Westministenders: The bookends to a year of political chaos. Just how far have we come?

[RedToothBrush]

The 15th June 2016.

The Thames was filled with a flotilla of boats in a publicity stunt for the Leave campaign to draw attention to fisheries. Nigel Farage and Kate Hoey in their heads thought they were Leonardo and Kate, but the moment was rather more titanic in nature and could not have been more Alan Partridge if they had tried. Coming up behind was Bob Gedolf in a shameful and cringeworthy display of swearing and abuse that really didn’t help the Remain camp in anyway. Largely unnoticed was a small boat with a family following it all unfold…

The next day things went from fiasco to horror.

Farage unveiled the Dog Whistle Poster and Jo Cox was murdered. And the UK seemed set on its course for 7 days later when the world was turned upside down by the referendum itself.

14th June 2017.

Fast forward 365 days later and another tragedy unfolded. This time of a very different nature but with no less political significance.
Grenfell.

A moment of national shame. A symbol of so many things that had come to pass in the previous twelve months.

The election just the previous week had changed the direction of travel we seemed to be headed and left the Prime Minister exposed and looking wildly out of touch. The Maybot was given one more chance.

And the Maybot seems to be failing the test of her party who had the grace to grant her a second chance.

The Queen dressed in the same shade of blue, May delivered her ‘victory speech’ in, ignored the security threat and visited the ranks of the poor and the forgotten. A deliberate message to May not to forget who she serves? A Queen who feels aggrieved and angry by May’s behaviour? Who knows.

As for Brexit. The government looks lost. Adrift. The ‘Fight of the Summer’ over the EU’s plan for talks sounds out the window despite the denials from the Brexit Department. Hard Brexit is still on the cards. Apparently. But what does anyone believe now? May’s and the Brexiteers domination of the agenda is shattered, its power starting to be questioned.

What next?

This evening the anger is building.

Who knows, what will happen. Some of it might be predictable, but the future is far from certain and we have definitely entered a new era. We just don’t know who will lead it, or what its ambition or what the end goal now is.

What we do know, more acutely than ever is that we are all human and the wise words of Jo Cox about having ‘More in Common’ ring though ever more strongly.

Once again we feel ‘on the brink’.

Holy crap, that interview...

May retreating into nonsense when pressed on why there was nobody coordinating the aftermath - 'we are making sure that not only do we make the money available but that the people who need it actually get it blather blather blather...'

Full marks to Maitlis.

If May is indeed a prisoner of her own party, you would think someone among them would figure out how to stop her from making such a balls of every single thing she touches.

Thanks Pain for the interesting Reverse Brexit article. It says that 'Soft Brexit' is a misnomer. Makes it sound ok. Actually all levels of Brexit are damaging to some degree. We should remember that.

So NI is currently 'without a government'? Wouldn't a wiser May be saying to them 'go and sort yourselves out, we won't bother you with our problems.'

(And I know the DUP are probably attracted to the idea of this power, but...)

Adding my thanks for this thread and all the previous ones.

I just can't understand the Torys, it's pretty bloody clear the uk doesn't want hard Brexit. Why are they being so damn stubborn with going ahead with it?

This is the crucial question imo - just why are they so keen to keep going despite all the obstacles in their way?

There's no reason that is anything about the good of the country as a whole....

If recent events have woken us up to anything it should be that our parliament is full of vested interests acting for the good of themselves, not in a spirit of public service or for a sense of the general good.

I believe that the Conservative party in particular has become attractive to individuals who are either very low or totally lacking in human empathy. Individuals who are particularly selfish and self-serving. Ask yourself who would choose to be a conservative MP. They have been encouraged by a leadership who do not display empathy and who consistently prioritise self-interest over respect and dignity for the vulnerable.

May showed who she was whilst at the Home Office. I would be surprised if she has any empathy, but if she does it is extremely low compared to most people.

These are people who will genuinely not be moved by others' plights. We should not be surprised by their actions. We should also not be surprised by the tabloid behaviours. Similarly, who would choose to work in these places? Not people who display normal levels of empathy- they wouldn't last 5 minutes.

The old mumsnet adage applies - when someone shows or tells you who they are, listen.

We should not be surprised by any of this, the question is how to get these people out of Government imo....

Glamour Magazine seemingly manages a more co-ordinated effort than RBKC

Includes information on the fact the Big Give is doubling donations.

Double your donation

Over £100,000k of matched funding is still available. Please publicise this.

