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A big fire in a tower block in Latimer Road just been reported on 5live.Eyewitness says there are people trapped on the upper floors. I hope everyone gets out safely.
I've been following the tragic storey of Charlie Gard and the suffering and heartache his poor parents have been going through and then I wake up this morning to this awful news. This can be one hell of a cruel world at times.
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
Yes, I do appreciate that the actual civil officers will be the same no matter which party is in power. After 40 odd years in the trade. I don't understand why you think I was attacking the Tories. I suppose K & C council is Tory so you put 2&2 together and made 5. I left London some time ago and I now live in Scotland so I couldn't care less.
I will say that that is the only bit of your posts on the matter that I disagree with. Keep up the good work.
As L block says the building industry is run by people with zero back ground of ever building something , most would struggle to build a ikea chest of drawers , cut money here save cash there it's all they are interested in. I'm on the labour supply side of things and get calls daily from guys asking to work unsafely , they refuse and prob two days later we get a call saying replace that guy as he's been later for weeks on end , I know he hasn't but it's the easy option to get rid of them , send a ne guy week later he rings and is saying they want me to work unsafe.
Money men run building sites these days not builders , it's the end figure that counts that's all
As L block says the building industry is run by people with zero back ground of ever building something , most would struggle to build a ikea chest of drawers , cut money here save cash there it's all they are interested in. I'm on the labour supply side of things and get calls daily from guys asking to work unsafely , they refuse and prob two days later we get a call saying replace that guy as he's been later for weeks on end , I know he hasn't but it's the easy option to get rid of them , send a ne guy week later he rings and is saying they want me to work unsafe.
Money men run building sites these days not builders , it's the end figure that counts that's all
But out of those tradesmen how many are actually competent to do the job in hand. ? I'm not saying from your company Wombat but in general within the Agency business. I havent worked for agency's for years but when i did i remember working with some right cowboys. Hopefully its improved since 20 years ago.. I've got to say as someone thats worked on every conceivable type of building site, the attitude and work ethic of some trades when it comes to doing work on council properties leaves a lot to be desired. It all comes down to money end of the day though. I hope this gets thoroughly investigated and gets to the bottom of this and improvements made in all areas concerned.
Went up the West Cross Route on my motorbike this evening, traffic awful as expected. TFL had people working hard at the Shepherds Bush roundabout to keep traffic moving as best as possible but what wasn't expected were all the cnts stopping on the West Cross route (holding up traffic further) to get out and take photos. Unbelieveable. A few of them got some choice words from me.
I only got a fleeting glimpse of the building and it looked every bit as horrific in real life as on tv.
Awful, truly awful.
There has got be some serious repercussions to this. Council housing, transportation, health, eductaion, gas/electricity/water, etc. cannot be in the hands of for-profit organisations. There's a point where people really have to come first over profit in these basics areas of day to day living.
Went up the West Cross Route on my motorbike this evening, traffic awful as expected. TFL had people working hard at the Shepherds Bush roundabout to keep traffic moving as best as possible but what wasn't expected were all the cnts stopping on the West Cross route (holding up traffic further) to get out and take photos. Unbelieveable. A few of them got some choice words from me.
I only got a fleeting glimpse of the building and it looked every bit as horrific in real life as on tv.
Awful, truly awful.
There has got be some serious repercussions to this. Council housing, transportation, health, eductaion, gas/electricity/water, etc. cannot be in the hands of for-profit organisations. There's a point where people really have to come first over profit in these basics areas of day to day living.
[Post edited 15 Jun 2017 0:39]
There are plenty of reliable for profit organizations, I would suggest local govt bite the bullet and spend more money to use them.
'ere L, I have just read that the sprinkler system failed?
A little snippet.....most of my working life has been spent within my own employ, but for a short while I was employed as a 'Super' (in this part of the US the term is used to describe the site managers / main contractors gestapo), for the Pulte Home Corp, at that time, America's largest house builder. I had some memorable moments, breaking up a knife fight between two Canucks, getting a kicking and thrown out of a second storey window and the usual threats of shooting and decapitation if I didn't sign off on something, y'know general building site banter, but also had loads of head in hands nonsense. Doing a walk through on a high end finished house and asked one of the junior staff could we test the sprinklers -"what he said, and soak the the place?" I explained that it actually entailed going to the relevant valve, noting it was turned on, checking a water pressure gauge, then up a step ladder to test the pop down heads. "No ones ever asked for that before"he moans - but I insist. All went well 'till he tried to pop down the sprinkler head cap, they're designed to drop out of the ceilings and spray automatically when detecting a fire, bad news, no pop. To cut a boring story short, the painters had sealed the caps to the ceilings. All but one head in this house was completely fcked. It was almost amusing, because everyone had printed on it, do not paint. We all laughed afterwards, 'cept the painting crew who had to return and free them up through the 273 previous properties that hadn't been tested prior to my arrival.
I live 300 yards from Grenfell Tower. I watched the leader of the council on TV last and have listened to residents talking about having their health and safety requests continually ignored. Indeed at one point the local authority were threatening legal action against the residents. This will become political and I believe that the local authority will be looking for a scape goat.
