"The 1,000-page report includes fierce criticism of the London Fire Brigade and concludes fewer people would have died without its failings. A warning: this report contains images of the fire some people may find distressing."
--------------------------------------- [Response from Fire Brigades Union] "Before any firefighter arrived that night, Grenfell Tower was a death trap. Firefighters that night acted bravely in impossible circumstances, many of them repeatedly risking their own lives to save others. We welcome that this is reflected in the Inquiry’s report."
"Firefighters and control room staff are, as with any profession, only able to operate within their training and procedures. It is clear that no one had planned or prepared for an incident like Grenfell. The planning by fire service policy makers did not take account of a fire where compartmentation failed on such a scale..."
“It’s disgraceful that over two years since the fire and there has been no major review or assessment of the Stay Put policy. This could have been done within months of the fire and we have raised this with government ministers on numerous occasions. Concerns about stay put policy were raised with central government years before Grenfell, the government must stop dragging its heels and recognise the urgent need to act." Read more: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2019/10/30/fbu-response-grenfell-tower-inquiry-phase-one-report
"The company hired to test flammable cladding on government-built buildings – in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire – have been ‘gagged’ from criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May."
"Engineering firm WSP signed a UK government contract worth more than £100,000... carry out testing of cladding on buildings, 12 days after the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died. A prerequisite of the deal was WSP having to sign a gagging clause preventing the company from being able to create `adverse publicity` for or `embarrass` PM May and her Cabinet Office, the Times reports..."
"Former Housing Minister Barwell was accused of `sitting on` ... a review into building regulations at tower blocks after a deadly fire in south London in 2009 killed six people."
"The revelations have been met with a mixture of disbelief and outrage on social media from across the political spectrum. Labour MP David Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye died in the fire, said the gagging clause demonstrated `unforgivable cowardice` on the part of May. The Sun’s deputy political editor, Steve Hawkes, claimed it was an `awful look` for the UK government." https://www.rt.com/uk/443326-grenfell-cladding-gagging-may/
"The company hired to test flammable cladding on government-built buildings – in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire – have been ‘gagged’ from criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May." "Engineering firm WSP signed a UK government contract worth more than £100,000 (US$131,500) to carry out testing of cladding on buildings, 12 days after the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died. A prerequisite of the deal was WSP having to sign a gagging clause preventing the company from being able to create `adverse publicity` for or `embarrass` PM May and her Cabinet Office, the Times reports..."
"Former Housing Minister Barwell was accused of `sitting on` ... a review into building regulations at tower blocks after a deadly fire in south London in 2009 killed six people."
"The revelations have been met with a mixture of disbelief and outrage on social media from across the political spectrum. Labour MP David Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye died in the fire, said the gagging clause demonstrated `unforgivable cowardice`on the part of May. The Sun’s deputy political editor, Steve Hawkes, claimed it was an `awful look` for the UK government." https://www.rt.com/uk/443326-grenfell-cladding-gagging-may/
"Government promises to help local authorities with essential fire safety works lie in shatters after it refused to pay for sprinklers in tower blocks." "Communities secretary Sajid Javid has refused to commit funding to retro-fit sprinklers to tower blocks, saying that the government will instead await the outcome of a review of fire safety in housing before deciding whether sprinklers should be required by law and paid for by the Government." "But according to Labour MP Dan Carden now is not the time for another review - `we need commitments` to ensure a tragedy such as Grenfell doesn`t repeat itself." https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/governments-grenfell-fire-promises-lie-shatters-refuse-pay-sprinklers-tower-blocks/01/11/
"Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Prime Minister of `failing` Grenfell Tower survivors, most of whom remain homeless six months on from the blaze." "Labour rounded on the Government for the slow progress in rehousing displaced families despite early pledges to have everyone out of hotels within three weeks." "In a letter to Theresa May, shadow housing minister John Healey sets out five areas where he claims Grenfell survivors and tower residents more widely continue to be let down." "He backed calls made in a petition for the Grenfell Tower public inquiry to be overseen by a diverse panel of experts, rather than just one judge." "Safety concerns in other high-rise blocks were still not being properly addressed, he said, after a nationwide audit found hundreds wrapped in flammable cladding." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-fire-victims-jeremy-corbyn-john-healey-a8102711.html
"The devastating fire which took place in the early hours of 14 June 2017 at Grenfell Tower in West London is a national tragedy. The Home Office will not use this as a reason to carry out immigration checks on those receiving support or providing vital information to identify victims or otherwise assist the authorities investigating the fire." "However, we recognise that not all those directly affected may be in the UK lawfully and some may be concerned about their immigration status. Some may have valid leave which is about to expire in circumstances where there is no current basis under the Immigration Rules for it to be extended, or may have conditions attached to their existing leave that might hinder their access to the support they need." "This policy covers leave granted outside the Immigration Rules to individuals directly affected by this tragedy. The leave granted will be temporary (for 12 months) and granted on an exceptional basis to allow those directly affected by the fire ... time to deal with the immediate aftermath of these terrible events, and to consider their future options. This is intended as a time-limited policy and any further leave sought on the expiry of leave granted under the policy will be considered in accordance with the Immigration Rules in force at the time." Policy intention "The policy allows those who have been directly affected by the fire to be granted a temporary period of lawful residence in the UK, or if they have valid leave, to have the no recourse to public funds condition lifted where the leave is currently subject to this, or if their existing leave to remain is due to expire within 12 months of the publication of this policy with no opportunity to extend that leave to switch to 12 months’ leave under this exceptional policy. This will give them a firm legal footing to ensure they can access ongoing support, including social assistance, local authority housing support or any welfare benefits they may be eligible for." "The Government has already stated publicly that the Home Office will not use the tragedy as a reason to carry out immigration checks on those involved, and that all victims, irrespective of their immigration status, will be able to access the services they need. Public authorities (including local authorities and the NHS) are assisting those directly affected by the fire notwithstanding their immigration status. The Secretary of State has the power to grant leave on a discretionary basis outside the Immigration Rules under the Immigration Act 1971. Unless extended, this policy will remain in place until 31 August 2017."
