Best Read of the Day - A merry-go-round of buck-passing': inside the four-year Grenfell inquiry

[SharonClark]

Powerful "long read" on the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire in London.

A crime had been committed. That was clear as dawn broke on the burning wreck of Grenfell Tower, in west London, on 14 June 2017. As the death toll climbed, the obvious questions arose: who was responsible? How did a council block in the UK’s richest borough, refurbished just a year earlier, come to be engulfed in flames that swept from its fourth to 24th floor in less than 30 minutes? Why did 72 people die?

“We need to have an explanation of this, we owe that to the families,” said prime minister Theresa May on 15 June 2017. She reached for an investigatory method beloved of governments keen to be seen to be doing something after devastating scandals, disasters and wars: the public inquiry.
. . .
More disturbing still was how familiar much of the evidence felt from our own working lives. When witnesses, presented with their own email trails, admitted that they “didn’t open the attachment” that contained some vital instruction or information, it was not a shock. This is business in the 21st century.

When the inquiry publishes its final report in 2023, it may find that the fire was a result of the way we work – deluged with unread emails, constantly overstretched, walled off from the consequences of our actions, barely understanding the whole system. This may ultimately be more chilling than a guilty verdict directed at a person or company. It would be an indictment of our whole economy.
. . .
Phase one: the night of the fire
. . .

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/14/a-merry-go-round-of-buck-passing-inside-the-four-year-grenfell-inquiry?utm_term=62ad9415932cf7240a0a555bb118a063&utm_campaign=TheLongRead&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=longread_email

[Samrob]

1. For those who travel to places where these panel have been installed in high rises that tourists use

please read. Is this stuff still in use in those countries? If so where? And does one go about finding out? My cousin is a travel agent who deals with high-end clients. He has started a search but any advice would help in identifying potential danger spots.

[Samrob]

2. One striking paragraph that should be noted.

As I watch pill-box vertical town homes being thrown up all around the DC metro area, I shudder when passing building projects that seem to have been completed in less that six months to 9 months. I could be wrong but I drive by places every day that seem to grow these town homes and even some single family detached homes in a few months. I see the raw frame work of shitty looking wood panels and in a few weeks there is the shitty looking thin insulation and before you know it there is a "Sold Out" sign at the entry to the development. Way over-priced too. That's why this paragraph struck me:


"There was David Cameron’s crusade against red tape, as if regulation exists only to impede business; a council that couldn’t decide if it was a housing provider or a property developer; and a wider mania for subcontracting that doesn’t so much devolve responsibility as evaporate it."

[bluecollar2]

3. A very good analysis of how disasters happen

One could apply the same analysis to the current state of American democracy.

The same factors that contributed to the Grenfell fire are present in American society and reflected in its governance.

As usual the Guardian nailed it.

Thanks for sharing.

Kick and rec!

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R