But hasnt Macron basically guven the Uk an out? Press pause for 6 months, concentrate on domestic crises and then see how the world looks.
I cant believe there isn't a spinmeister in Downing St who couldn't sell that

Thank you Red. So it's about appearing to be strong and stable.

So TM is being held prisoner (and I do believe this, who in their right mind would continue to face our problems just now) by the party who are being held hostage by the right?

We really did sleep walk into this

Interesting. Is the system skewed at the moment to favour the Unionists?
[Cailleach] wrt the redrawing of constituencies in NI.

I wonder if the DUP would try to get a different map from the Commission as its price for support of the Tories? This has to be the only really valuable strategic plum there is to be had out of all of this for them. Other stuff like marches, throwing pennies at the Catholics, flying flags on Belfast City Hall, and even jobs for the boys in the form of infrastructure funds are trifles compared to gerrymandering.

I suspect the current constituencies are indeed rigged.

Re the £5m I feel that it's being played as a pot of money for stuff.

I would have preferred £5m to pay for extra coordinated resources.

E.g. I'm worried that people saw things we should not see and cannot get access to counselling. People kept mentioning when the screaming stopped.

My west London folk keep talking about the volunteer chaos - one was asked to drive food somewhere. She got lost, tried to call the centre no answer. Drove back and no one could give direction/answers. They had to unpack.

I suspect the council does not have the resources/people.

This from the fire brigade's union

www.fbu.org.uk/blog/government%E2%80%99s-ruthless-decision-school-sprinklers-huge-mistake#.WUTZ0pykMYA.twitter
The government’s ruthless decision on school sprinklers is a huge mistake

The government's decision to drop the requirement for all new school buildings to be fitted with sprinklers is a retrograde move

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The government’s ruthless decision on school sprinklers is a huge mistake
Recent fire in Bristol
The government’s ruthless decision on school sprinklers is a huge mistake
September 02, 2016 By Tam McFarlane Government South West
The government's decision to drop the requirement for all new school buildings to be fitted with sprinklers is a retrograde move, writes Tam McFarlane.

If anyone really believed that a new prime minister would mean a change in the government’s approach to the fire and rescue service, they will have been proved badly wrong by the recent decision to drop requirements for sprinklers to be installed in all new school buildings. It is a short-sighted, nonsensical decision that compromises the safety of firefighters and the public.

The installation of sprinklers in new schools was a policy introduced in 2007 by Dorset MP Jim Knight when he was an education minister in the last Labour government. The move was outlined in a government document called ‘BB 100 Design for fire safety in schools.’ It was described at the time as “a landmark in improving fire safety in schools”, by the then government and it identified the major fire risk that schools pose and the need to make them even safer places for children. The stated purpose of fitting sprinklers was to “help prevent the devastating impact that a fire can have in a school (which is) longstanding”.

At the time, many of us felt that even this did not go far enough as it did not produce a requirement to retrofit older schools but it was a very welcome and positive step forward for safety.

Now, however, the government has redrafted the document, completely changing the previous wording. What had read: “it is now our expectation that all new schools will have sprinklers fitted”, has been replaced with a statement declaring the absolute opposite. It now reads “BB 100 no longer includes an expectation that most new school buildings will be fitted with them (sprinklers)”.

"The government’s arrogant decision flies in the face of overwhelming evidence."
In doing so, the government has overturned a basic, relatively modern policy that was introduced to keep children and staff in schools safe, safeguard against long-term damage to children’s education and protect school buildings and resources for future generations. The government’s arrogant decision flies in the face of overwhelming evidence.

The installation of sprinklers in new schools was a policy introduced in 2007 by Dorset MP Jim Knight when he was an education minister in the last Labour government. The move was outlined in a government document called ‘BB 100 Design for fire safety in schools.’ It was described at the time as “a landmark in improving fire safety in schools”, by the then government and it identified the major fire risk that schools pose and the need to make them even safer places for children.

And

Since the policy was introduced sprinklers have been credited with saving 17 schools from huge fire damage. They allow for quick evacuation of children and staff and limit the spread and growth of fire. Their removal would be disastrous. The subsequent damage to children’s education due to the loss of a school in a fire can be both long-term and catastrophic. There are also other societal costs in the loss of a school, including the jobs of staff and the loss of the school building and facilities to community groups and sports clubs.

The cost of fitting sprinklers to a school represents a very low investment when weighed against that of a rebuild due to fire.

And

Now, however, the government has redrafted the document, completely changing the previous wording. What had read: “it is now our expectation that all new schools will have sprinklers fitted”, has been replaced with a statement declaring the absolute opposite. It now reads “BB 100 no longer includes an expectation that most new school buildings will be fitted with them (sprinklers)”.