Liberty comments: `At best this is compassion lite with a question mark over residents' futures - at worst a trap to pull people into the immigration system`.
"If they are found `intentionally homeless` then the Council can remove them from its homelessness statistics, and no longer has a responsibility to house them beyond 28 days in a B&B. Shelter and other charities have seen that the numbers found `intentionally homeless` have increased considerably since central government instructed Councils to `reduce homelessness`."
"Meanwhile the impact on families and children are devastating. The children in particular face isolation, social exclusion and bullying; they may also miss months of schooling." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_XBgGEZwpk
The BBC tells an MP: "Your job is to protect the Government."
"In an interview with Emma Dent Coad, MP for Kensington and Chelsea, BBC presenter Nick Robinson argues that Dent Coad should be representing the chairman of the public inquiry into Grenfell Tower to her constituents, rather than representing her constituents' views to the chairman and the government."
Mike Robinson, Brian Gerrish and David Scott discuss.
"Something we`ve been talking about quite a lot over the last 18 months is privatisation; and particularly, as George Osborne described it, the biggest privatisation for decades, of course, is to do with the sell off of government held property and so on."
"And we`ve mentioned this organisation before... Now, `One Public Estate` is the combination of the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association. And the idea is to merge multiple agencies. You can see on screen there they have run 350 projects across 250 councils: health, social care, fire, ambulance, Ministry of Defence, and so it goes on. They are pushing all these people into shared office space and therefore merging their functions to some degree."
"So they`ve now launched a £54 million package to, as they describe it, transform local communities and release land for thousands of new homes. This package comes as part of the new cross government partnership to make smarter use of governmental property and so part of this is a £45 million land release fund which is launched in partnership with the Cabinet Office and Local Government Association`s `One Public Estate` programme. And that`s going to ensure that local councils release some of their unused or surplus land for housing and that will help meet the ambition to unlock enough council land for at least 160,000 homes." "Well that may well be the case. Who`s going to build those homes? Is it going to be Taylor Wimpey ? Are you going to buy a home from them that ends up with a leasehold where they have resold the underlying freehold to somebody else. And you find your ground rent, as a result of the lease, doubling every year for twenty years ? " "So councils, apparently, can now bid for land remediation and small scale infrastructure which will [it is hoped] bring sites forward for housing which would not otherwise have been developed. So this is fantastic but at the heart of this Brian is the issue ... that they are pushing as hard as they can to bring these agencies... together. And that is a complete destruction of the separation of powers, and extremely dangerous." "Extremely dangerous. Note again Mike that this very serious issue is put across in a cartoon style video. So I believe this is always done because you`re supposed to believe that because this is cartoony, you can relax and have a little bit of a chuckle about it. There`s nothing really serious there. So the presentation of this is very devious, very deceptive. And of course, the locking together of all these agencies with the loss of the separation of powers as you`ve just said is also coming with the fact that we have the government`s own `Behavioural Insights Team` boasting that it can use applied psychology to simply change the way people think within any or all of those integrated units." "So this is the hive that is being built here very quickly. Immensely dangerous. And many people still unaware of where this really goes. And the other thing I think I should comment on is that we are getting more and more reports of fraud and corruption across the country followed up by very aggressive attitudes by local authorities and the police when you try and expose it. If you integrate all these authorities, that corruption is going to spread even faster; and, of course, there`s no separation of powers to take the lid off it when you discover it and try and do something about it." =====================
"These two men are telling us clearly that the aim is destruction of the public services as we know [them]. And I think we now have to put on top of that: `Yesterday the Tory/Labour/LibDem ministers - it doesn`t matter what they do, including criminal acts - they`re immune from prosecution." "This is sort of East Germany being drifted in under a modern day veneer of liberalism and Common Purpose." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9kPSdDrPhM
"So Patrick," says Mike Robinson, "As we were walking around on the way to the [Grenfell] tower we see lots of graffiti on the streets. And you took this image which I thought was the ultimate irony."
