A possible figure of 150 victims came up on Channel 4 News earlier.
This is the biggest disaster in the UK since Hillsborough, and the similarities and the whole feeling around it are eerie. The victims were working class people who the elite don’t give a shit about.
In the second half of the 80s there was a succession of disasters, most of which could have been prevented had authorities given a shit. The political atmosphere was vicious at the time.
With the succession of terror attacks, now the Grenfell Tower fire, and the political situation and atmosphere absolutely febrile, it really feels like Britain has returned to those sort of days.
The company that made the cladding make 3 types of that specific panel, 2 have a fire resistant core, the other one is a cheaper, flamable product, that had already been banned for use on buildings over 40ft in the US. Sad thing is the flamable panels are only £2 per square meter cheaper than the fire resistant ones.
The cheaper one meets UK building regs but in Germany the same panel is classified as "flamable "
Having a proper fire code where these flammable panels are outlawed - that’s the kind of thing that right-wing media and politicians call “red tape” or “unnecessary regulations”.
Funny how often the word “regulations” is immediately preceded by the word “unnecessary” in media.
Narratives.
“Red tape”, aka regulations that stop people dying.
You were happy enough to see Apollo House be occupied for weeks even though it didn’t meet any safety standards or building regulations to function as a Hotel/Hostel. You didn’t give a fuck about red tape or regulation then. Truly pathetic that you’ll use any tragedy as an excuse to spout bile.
Speaking personally i would be grossly uncomfortable living so high up on a tower block. I understand if you are in a big city like London, New York etc you might not have a choice as dictated by financial resources. I suppose these people were mostly poor and had no other options than to live 20 floors up or 24 floors up on a fire trap. I met a friend of mine a few months back who is living in Sydney and he was telling me his apartment is on the 11th floor. I remember thinking “that wouldn’t be me anyway”. I’d rather live further out from the city centre towards the outskirts in a building no more than three floors up so if i ever did have to jump i’d have a chance of survival. This chap lives bang in middle of Sydney so i suppose that is the price you pay and the risk you take. Hard to see it happening in an apartment block with wealthy people though.
People lived in an unsafe building for six weeks pal, irrespective of the sentiments of what they were doing. Astounding hypocrisy to ignore safety concerns with Apollo house and a year later use it as a prop for his left wing rhetoric. Surprised at you.
I understand the cladding used was an Aluminium Composite panel. I use this all the time for printing as signage, it’s basically a low density Polyethelene board sandwiched between two thin (0.3 or 0.5mm) aluminium sheets. It’s a great product with many uses. The Polyethelene is flammable, but I understand there is a fire resistant alternative used in construction. It is absolutely bizarre that the fire resistant core wasn’t used. I can’t believe there was no sprinkler system in the building. It’s 2017 for fucks sake.
The idea of people frantically trying to get their children out of that don’t bear thinking about. It’s truly, truly awful.
