London Fire: Grenfell Tower thread five

[RhythmAndStealth]

RIP

Five victims officially named
At least 79 victims expected, possibly more
Many displaced and struggling

To all those affected and all those helping

Thread four
Thread three
Thread three contains links to threads one and two.

Yes we have been sleepwalking. Most of us are busy with work, family - getting through life and so we don't have the time or will to question. The establishment play on this and have done since forever. When people do question and protest they are painted as the trouble makers and also accused of creating hysteria. Social media is changing the equilibrium but I hope a real change in politics will come.

Rbkc and the tmo must be subject to a fincial investigation. It must be independent as the government is also tied up in it all. This is just one council and how many others. Sickening how rich certain people have become on the back of being involved in social housing.

I feel bad the thread is moving away from the victims of the fire but our questions need to be said and the families want there to be investigations.

I can't remember if it was on these threads or a similar one but a poster was proud to be part of the 'silent majority' and I'm still infuriated by it. What's to be proud of in keeping your mouth shut and going along with what everyone else does?

I find the politics easier. I can't think of the mum and her 6 month old, I just can't. I'm a mum of a 6 month old, I have a 5 year old, it's too much. I can't sleep if I think about that.

Very very believable.

Just heard on the radio that some Grenfell residents are still having rent payments taken from their bank accounts despite not being rehoused.

Dreadful. Surely if they contact their bank they can have the debit and or standing order stopped? I would bnoth go into the bank branch but also send a special delivery letter copied to the head of the relevant bank and your MP too and probably tweet the letter as well.

OMG, they've just changed Google News so you can only get a few news articles for a search now, not every result

They implied a lot of residents might not be aware they are being charged as they might not have checked their bank accounts since the fire.

On Google news I sometimes use the 'sorted by date' option, which will bring up all reports in chronological order, most recent first.

Problems are (a) it can take ages to find the one you're after and (b) you often get multiple results of the same syndicated report.

But at least nothing is omitted.

www.aol.co.uk/news/2017/07/01/kensington-town-hall-protesters-people-who-like-doing-that-sort/
Kensington Town Hall protesters 'people who like doing that sort of thing'

A Tory Kensington and Chelsea councillor has claimed protesters who stormed Kensington Town Hall days after the Grenfell Tower fire demanding justice for victims "weren't the local community" but "people who like doing that sort of thing".

Catherine Faulks was defending the council's attempts to hold a cabinet meeting on the disaster on Thursday in private, initially citing public order concerns, and described press attempts to report on it by obtaining a High Court order as "a very clever stunt".

The council cancelled the meeting after journalists were allowed to attend, claiming it would "prejudice" the forthcoming public inquiry.

Ms Faulks told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The reason we had given primarily to have the meeting in private was that we were worried there was a public order issue which had been already demonstrated by the invasion that happened at the council - which, by the way, when you say we weren't affected, the whole council chamber had to be evacuated for the whole afternoon on the Friday after the tragedy."

She went on: "I think actually the people that stormed the council weren't the local community, I think they were people who like doing that sort of thing and I think they did a disservice to the local community.

"But I completely understand the anger, the frustration of the local community.

"Of course we weren't immediately quick off the ground, it's an enormous tragedy, I don't know if everyone realised how complex and how vast this fire was.

"I challenge any borough in the whole country to have immediately had an action plan they could put into place."

Upholding journalists legal right to ensure dodgy shit doesn't go on in a council meeting for a council which is spouting dismissive shit is not 'a clever stunt'. Calling it that is not bright.

Also effectively calling people who were protesting about this trouble makers and not locals is more of the same stuff where the Grenfell Tower residents were labelled as trouble makers.

I look forward to her resignation as she's clearly STILL not getting it.

You can not defend the indefensible. You should be apologising for it.

David Lammy @ DavidLammy
In all my time in politics I cannot recall somebody treating their constituents with such disrespect. Shameful.

Talking about Catherine Faulks.

Guardian article on the story also talks about her property business.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/01/tory-councillor-catherine-faulks-media-attend-grenfell-meeting-clever-stunt?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Tory councillor: media efforts to attend Grenfell meeting were 'clever stunt'

And includes this extra quote:

“We hear this constant noise that no one was there and no one was doing anything,” she added. “We have excellent officers.”