Considerate constructors secure everyone`s safety is on a billboard in the shadow of the burnt out Grenfell tower with pictures of the dead from the tower arranged underneath. Patrick Henningsen agrees that "You could not get a more ironic photograph than that." Mike Robinson continues: "A number of people told us while we were there that the pictures of the missing are already starting to be removed." "They`re everywhere. From Notting Hill, Portobello area, if you walk towards Latimer Road about a mile and a half, you`ll see these images everywhere. On lamp posts and clustered around under west way near Latimer station especially. And these are memorials more than anything. I think it`s symbolic. I think there`s a kind of cathartic experience for residents... I do think it helps people to remember [those] they`ve lost, friends, family members, in some cases. So I think it is very important and I think it should be up to the residents whether these types of memorials should be removed, and not the council. I think that`s very important but I have a sneaky suspicion it will be the authorities who will want to determine that, rather than the people who actually live in that community."
Mike Robinson: "Well yesterday the BBC published this. Now this is one of their reality check articles. And so they`ve waded into the discussion of what has happened to the donations given by the public following the Grenfell disaster. As I say this is one of the reality check articles which if you remember is the BBC`s so called anti-fake news fact checking service. And so I`m just going to run through a couple of things they say in this because they`ve done the reality check and we`ve got to assume - it`s the BBC - the facts are correct." "The numbers don`t add up Brian and Pat." "`Survivors and relatives of those who died in the fire in Grenfell tower last month have so far received only a small fraction of the cash and items donated by members of the public. It was two days after the Grenfell tower fire that mountains of donations sat in car parks and basketball courts and by the side of the road. The now infamous and black high-rise block loomed nearby. From clothes to baby milk, bedding to bottled water, the huge quantity of donations was the enduring positive image in a week of tragedy which shook the country in so many ways`. And they say that a total of more than 170 tonnes of items were donated. Some of those donations through the Red Cross have now been moved to a warehouse in Cheshire, Patrick. ...So this apparently is the Red Cross`s northern sorting office which they say is for the Grenfell appeal. The article says that so far one hundred giant cardboard containers full of donations have been moved there. An estimated 174 tonnes of items were donated. Ten tonnes have, or soon will be, made available to the former residents of Grenfell tower."
Another photograph taken by Patrick Henningsen is shown displaying inside the council support centre. "Would you say ten tonnes of items are being made available to former residents?" "No no, it`s kind of a skeleton operation inside the centre... This is run by all the various authorities. When you walk in, it has the atmosphere of a trade show. When you walk in, the first thing you see on the left, the Red Cross have a stand there complete with the pop up banners and a table; and gentlemen and ladies with the lanyards around their necks and branded uniforms and so forth. So you move on to the NHS mental health table for the... mental health literature..." "What struck me when you walk in the centre, ...there`s a few people in there, maybe a few victims or a few residents, but on the whole it`s empty. Key workers ... or volunteers, or whatever they are, outnumber the actual residents there by, I don`t know, a huge ratio. I don`t know what aid that centre is actually delivering to people on the ground. I would suspect it`s minimal compared to the actual scale of what`s out there. You have to remember we`re talking about not just the people in Grenfell tower who have survived but hundreds, possibly thousands of residents, who have also been affected directly by this event." "Absolutely," agrees Mike Robinson. "So let`s get back to the BBC article. They say ten tonnes have or soon will be made available. They say 62 tonnes of donations are being sold in British Red Cross shops. So we`ve now got official confirmation from BBC reality check that that`s what`s going on. The proceeds are going apparently to the Grenfell fund. Fifteen tonnes are being sold to textile recycling companies; 87 tonnes are still to be sorted. Now that`s according to the Red Cross. On top of that there have been cash donations of £20million, £5.5million has come through the London Community Foundation/Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund; £5.1million through the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation, £4.7million through the Red Cross; £4million which were individual appeals through various crowdfunding sites, £500,000 from four Muslim charities. So the total collected is £20million." "And the total given out so far, Patrick, £800,000 and that is £215,000 to Grenfell Muslim Response, £220,000 to the Local Community Foundation, £180,000 to the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation, £158,000 by the London Emergency Trust. The money has got to be the biggest problem we have here because we have already heard residents describing how some people were getting money; other people weren`t. Perhaps this is going to be used as a mechanism for breaking up the solidarity there is within that community." "That is already happening... There are two reasons why the money wouldn`t get distributed evenly. One is the bureaucracy is inefficient and unable to do that... So you have £20million raised and instead of going directly to the residents and those affected it`s being channelled through other charities. So another layer of bureaucracy with yet more administrative costs... £800,000 - if you divide that up amongst the number of survivors we`re told from Grenfell tower that might be approximately £36,000 per head and if we go and speak to all these 200 and odd people... from the tower how many of them have received the £36,000 per head?... I would say very few if any have received that. So what are we looking at here? The charity boondoggle which exists in the 21st century which is a massive industry on its own." "And while the official response is pretty lacklustre the community response is as good as it could possibly be..." Police Operation "And in the meantime the police operation to recover human remains continues; the police saying that officers are moving one flat at a time through the building, on their hands and knees using small trowels and shovels, removing debris and seiving the debris through a mesh 6mm in size. This they say is so that they can pick up any identifiable parts of a human body. All debris is being packaged and labelled and then they move on to the next flat."
