London Fire

[david63]

It looks as if the support on the ground is still not working.

These was a report on the news last night about a chap whose wife died in the fire and her body was being flown back to Syria (I think) but he said he could not accompany her as he had no passport as it was burnt in the fire. A call from the Beeb to the Passport Office was, rightly so, responded to "If he can get here in the next hour we will do our best for him" - why was this not there "on the ground". Perhaps it was but if it was then it was not obvious and surely someone should have been saying/doing something about it when they were organising the repatriation of his wife.

[screwy]

Mrs May said last week that there were Govt ( Agency ) officials working somewhere near to the Flats that were issuing Passpoerts, driving licences, etc. Sometimes i think that the word doesnt get out for some reason.

[qbman1]

Mrs May said last week that there were Govt ( Agency ) officials working somewhere near to the Flats that were issuing Passpoerts, driving licences, etc. Sometimes i think that the word doesnt get out for some reason.

News "Editors" are so-called for a reason !

[qbman1]

It's reprehensible that the "nice" Mr Corbyn and the lovely Labour party are still using this tragedy to further their political aims. They are now trying to scupper the vote on the Queen's Speech by calling for an amendment on the pay deal for fire, police and ambulance personnel. I am not saying that emergency services workers aren't worth far more than they are currently paid but this is neither the time nor the place for the ghouls to score political points!

[david63]

... all in the name of "austerity".

When will those in the Labour Party that did not go to the Dianne Abbott school of mathematics realise that the austerity measures are only necessary because when Labour were in government they were spending money that they did not have and it has to be repaid - oh for the "magic money tree" and all our problems would be solved.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Ah how I remember Gordon Brown and "prudence" and "no more boom and bust".

Perhaps Hammond should abandon "austerity" and adopt "prudence" instead and then Labour can vote for it!

[Frank Manning]

I knew you lot would bring Prudence's bust into it somehow.

A friend of mine has sent me a post to the effect that apparently Corbyn and his fellow travellers voted against Sprinklers in tower blocks while Labour were in power. Someone needs to do some research in Hansard etc to see what that blighter has really been up to.

Yesterday, I gave an illustrated talk for a Sally Ann club about the real facts about Titanic (did you know that Kate Winslet really was a passenger? ) and a member of the audience told me that on a recent Costa cruise they did not do an emergency muster drill before sailing and it was delayed until 3 days after sailing, at which she said it was total chaos. The human race learns very slowly, and is very cynical about safety measures until a tragedy like this occurs, when suddenly lots of people become extremely wise after the event.

[oldbluefox]

I am amazed that following this tragedy there are dozens of so-called experts coming out of the woodwork, all of whom know what the problem is, all know these flats should never have been clad in this material and all know what should have been done.
Assuming that planning permission would have been needed and safety concerns addressed before building could commence where were they all? It's all too easy to chip in your two penn'orth after the event.

[wolfie]

No but the person who does pay the rent / rates would surely be obliged to provide the information ... albeit it could well be inaccurate in order to conceal the illegals who are living in his flat

As if they would!! And then, if they did provide such information, it would not be of much use, as it could be inaccurate, as you said. So, worthless Despite the head of the fire service saying that the survivors could report anyone living there, and do so without any repercussions, I doubt many will come forward with the truth on who was staying, legally or not.

I predicted that the final toll would be in 3 figures. That will be many months ahead, as it was with 9/11, and even then some will sadly never be identified. Some police officers, who are specialist search trained, have been called in to search what the fire brigade bring out of that building. They are sifting through material to find human remains, a fragment of bone or anything that may be used to identify a victim. Nice job.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I heard today that another factor is some people were fleeing upwards to try to escape so may have finally died where were not resident either officially or unofficially. It really is too awfulnto contemplate which makes the political posturing more tasteless. And today, even before he's begun his job, some people are criticising the judge leading the inquiry. And there will be even more if he doesn't reach the conclusion they want.

[qbman1]

Whatever the outcome, I just hope it doesn't drag on as long as Hillsborough

[Dancing Queen]

Whatever the outcome, I just hope it doesn't drag on as long as Hillsborough

That won't happen Cubie, not wishing to come across as racist ( which I'm not ) but the fact there were many 'foreign' people living in the flats they will be treated differently to how 'our own' were .. sorry but that is how I see it !!

[qbman1]

Sounds about right !