Thanks Lordtrash, they have changed it so that if I go to news.google.com it only brings up a few results on a search and we can't sort by date. If I go to www.google.com and type in a search query, all the results show up and I can sort them by date. I guess they are trying to make news.google.com more of a 'portal' but was getting quite panicky there's a concerted effort to severely limit information. Hopefully, that is not the case.

And this in response to people still being charged rent:

Responding to these claims, Faulks said: “Oh come on. I’m not saying it’s a tiny thing, for them it’s a huge thing and its very upsetting.

“But the council are in the process of trying to house 400 people. They’ve got people in hotels. They’ve put a social worker for every single family who is triaging them into a wraparound service.

“I’m sorry to hear that happened, but that person will have a one person connection to go to to explain that’s happened to sort out.”

What fucking planet is she on?!

What a pompous jumped up pathetic excuse of a councillor is she! The attitude she and the whole council have towards working class people is very clear. She deserves to be out immediately.

Does this lady even realise she is in her position as she was elected by the residents of Kensington and Chelsea to serve them? She's treating them as if they are an inconvenience with petty concerns!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Faulks,_Baron_Faulks

Red, I think we can see just what planet she is on!

Paul Lewis @ paullewismoney
Boss of firm which supplied #GrenfellTowerFire cladding is on safety regulation committee

Politicians have to declare their interests so they don't have conflicts of interest. And therein lies the issue.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/grenfell-cladding-boss-is-a-government-adviser-8595vlh2t?shareToken=014dd77dc7397a183ecec34dc41977fe
Grenfell cladding boss is a government adviser

A senior executive from the company that made the insulation boards fitted to Grenfell Tower is an adviser to the government on building regulations.

Mark Allen, technical director of Saint Gobain UK, which makes Celotex insulation, is on the Building Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC), which advises Sajid Javid, the communities and local government secretary.

Scotland Yard said last week that its investigation into the fire, which claimed at least 80 lives, had found that the Celotex RS 5000 insulation boards fitted in a large refurbishment project had proved highly flammable. Although classified as “low risk” in terms of fire, police said “the insulation samples collected from Grenfell Tower combusted soon after the test started”.

The product has been withdrawn from use on high-rise buildings but Mr Allen remains on the committee that met last week to discuss Grenfell.

BRAC members are appointed by the secretary of state. It meets three times a year but does not publish minutes.

Talking about Catherine Faulks

If you're interested about this listen to the interview itself from this morning's Today on Radio 4:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wlc6b (from 1:15:25)

It is absolutely unbelievable and it could well be the defining recording of the whole tragedy. Listening to it gives many clues why RBKC have been utterly useless in their response. It actually sounds like a spoof done by Armando Iannucci or Chris Morris but sadly it's real and it was people like Faulks who actually were to supposed to help.

They are still being charged rent?!! Fucking hell. And Faulkes expects them to chase it up and sort it out so yet ANOTHER thing on the residents to do list that they have to chase up.

That council are INHUMANE. There is no word strong enough to describe them and their actions.............and non actions!

Indeed, Helena.

Yet, to Cllr Faulkes, it's a 'tiny thing' .

www.thecanary.co/2017/06/30/not-just-grenfell-these-tenants-warning-fire-safety-years/

news.sky.com/story/grenfell-survivor-still-having-rent-deducted-by-council-campaigner-claims-10933289

"Survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster will boycott the public inquiry into the deadly fire if it is not widespread enough, a campaign group has warned.

Yvette Williams, a coordinator for Justice 4 Grenfell, told Sky News those affected by the tragedy, which claimed at least 80 lives, "want the systemic issues" that led up to the blaze to be examined.

"If we don't get a good terms of reference for the public inquiry and we don't get a wide remit so that those people can take responsibility for what they've done, then we won't participate in it," she said.

"They cannot just look at 14 June, when that building became an inferno. They can't do that"

Thanks for that HelenaDove
He's a contract, not a criminal lawyer? Pretty mild bio on Bick here:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wmcyc

Why would Ms Williams say that? Who appointed her and founded that group?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/01/grenfell-tower-residents-support-group?CMP=twt_gu