The residents association stated on a public post, back in November, that there would be a catastrophe sooner rather than later. They said that a devastating fire, with great loss of life, in Grenfell Tower was the most likely way this would happen. That until there was such an event, which they warned was going to happen, nobody would hold the council's chosen private management company to account for the way they were playing Russian roulette with tenant's lives Post was dated November 20th 2016.
They said the electrical wiring was poor and random power surges went through the outlets. This would one day start an electrical fire. The source of the fire is stated right now as being a fridge.
Once the fire started, there was one way down - one central stairwell - which was not large enough for all the people to use speedily enough to evacuate everyone. It was not physically possible to get all residents safely out.
There were no sprinklers. According to all residents, nor were there functioning fire alarms. The advice, clearly written on the fire safety notices in the block, was that they shelter in place (in their flats) and waited for the emergency services.
When you clad a building with a material whose inner core is very flammable; you don't provide more than one escape route and you tell people not to use it; you don't provide sprinklers or fire alarms; and the place is run by a profit driven private company who are making money from a wafer-thin budget provided for social housing tenants... then it's a political issue.
Corbyn put forward a bill to ensure all rentals had to be safe for human habitation. That would have meant enforceable legal requirements for the sort of safety measures needed, but lacking, in Grenfell Tower. It was voted down by the Conservatives, including 72 MPs who were private landlords. My own was on that list, incidentally. They all have blood on their hands today.
I do roll my eyes when people bleat that politics shouldn't be involved in X, Y or Z situation which is inherently related to politics. This is an issue of underfunding social housing, of involving private sector companies in provision where the nature of capitalism means they'll try to cut corners in any way they can and without stiff penalty, that will include safety... and finally, it's about cuts to the emergency services. The stellar work they did and are still doing, and their courage in risking terrible injury and death, doesn't change the fact that Boris Johnson closed more than one local fire station in the past decade. When called on that, and how dangerous it was, by a Labour councillor, he told him to "get stuffed".
This is a democracy - politics is how we all decide how to look after one another, and what steps to take and spending to undertake in order to do that. Politics isn't some dirty little thing we should keep in a closet. It's the mechanism for improving lives. At its best, it's amazing. Inspirational. The NHS that treated the victims is down to politics. So is the housing provided to the most vulnerable in our society. And if that housing was allowed to descend into deathtrap status, politics is how we sort that and ensure more people do not burn to death while their children scream.
See, that's the most unpalatable truth of all. Right now, people care. Right now, people post on Mumsnet and every other fora and news site out there. Right now, Katie fucking Hopkins seems to have used a microscope and located her heart, and she's as outraged as anyone else. But in a month, that will change. Just as people were so distressed to see a little toddler drown as he crossed the sea to Greece, and there was a huge outpouring of aid, and now they've moved on and don't seem to know or care that nothing has changed or improved, so too will people move on and lose interest in ensuring that this doesn't happen again. The time to engage people and get them motivated, and to get them to comprehend that the very poor are actual human beings just like themselves, is now. Right now. If we want pressure on those capable of doing anything, then we need to ask the hard questions while the white heat of media attention is on them. Waiting could mean nothing is done, which in turn could mean it happens again... and meanwhile, a lot of people will live in horrendous housing. Because small babies dying from respiratory illness may not make for great pictures on the news, but it sure as hell happens all to often in the world's 7th largest economy in 2017. And nobody seems to give a shit.
Good for Corbyn. Good for anyone trying to harness current outrage to affect change.