"The speed of their operation they say is determined by the fact that they have to pay attention to weather conditions, that they have to go up and down twenty three flights of stairs and what you`re seeing on screen at the moment is a still from a video that the Metropolitan police released where in this shot you see two Met police guys in hazmat suits and breathing apparatus and the guy on the right there - and I really thought this was despicable under the circumstances - he `s standing there breathing heavily and pretending to be out of breath. Now I`m not going to underestimate the effort it takes to move up and down that building. What they`re saying is they have to work in three hour shifts and if it gets too hot and they`re getting dehydrated they`ve got to work in shorter shifts and therefore they`re travelling up and down the stairs a lot. But to my mind, bearing in mind the human tragedy in this whole thing, for them to make a big deal of the fact that they have to walk up and down these stairs - these are supposed to be fit police officers - I thought that was pretty despicable. But they`re using this as an excuse to apologise for the length of time it`s taking to get through this job. As far as I`m concerned, Brian, if you want to do your job in less time, get more people on it." Brian Gerrish: "Well it is interesting Mike. What I pick up from that is, of course, both these men are wearing professional respirators. So they are filtering the air. We know that there`s been an asbestos risk which I think you`re going to mention.... So at the end of the day those fibres are going to be on the suits they`re wearing themselves. You don`t want it on your skin. There`s something rather odd about this. And the other thing is - no windows. So the moment you get up ... a few storeys there`s going to be quite a breeze blowing through that building." "That is a very good point and let`s just come on to the air quality then because the government is saying the air quality in the local area is absolutely fine. No problems with it. But as you just said there`s no windows in the building and therefore there is nothing to prevent debris being ejected out of the building by the breeze. "
"So the government has produced its air quality document and statistics and here`s the front page of it showing where they have the various air quality monitoing stations of various types. And Environmental monitoring following the Grenfell Tower fire data update. And Patrick no surprise that what they`re saying is that everything`s green; everything`s fine. No problems. And if we look at the asbestos monitoring no asbestos detected on the streets at all. I find this fairly unlikely." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-qDxde6f58
"The number of homeless children being housed in temporary accommodation rose by more than a third in the last three years, according to official figures." "Councils in England were now providing temporary housing for 120,540 children with their families, the Local Government Association said." "It said the growth rate - of about 900 extra children every month - was unsustainable." "The government said the figures were a worry but still below the peak of 2006." "Based on the latest figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government, covering January to March 2017, there was a net increase of 32,650 (37%) since the second quarter of 2014 - an average of 906 extra children every month." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40685901
Glasgow superhospital Health chiefs have moved to reassure the public after insulation used in Grenfell Tower was found at Glasgow's superhospital. Kingspan Kooltherm K15 insulation boards were fitted at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital complex in Govan. The same material was discovered in the Grenfell block by Channel 4 News this week... The main contractor for the construction of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital has provided assurances the boards were properly installed and met strict safety standards. A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is one of the safest buildings in the UK in terms of fire engineering. "Multiplex, the main contractor for the hospital construction, have assured NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that the Kingspan Kooltherm K15 insulation boards were properly installed to meet Scotland's stringent building and fire safety regulations.
https://stv.tv/news/west-central/1393344-glasgow-hospital-with-grenfell-material-one-of-safest/ Edinburgh Napier University "A physical inspection identified that around a quarter of the exterior walls on one of our buildings - Bainfield Halls of residence - featured the same cladding reportedly used at Grenfell. "The insulation materials behind the Bainfield cladding panels are non-combustible, the panel hangings are all made of metal, the wall cavities are properly fire-stopped and the buildings are fitted with sprinklers." "There are also a range of other fire-safety measures in place, including each block having its own exit route, a modern fire alarm and smoke detection system that is tested weekly, and 24-hour on-site security." He continued: "Work has already begun to remove and replace the cladding as a precautionary measure, and we are working closely with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to ensure it is safe to continue to use the building as normal." "Residents are not being evacuated..."
"Local councillor Gavin Corbett said residents would be shocked at the discovery." He said: "Almost as soon as the Grenfell tragedy happened I had local queries about the cladding used on the buildings at Bainfield. But this news will come as a great shock to the students in Bainfield and the wider community." "It's obviously vital that the cladding is replaced urgently and that all fire safety and prevention steps are taken in the meantime." https://stv.tv/news/east-central/1392238-cladding-used-on-grenfell-tower-found-on-student-halls/
"A type of cladding said to have been used on Grenfell Tower has been found on a small number of low-rise schools in 14 Scottish council areas." "Checks are currently being carried out to ensure that the type of aluminium composite material has been fitted in accordance with building regulations." "No Scottish local authority-owned school buildings above 18 metres have ACM cladding." "The findings emerged during a meeting of a Ministerial Working Group." "It was convened to examine building and fire safety regulatory frameworks following the Grenfell Tower fire in London last month in which at least 80 people are believed to have died. The group met for the third time on Thursday." "Under Scottish building regulations, the type of ACM reported to have been used on Grenfell should not be used in cladding on high-rise domestic properties, but can be used `appropriately` on other buildings." "In each case, the cladding systems must meet the relevant technical requirements." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-40604422
"Residents are demanding that the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire increases its scope to include the regeneration programme ," Mike Robinson informs viewers on UK Column News on Friday 14 July 2017... Mike asks Brian Gerrish for his thoughts on whether the inquiry should increase its scope. "Well I would say it should ... Mike, because the experience of a lot of people here in Plymouth and other cities across the UK has been that where these government created regeneration programmes have been put in place we have seen a ... transformation in the way that local authorities behave. They`ve become very aggressive... So we`ve had reports and dialogue with members of the community across the country: Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow, London. Anywhere these major regeneration programmes have been put in place there`s been a step change in the behaviour of local authorities and inevitably they`ve become very domineering ... and the party politics, the vision for the future, is the primary goal; people`s real interest, second place." "So we are keen to understand why residents` concerns have been systematically ignored, as they describe it.... just to reinforce that, something we`ve seen right across the country..." "It`s right across the country and it doesn`t matter what the subject is - the subject could be safety on the streets - it could be the crime rate - whatever it is that local people are genuinely experiencing and concerned about, they are not going to have a proper dialogue with the local authorities because the local authorities have been changed into political fiefdoms."
