to figure out what went wrong was necessary.

You also seem to think there’s been a swift, wide reaching response to the MP’s murder. I’m not sure what that is, since this policy proposal has merely been mooted.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

rich_sasha4y ago· 2 in thread

For example, nothing was done to replace similar cladding found in hundreds of other high-rise buildings. Or with similar, deadly fire hazard risks found in older council buildings.

Or rather, not nothing. Live human watchmen are patrolling hundreds of buildings and will wake everyone up in case there’s a fire; because there are no fire alarms and if a fire does break out, you have no time to spare at all. Oh and the residents have to pay for this.

But the people who built these, designed them, accepted as safe, or indeed set the regulation, that’s all fine.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/waking-watch...

CheezeIt4y ago

It sounds like the residents should move out.

rich_sasha4y ago

That’s the kicker. These flats legally cannot be sold because they are unsafe! Not rented out.

So unless you can afford to abandon them, there’s no option but to pray and stay. Heck, you might be paying a mortgage on it!

Of course if you are a council house renter, as many inhabitants are, then you can’t move out anyway, you’re there because you have no other options.

jodrellblank4y ago

Sir David Armess was stabbed midday Friday, there was a preliminary investigation, two buildings searched, a suspect aprehended, it was declared an act of terrorism, and the Home Secretary is talking about a nation-affecting policy change, all by ~midday Sunday; two days, mostly weekend. Grenfell Tower burned on June 14th 2017, we're now four years, a general election, a different Prime Minister and a long public enquiry after it. There is quite a difference there which "immediate" glosses over. Is there no need for an enquiry to figure out what went wrong in this situation? Is there no need to discuss it in the House of Commons this next week before suggesting what to do about it? Do you suspect, as I do, that the connection between between social media anonymity and murderous acts of terrorism is more complex and less clear-cut than the connection between fire safety regulations and building fire risk?

Here[1] is the Director of Policy at the British Safety Council commenting "Even allowing for the tardiness of statute and government process, two years on from the catastrophic events of Grenfell, the lack of tangible change to the underlying root causes and systemic failures is quite frankly lamentable." and that was in 2019, two years after it and now two years ago.

Edit: My original comment was too snarky and politically aggressive for the HN guidelines, and it is the case that there were £200M allocated for building improvements and that a huge police investigation takes time and charges of corporate manslaughter may still be brought in due time.

[1] https://www.britsafe.org/publications/safety-management-maga...

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