Schools that are often targets for arson. Or does that only happen in poor areas?

I think the economic effects is what is now starting to be taken notice of in the gerbil discourse.

I watched the last leg last night and I've never seen it before so don't know the background of the two remain and leave people (who i gathered have been the show's representation for both sides in the past) but they said they'd found one thing in common to unite over and that was they were opposed to austerity. Well, to be completely accurate it was the remain person saying this but the leave person didn't disagree (although he might have felt it counter to the spirit of the event of finding things you have in common with each other).

Perhaps this will be something that can be honestly discussed now, even though some newspapers will still oppose it, and it might finally move away from people being entrenched in one camp or another and actually considering the probable outcomes of leaving and how we do it.

Bit of a mispost there but you get the idea.

Sorry I mean extra money for a coordinated website, Extra Samaritans, coaches (people took Uber's/lifts to hotels), food drops.

It all returns back to austerity.

Pleased to see all protests passed off peacefully and hope it continues.

What the bloody hell is May doing?

Dh had a grump on last night as we voted by post for lib dems. Due to when we were going away we got the form in very quickly.

He now wishes he voted for JC. I did point out that at the time of voting he had decided JC was unelectable and wouldnt make a great pm....

He is not hugely engaged in politics, and I would say is conservative with a small c. Probably a slightly right centrist, as opposed to my slightly left centrist ideological stance.

However, it's a stance I'm seeing more and more - people who would never have even considered voting for JCs labour weeks ago are now supporting him and are very anti TM.

I think the Conservatives would do anything in their power to avoid a general election right now - or even in the near future.

General discourse, not gerbil!

I did wonder about the random gerbil...

Jane Merrick @ janemerrick23
Also shocking to hear @BBCMatthewPrice saying on #r4today that there was more coordination in worldwide disaster zones he's reported on

Yes I agree we need extra time before negotiations start. I reckon the EU would say yes if we asked, given our recent catalogue of disaster and chaos.

However, I kind of want Brexit to fall apart, rather than be facilitated.

Glamour Magazine's website has a Current Affairs section. Well I never.

It's pretty good.

Headlines include:

Theresa May has failed the victims of the Grenfell Tower Tragedy and this is why

I grew up in a safe DUP seat- Britain is in for a shock

What will Brexit mean for you?

My faith in the future in slightly restored by all their bright young common sense.

Yes, yes 7 days with EU agreement press pause for 6 months....or 6 years and concentrate on domestic crises and then see how the world looks.

3000 trade negotiators is what Bloomberg said. I guess your calculation is just one year's worth of salary Hester?

I always come back to is percentages....already one year's worth of vast wasted expense and political chaos with years more to come.This was just because 2% more of the population were given the chance to protest against austerity and wrongly blamed:

5% EU born citizens (who form an essential part of our workforce).

And a handful of politicians attacked 1.2% of annual spending (our tiny EU contribution) on the side of a bus.

The exit thing is all costing so much time and money and causing such a rupture, all for 2% of the electorate, and 5% of forriners, and 1.2% of annual budget.

We should be focussing on the 90+ % issues like health,social care, education and safe housing and at least postpone relinquishing our EU membership perhaps for a decade once everything else is sorted.

Interesting video of DC and vow to 'kill' off H&S

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuOgmeJl0TA

That's a good point Hester, in a few months with no further problems we could go back to an apathetic business as usual ergo Brexit is fine.

At present continuing with it uncontrolled pretty much guarantees chaos at an early stage.

Also, is it me or is Brenda trolling TM? She spoke on Grenfell this morning.

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/40310959

I liked the suggestion of a gerbil. I'd have more faith in one of those tbh.

RTB thanks for all these threads. I am a long time lurker and appreciate all the updating. On school sprinklers can I say that the devolved Welsh and Scottish parliaments both make sprinklers mandatory in all new schools, public building, multi occupancy, etc

Completely agree lonely planet with all you say.
And yes I was thinking one year's salary, forgetting of course that this whole thing is likely to drag on for years and years.
It's a scandal and a crying shame

Also shocking to hear @BBCMatthewPrice saying on #r4today that there was more coordination in worldwide disaster zones he's reported on

Not surprised to hear that at all. I worked for four organisations involved in international development, two of them in disaster relief. All vastly more capable. Did more, with less, more quickly, more effectively. Managed to not royally piss off the victims to boot.