Mike takes up the discussion again: "Well the Mirror here...: Scandal of the flats standing empty as Grenfell Tower families live in hotels. And this is 159 social housing flats which have been identified in the Kensington and Chelsea area and the council says `We are continuing to make good progress on rehousing during a complicated process involving severely traumatised people`. So far 167 first offers have been made, 25 offers have been accepted, 8 households have been rehoused. That`s 8 households so far have been rehoused. But the point here is that there`s 159 empty flats from the Sutton estate but of course these flats are boarded up. They`re derelict at the moment. There`s no sign of those being refurbished at this stage. The housing association is called Clarion - it was originally called Affinity Sutton - and they have offered a number of flats on another part of the estate but they`re saying the tenants would have to carry out repairs at their own cost. So residents are saying they`re shocked and appalled that this is going on." "Well Mike this is one of the key areas and of course this is a con carried out by the government. But when they started to get rid of council houses - council houses had a mixed reputation across the country. Some of them were built to quite good standard; some of them were very poor indeed; but the key thing about a council house is that once people have been on the list and they`ve secured the council house it was theirs for life. It stayed in the family. If there were children they might end up living with mum and dad; they might end up with grandma and grandad living with the family. Then what the government did: `No no. We`ve got to improve these things; we`ll give you an updated kitchen or an updated bathroom.` There was a bribe element to this and these updates were then used to bring in the housing associations and what the housing associations were was a `for profit system`. They say they`re not `for profit` but they are in fact a `for profit system` and with the housing associations came the removal of secure accommodation for life. So as the housing associations have come in: who are they accountable to? It`s not really clear because invariably they have the local council on their board but they`re private organisations with a public sector input. It`s very confusing but these housing associations have become increasingly dictatorial in telling residents what they can and cannot do if they are to remain living in one of their properties."
Mike refers to an article in GetWestLondon: "West London colleges merger plan will benefit students and staff. So regeneration at the heart of all this... Now this is interesting because it involves Wornington College which is part of Kensington & Chelsea College. So Ealing Hammersmith and West London College and Kensington & Chelsea College are going to merge. They say this is a move that is going to benefit everybody. Now Ealing Hammersmith and West London College has four sites and Kensington and Chelsea College has two sites and as I say one of those is Wornington College. Now this article in GetWestLondon makes a statement that under the move both colleges will retain their existing sites and names and this is very confusing, Brian, because Kensington and Chelsea council right at the time that people are obviously upset about what is going on with Grenfell have decided that it`s time to knock down Wornington College... and to regenerate it." "So what they did without so much as a by-your-leave, without asking anybody for their opinions in April last year, they bought the building for regeneration. They`re going to turn it into flats apparently. But they say they`re still going to accommodate the college but this college is something that local people rely on absolutely. It`s something that helps people - anything from learning English as a foreign language to getting people up to a standard to enter degree level courses around the country. So the local community appreciates this and they are concerned at the moment that this college is going to disappear as a result of this deal. They don`t really understand why the deal`s happened and there is a campaign group if anybody`s interested. It`s called the Save Wornington College campaign. You`ll find it on Facebook. Do go and have a look. But the key point here is, you know, a community that is already suffering the effects of regeneration continues to suffer and, of course, some people might take the view `Well hold on, they`re wanting to knock down the old building and replace it with a new building. Why would you complain about that?` Well for the same reason that when they knock down many of these social housing buildings and replace them, they replace them with fewer homes than were there originally." "And they`re too expensive for local people to afford." "Exactly. So people are extremely sceptical about whether this is going to turn out as promised." "Well I`ll just add to that Mike that I believe what is going on here is Big Society at work. Big Society, which is never mentioned in the mainstream press and media at the moment, it is definitely there. It is being built and of course in Big Society the state is to control everything. It`s to control industry; it`s to control housing, education and of course we can see that the NHS is being privatised at the moment. It`s very nearly there and so we`ve seen the destruction of local communities across the board, whether they are community centres, or homes for the elderly, they go. Local libraries are going; local education facilities are going; and what`s invariably replacing them is always something that is bigger and shinier but if you look at what the control is, it`s really based on... profit." "Interesting that you mentioned the library because Kensington and Chelsea have decided to close the library in the area and install a private school into that building." "Libraries are being decimated across the country. Many people say that ... of course , if we end up with a system of knowledge based on the internet and electronic forms that information can be changed overnight." "Well let`s bring David Scott in at this point because, David, Grenfell Tower insulation was not certified for use with flammable cladding, according to the Guardian. The mainstream media continuing to flail around on this issue." "Yes, and it`s very striking ... some of this we covered on 15 June 2017 and we`ve covered in articles since and now cropping up belatedly in papers like the Guardian and on the BBC. "
