Fire at Grenfell Tower in London

in 20 years time we're going to learn that mogg's continued presence in public life was the one hurdle the May-DUP negotiations failed to clear

It's going to be a nightmare unpicking the contractual stuff around the tower improvement project: design and build, subcontractual arrangements, compliance with regs at sign off. How many parties knew that the non-fr panels were being installed and didn't think, from a potential fire safety point of view, "excuse me I'm not sure this is a good idea ". All parties have a duty to h&s under the cdm regs.

And I think that contractual unravelling, with loads of legals making a mint, will be enough diversion to cover for the more senior people who should be in the frame.

d-notice thing is bollocks

The TMO have been making good use of their time today, not by managing rehousing, but by hand delivering letters dated Wednesday to local residents warning about anti social behaviour - ball games - according to the graun.

they're lucky they don't get those letters shoved up their arse

re "enough diversion to cover for the more senior people who should be in the frame": i think the pressure point from here on in will not so much be the results of this inquiry and who's to blame -- tho i'm totally happy with david lammy agitating as he is, that senior councillors shd end up in jail -- than during the upcoming process of making sure such estates are safe in every city and town in the entire country

= active residents committees availing themselves of informed expertise and legal advice and refusing to be fobbed off with obfuscation and opacity in council and city contract-making

Someone probably said you'd better not get those letters out today with all that's going on, they can wait till Friday. But make sure they're out by then, this ball games issue needs dealing with.

Should I change the date on the letter?

No it will be alright. Don't be printing all that lot again.

Given his personal connection to one of the victims, David Lammy isn't going to let this go and therefore neither are Labour.

council on the back foot will include many labour councils sadly: cf the haringey development vehicle >:(

Good point mark s. Landlords need to be actively engaging with multis residents now. Potential sticking point will be financial cost of increased fire safety works, plus the feasibility of installing those measures in old blocks.

Protesters have stormed into Kensington town hall apparently?

Amazed it took so long. It's coming across pretty clearly that there has been fuck-all council action on the ground. Residents saying they see firemen and they see volunteers and that's it. Meanwhile council leader pontificates on telly.

Council had their chance to respond properly and seems to have blown it

when people are heckling the queen you can tell something's not right. people are (rightly) very angry.

Those letters were apparently hand delivered fwiw.

protests/storming of the council all live on BBC News right now fyi

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCcyWOGXoAAOD2p.jpg

I'd fucking love to see Nick Robinson reporting from this protest, and maybe trying to explain to some of them his belief that this tragedy wasn't a result of inequality.

owen hatherley makes the excellent point in dezeen that the new mp for kensington, emma dent coad, is an architectural scholar as well as an activist involved in debates abt regeneration so-called (versus actually providing good social housing)

when people are heckling the queen you can tell something's not right.

well...

Side issue but there's not much point trying to get a response from a town hall after 4pm on a Friday.

May's visit has gone down great. She must be begging the BoJo and co. to let her quit at this point.

People here furious about the PMs secretive visit and refusing to speak to ppl outside. Went into the church and was ushered into her car

— AssedBaig (@AssedBaig) June 16, 2017

Burn neoliberalism, not people. pic.twitter.com/2cEgXo6RBS

— Clive Lewis (@labourlewis) June 16, 2017

Shocking scenes as Theresa May bundled into a car by police amid fury from the pushing crowd

— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) June 16, 2017

that's cracking. folk were shouting murderer at her and that apparently.

she has had a (well deserved) bad week

Wow. This interview with a tearful David Lammy MP really feels like part of something changing, profoundly pic.twitter.com/CeYmTjT74e

— Jack Seale (@jackseale) June 16, 2017

🐦[Shocking scenes as Theresa May bundled into a car by police amid fury from the pushing crowd
— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) June 16, 2017🕸]🐦

more pleasing than shocking, i'd say

KGM is actually quite angry about this (abt may not speaking rather than the fury of the pushing crowds)

anyway i think he is

that dezeen piece is very good. Interesting how the faux polie language of gentrification has progressed since the 90's from "social exclusion" "regeneration" to str8 ruthless "decanting" and I recall one top architect referring to social housing tenants as "freeriders" last year.

Just lost it when five year old Isaac Shawo's photo came on TV there.

im hungover and this had me wiping my eyes a bit

.@DavidLammy becomes tearful when remembering Khadija Saye, a friend lost in the Grenfell Tower fire. pic.twitter.com/OJdJA5FYSY

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 16, 2017

fuck that david lammy clip is heartbreaking

fucking real passion there.

meanwhile this is exhilarating

Theresa May leaves St Clements Church as angry protests charge her car @5_News pic.twitter.com/KR32XfKz3t

— Rachel Lucas (@rachel5news) June 16, 2017

Just lost it when five year old Isaac Shawo's photo came on TV there.

reading his parents' account of losing him in the smoke yesterday nearly had me bawling in the office

KGM is actually quite angry about this (abt may not speaking rather than the fury of the pushing crowds)

― mark s, Friday, 16 June 2017 17:25 (thirty-four minutes ago) Permalink

There was a tweet from KGM on my TL saying something like "its 10.30am and already no govt minister is prepared to give an interview at C4 tonight"

Lack of accountability and disrepect - what does May think she is doing going down there and simply slipping inside a church? - is so ingrained at local level, its still something to see it at a time like this, for everybody to see.

jesus, the footage of that woman screaming murderer at theresa may on channel 4 news

appreciate these things are probably very difficult to do at pace but seems like it may have been a strategic (and moral!) error, among one of many, on behalf of govt not to rehouse those affected asap. one of the protestors at the kensington council was asked why they were there and she said she has nowhere else to go

not to mention what seems like a bungled response by the council which has led to a real authority vacuum within a very febrile environment

This appears to be @Conservatives councillor responsible for housing on Solihull council comparing #GrenfellTower community to a lynch mob pic.twitter.com/soDZ4vCN40

— Martin Belam (@MartinBelam) June 16, 2017

Also, almost every piece of live coverage I've seen of the demonstrators has shown them decrying the suppressed death toll reported. Not trying to reignite anything but maybe it is worth discussing after all, no?

A friend has pointed out that the weather in London is going to get hotter and hotter over the weekend, and that you might not bet against a riot.

the worst take... ever? https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-16/beware-of-blaming-government-for-london-tower-fire

Consider the speed at which many of you drove to work this morning. I’m sure you’re all splendid, careful drivers. Nonetheless, when a vehicle is being piloted at 50 or 60 miles an hour, the margin of error for avoiding an accident is pretty small. To drive a car even at 5 miles per hour is to accept a small risk of killing oneself and others. To drive at 50 miles per hour is to accept a much higher risk of doing so. It’s a calculation: risk versus reward.

jfc

she is resolutely the worst

that is a noisome and shameful piece of thinking

A friend has pointed out that the weather in London is going to get hotter and hotter over the weekend, and that you might not bet against a riot.

not that i wouldn't enjoy the sight of george osborne's windaes getting panned in but given the poor choices the government have been making in recent days i'd half-expect a disproportionate response from the authorities in return