"The stated purpose of fitting sprinklers was to `help prevent the devastating impact that a fire can have in a school [which is] longstanding`..." "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 [sprinklers].`" https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-55a3-Tories-dont-care-if-schoolkids-burn-to-death#.WWBsrOmWwj6
[Tam McFarlane, Fire Brigades Union] "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... " "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." https://www.fbu.org.uk/blog/government%E2%80%99s-ruthless-decision-school-sprinklers-huge-mistake#.WUTZ0pykMYA.twitter
(14 June 2017 UK Column News) "There`s been lots of commentary in the press about what has caused the scale of the fire - we don`t know how the fire began. But clearly the cladding on the outside of the building had something to do with it and that`s shown in that image there with the fire climbing up the outside of the building." Mike Robinson elaborates: "There were many many warnings that these buildings were hazardous with regard to fire safety... There was a pressure group established to deal with this issue ... but the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management organisation [TMO] didn`t seem to take any heed of the warnings. " "Sadiq Kahn, the Mayor of London, had this to say: `There will be a great many questions over the coming days... I want to reassure Londoners that we will get the answers.` Do you believe him? " "Not at all," answers Brian Gerrish. "I think as usual there`ll be a big cover-up because, of course, the failure to provide the proper fire detection and suppression equipment is all part of cost cutting and that is what we`ve seen year after year... So everything is based on cutting costs and cutting corners and ultimately as we`re seeing here that puts people`s lives at risk." Mike Robinson goes on: "So the organisation that manages this building was Kensington and Chelsea TMO..." And he continues: "I think it was 2011 or so that we did a documentary on this organisation..." "But one of the points that was made in that documentary was that originally the TMO had been a tenants management organisation - it was a tenants grouping to help manage the properties. But the name was changed once that was privatised to become `Tenant Management Organisation` ... They`re managing the tenants in a particular way. " Brian Gerrish: "Well, this is all part of the model Mike. We could have a long discussion about this but people are saying from across the country that they`ve been forced out of their council houses in many situations. Of course... the advantage of the council house was once a family had it they had that dwelling for life. They had security of tenure. And then what happened usually with the scam that `We`re going to upgrade your property but if you want the upgrade you`ve got to accept the fact that it will no longer be a council house, it will belong to a housing association." "Which is a private organisation," interjects Mike Robinson. "Private? Well, quasi-private, Mike, because usually it`s a private company with input from the local authority. What people discovered was all sorts of rules, regulations. `You can do this. You can`t do that.` And if you do something that upsets the housing association then they`re issuing warnings, some of them particularly unpleasant ... that you can be thrown out of your accommodation." "So this is all on the back of austerity. This is all part of the general dismantling of everything to do with what`s good in the public sector, in my opinion." ===================== 15 June 2017
UK Column takes viewers back several years to the New Deal for Communities Initiative which was a policy of New Labour 1999-2008.
"This is from the final report on the success of the New Deal for Communities. But of course there were lots and lots of problems and many people saying it was a new brutal socio-economic initiative brought in by New Labour and I can say Mike that certainly in the Plymouth South West area the BBC absolutely refused to report all of the dangers: the building, the fraud and corruption, that came in on the back of this programme..."
Viewers are reminded that the programme was designed to achieve six key objectives:
"transform ... 39 areas over 10 years by achieving holistic change in relation to three place-related outcomes: crime, community, and housing and the physical environment (HPE), and three people-related outcomes: education, health, and worklessness."
Look at the language... This is a heavily politicised programme. It`s nothing to do with improving people`s lives..."
"Now I`ve just picked one man here, I`m not saying this man is at fault. What I`m highlighting is that when you get into the New Deal, what do you find? You find universities and this man is of course also involved with the Tavistock Institute. So we`re into deep applied psychology and social engineering. Let`s see how this thing works. So bring in the New Deal programme, all about regenerating 39 partnerships and 6,900 projects. They`re supposedly looking at crime, community housing and the physical environment, education, health and worklessness - very interesting word - because that was the first time I ever saw that rather strange word and that was in documentation appearing here in Plymouth."
Mike Robinson: "And how`s that different from unemployment?"
"Well this is newspeak. This is transformational newspeak. So the key bit is it all works in partnerships and what this does is to break down separation of powers, responsibility and accountability. And this is the very meat that we`re seeing in this terrible fire accident, that we`ve got the local authority linked into a private company which has taken over that association. This is a deliberate mess where all of these organisations will work to cover each other`s backs because they`re all culpable within the partnership."
"So everything is there on that diagram for you. We had enormous experience of this in Plymouth including the fraud and corruption and the missing money..." But the other thing that came in with it was Common Purpose...
"Big problems splurge across boundaries," says Julia Middleton whose Common Purpose leaders continue to network across the silos."
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"And this is just amazing," says Brian Gerrish. "This is Devonport Column, the start of UK Column ... and what we were warning about was a very brutal agenda in Devonport in Plymouth where local people that had worked in their community for a long time were bulldozed out of the way by these regeneration organisations. And when people complained the police were brought in to guard meetings. [2006]
"... We got every part of this jigsaw because Plymouth City Council was short of money and had spent £100,000 on Common Purpose training. It`s all here."
In order to understand where the likes of gentrification and common purpose comes from Gerrish advises people to look at the work of Peter Drucker. Communitarians, like Peter Drucker, believe that "attaining a healthy society involves the successful merger of the three sectors of society - government, private and social sectors (including the churches). This merger is known also as `Drucker`s `3-legged stool` named after its main proponent, Peter Drucker, who is considered to be the father of modern management. Drucker believed that the only way to persuade the world to accept change is to engage all three sectors of society, working together to effect change`. In Drucker`s model the church becomes interconnected with the state and corporate interests - in reality becoming subservient to these interests."
"In the United States one of the main organisations manipulating the Churches into this Communitarian partnership is the Leadership Network. Where does that take us? You`ve been talking about that for weeks Mike. This is the rise of the so-called City States. And they are going to be the new environment that we live in."
Patrick Henningsen joins the conversation: "I just wanted to say that the Mayor of City of London demanded a full and independent inquiry and breaking news: Theresa May just confirmed a few minutes ago that there will be a full and independent inquiry into the Grenfell Tower inferno..."
Brian Gerrish: "Patrick I`ll just interject there if I may and say my prediction today is: `that will be an absolute cover-up` because if you look at the way this new city structure works - because these people are all working in partnership - they are all going to defend each other. If any one of them goes down from the local authority or the housing association, any one of them goes down, they`re going to take the rest of them down with them. So you will see very clever calculated cover-ups to produce a report that will say `Well we did make some mistakes. We`ll do better in the future. A few people died but let`s move on.` I guarantee that`s how they will try and drive it."
David Scott: "And the terms of reference of this inquiry will be quite narrow. They won`t look at the changes in local government. They won`t look at funding..."
"Of course. And yet that socio and economic political agenda is the agenda that has actually driven this state of affairs."
"And I`m going to stress that when you ... bring in Common Purpose this is ... where local authorities treat local people as if they are dirt. And clearly in this case ordinary people from that tower block warning and warning and warning that something was wrong. What happens? Not only are they dismissed but the local council spends taxpayers` money on legal teams to try and shut them up. The same thing happened in Plymouth. And I can say that the same ruthless agenda was unleashed in all the cities that undertook the new deal for the community agenda, whether it was up in Glasgow or it was Liverpool, Sheffield - wherever that agenda came in - with it came a very very aggressive change in the way that local authorities and people in the public sector treated the ordinary man and woman in the street..."
Mike Robinson: "Yes, because the term that`s quite often used for this process is gentrification which sounds soft and cuddly but it`s nothing of the kind."
Brian Gerrish: "Nothing of the kind. And of course one of the things that has happened on the back of the regeneration is the private companies have made millions because as ordinary people have been displaced from their homes - they might have been slightly run down homes - but the local councils have displaced local people, brought in the gentrification but that has also allowed housing and regeneration companies to make millions on the back of suffering of ordinary people. This is a very dangerous, serious agenda and the thing to remember is this is not only from Labour, it has been continued via the Conservatives and the LibDem alliance. So this is a cross party agenda. It needs to be stopped."
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Also brought out by UK Column was that problems with cladding have been known about for years.
See the BBC production Inquiry. The Great British Housing Disaster (Adam Curtis, 1984)
"A recently retired court of appeal judge who specialised in commercial law has been appointed to head the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower. Sir Martin Moore-Bick, 70, only left the bench last December..." "The former senior judge has in the past been praised by the justice minister, Dominic Raab, for applying `long-awaited common sense` to limit human rights law in a case where he deported a foreign-born criminal whose young children lived in Britain. But Moore-Bick, who is widely respected within the legal profession, will have to gain the confidence of the north Kensington community where the tragedy occurred." "In one 2014 case, Moore-Bick said Westminster council could rehouse Titina Nzolameso, a single mother with five children, more than 50 miles away in Milton Keynes. He ruled that it was not necessary for Westminster to explain in detail what other accommodation was available and that it could take `a broad range of factors` into account, including the pressures on the council, in deciding what housing was available." "In April 2015, the supreme court reversed his ruling, pointing out that the council had not asked `any questions aimed at assessing how practicable it would be for the family to move out of the area.`" https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/28/grenfell-tower-inquiry-judge-retired-martin-moore-bick
Meanwhile the number of dead has crept up to at least 80:
"A six-month-old baby was found dead in her mother’s arms after the Grenfell Tower disaster, in which at least 80 people died or are missing presumed dead, an inquest has heard."
"Leena Belkadi’s body was found in a stairwell between the 19th and 20th floors of the 24-storey high-rise block, Westminster coroner’s court was told."
"The coroner’s officer, Eric Sword, said she was `found in her mother’s arms`. Leena’s sister, Malak, aged eight, who was recovered from the 20th floor, where the family lived, and taken to St Mary’s hospital, also later died. The cause of death for both sisters was given as inhalation of fire fumes."
Coroner Wilcox is reported in the Guardian as describing the "complexity of identifying victims as inquests open and scepticism about the official death toll grows."
"`Paulos, one of the youngest of the victims so far, lived with his family on the 18th floor and was found on the 13th floor`, Wilcox said. He was identified by dental records and his preliminary cause of death was given as inhalation of fire fumes." "The hearing came as the estimated death toll remained at 79, a number authorities have consistently said is likely to rise." https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/26/grenfell-tower-victim-isaac-paulos-five-choked-to-death-on-fire-fumes
"Let`s have a look at what local residents have been saying to the UK Column. [19 June 2017] They say that more than 50 children are dead. They say that local schools are actually closed and this makes it very difficult for parents and the community to actually find out what has happened with children, or numbers of children, who may have died. Local people are saying that they believe the total death toll is now over 300. And they believe that many if not most of those who have died are in fact Muslims."
"The authorities are still not admitting or clarifying the scale of the disaster and on Sunday 18 June 2017 hundreds were on the streets locally, many dressed in their Sunday best in respect, but there was no media reporting..."
23 June 2017 "Today residents of Grenfell Tower were given eviction notices by the local council to vacate their temporary accommodation in Kensington, in a move described as ‘barbaric’ by Radical Housing Network." "Residents of Grenfell Tower who had been staying at the Holiday Inn, Kensington, were told today that they were to be separated and moved by 4pm to other temporary hotel accommodation across London, in places such as in Heathrow, Lambeth, Southwark and north London. Following intervention by legal observers, most of the residents have been moved together to a hotel in Westminster." "Pilgrim Tucker, a community organiser working with the Grenfell Action Group and liaising with residents at the hotel, said:" "It’s beyond disgusting that after all these people have been through – losing their neighbours and watching their homes burn to the ground – authorities are prepared to tell them that they have hours to pick up their bags and move to some unknown destination, separated from their friends and neighbours. It makes you wonder if anything’s been learned from the Grenfell catastrophe." ======================= "Commenting on the Metropolitan Police statement on the Grenfell Tower investigation, a spokesperson for the Radical Housing Network said:" "From the council’s estate management organisation failing to respond to repeated resident complaints, to the reported delaying of a fire safety review by government ministers, it’s clear that a culture of negligence existed at all levels. Those responsible must be held to account. In particular, Kensington & Chelsea council leader Nick Paget-Brown must answer questions on what appear to be multiple failings by his local authority and its privately contracted service providers." "http://radicalhousingnetwork.org/
The relationships and networking going on between councils, charities, central government and the private sector is quite astonishing as the hasty retreat of Sir Derek Myers from Shelter exemplifies:
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"Two board members of the housing charity Shelter, including its chairman Sir Derek Myers, have resigned amid reports of internal disquiet over the organisation’s allegedly muted response to the Grenfell Tower fire." "Myers is a former chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea council, which owns Grenfell Tower, while trustee Tony Rice is chairman of Xerxes Equity, the sole shareholder in Omnis Exteriors – the company that sold the cladding used in the tower." "On Friday afternoon, Shelter confirmed the pair had resigned from the board but offered no reasons for their departure..." "Asked subsequently to explain the joint resignations, a Shelter spokesperson said: "The trustees decided to step away from their roles in the interests of the charity. They would not want there to be any unnecessary distraction from the work we are doing to help people affected by the Grenfell fire..." "Myers is a qualified social worker and respected former local government manager who jointly ran Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham councils between 2011 and 2013. Until recently he led the government intervention team running Rotherham council in the wake of the child abuse scandal." https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/23/two-shelter-board-members-derek-myers-tony-rice-quit-after-grenfell-tower-fire
Sir Derek Myers speaks on behalf of the Service Transformation Challenge Panel -- very new world order -- which is transforming public service delivery. "In most of the places we found some form of transformation happening," he said. When asked what were the panel`s key recommendations on transformation he added: "Well we do think that this emphasis on being thoughtful about those people who`ve got complexities - or sometimes called high demand, those households who one way or another take a slightly larger slice of the public sector pie than others - we think those are the people who both deserve a joined up approach but also it`s in everybody`s interest that we move those households to a position where they are less demanding, more independent, more self-sufficient and so on." "So we think however you analyse this you come back to: Where are we spending the money and how can we spend that money more smartly?"
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No thought that spending more smartly can cost lives.
Not only that but anybody who watched UK Column on Friday 23 June 2017 will have heard Brian Gerrish talking about the millions of pounds that councils across the country have been stashing away under the radar. So where is this piece of the public sector pie going when it is not providing much needed services? See also http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2015/02/myers-appointed-lead-commissioner-rotherham