I live 300 yards from Grenfell Tower. I watched the leader of the council on TV last and have listened to residents talking about having their health and safety requests continually ignored. Indeed at one point the local authority were threatening legal action against the residents. This will become political and I believe that the local authority will be looking for a scape goat.
Oh you ain't lying there pal!
This will be like a hot potato that will find a home at the least guilty shcmuk prepared or, told to take one for the team.
For a fire to go up so quickly, that's a systemic failure that just didn't happen because of anything other, than institutional incompetence and, in all probability, aided and abetted by a good dose of corporate skulduggery.
As we continually see around the world, when culpability is discovered, the establishment's ability to let it slide off them and face no repercussions is incredible.
72 landlord MPs voted down fire protection legislation, hopefully they're twitching in their britches. Boris' closure of fire stations means that whereas fire fighters should and used to get a break after four hours of being on the front line, many worked twelve hours without a break! That in itself is madness as it risks even more lives.
Nothing ever happens! The Panama papers, 2008 financial crash, Hillsborough so on and so forth. Its like the establishment/corporations are immune to the full wrath of the law.
I predict, this will eventually be subsumed in the back pages, lost to the next series of disasters and absolutely fook all will happen in terms of; what needs to happen and who needs to swing for this.
'Always In Motion' by John Honney available on amazon.co.uk
Just to say, the club have responded fast and very compassionately to Grenfell, but have said they can't accept any further donations of clothes, toiletries etc today.
If you can help financially, the club have recommended the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation as the place to donate to:
Just to say, the club have responded fast and very compassionately to Grenfell, but have said they can't accept any further donations of clothes, toiletries etc today.
If you can help financially, the club have recommended the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation as the place to donate to:
Could be poor design of the cladding . i read that the building had vertical columns from Top to bottom . The cladding on them was hollow. Similar thing to the cctv building that burnt down in beijing. Although a firework caused that. Poor design and materials. Agree with Boston and Lblock. Cheap materials, cheap unskilled labour, poor management could a massive factor before we even get onto the ethics of social housing management and the politics game.
I have wondered the logic behind the different building regs for a new build compared to existing buildings.
Is it right that the cladding was only put on Grenfell, and not the other neighbouring blocks? Were there plans to do the same for the other blocks? I assume those plans will now have been binned.
There was an interesting interview with a local resident on the BBC yesterday, he didn't hold back on what he thought:
I returned from a serene canal boat trip in Yorkshire to this news, just down the road from where I live. It really hits you in the gut when it's close to home and like I others I know Andy/insom and for a time we weren't sure if he was okay. Still reeling from the shock of all this. My daughter who's staying at my flat while I'm away has been down there yesterday donating clothes and helping out, says they've been overwhelmed with stuff and what they really need now is money.
The longest day of my life but it's minuscule in comparison to what those families are going through. I played on the building site that became Lancaster West Estate in the late 60s early 70s. . I lived 100 yards from the building for most of my childhood. My bedroom looked out onto the flats. Working at Holland Park station (nearest station opened) I had to deal with loads of distraught people looking to find one of the five assistance centres. We also had to deal with the numerous volunteers looking to help out. Then news filtered through that a work colleague had lost his sister in law and five kids under 10 years old. Everyone openly wept for him.Then I had to send another colleague home when his missus text to say her uncle is missing. Turns out he's the one reported missing on TV as he couldn't escape from the 20th floor as he was disabled. His wife and daughter had to leave him behind to escape. Then I got told my mate Eddie Daffarn lived on the 16th floor. When I saw him being interviewed on ITV at 7pm I wept for joy. He's even in last nights Standard on page 5 telling how he was lucky to escape when a fireman found him in the darkness and dragged him to the stairs. I've also been given a list of blokes I knew growing up but haven't seen for over 20 years that are on the missing list. It numbers over a dozen but could rise.
The longest day of my life but it's minuscule in comparison to what those families are going through. I played on the building site that became Lancaster West Estate in the late 60s early 70s. . I lived 100 yards from the building for most of my childhood. My bedroom looked out onto the flats. Working at Holland Park station (nearest station opened) I had to deal with loads of distraught people looking to find one of the five assistance centres. We also had to deal with the numerous volunteers looking to help out. Then news filtered through that a work colleague had lost his sister in law and five kids under 10 years old. Everyone openly wept for him.Then I had to send another colleague home when his missus text to say her uncle is missing. Turns out he's the one reported missing on TV as he couldn't escape from the 20th floor as he was disabled. His wife and daughter had to leave him behind to escape. Then I got told my mate Eddie Daffarn lived on the 16th floor. When I saw him being interviewed on ITV at 7pm I wept for joy. He's even in last nights Standard on page 5 telling how he was lucky to escape when a fireman found him in the darkness and dragged him to the stairs. I've also been given a list of blokes I knew growing up but haven't seen for over 20 years that are on the missing list. It numbers over a dozen but could rise.
This will be like a hot potato that will find a home at the least guilty shcmuk prepared or, told to take one for the team.
For a fire to go up so quickly, that's a systemic failure that just didn't happen because of anything other, than institutional incompetence and, in all probability, aided and abetted by a good dose of corporate skulduggery.
As we continually see around the world, when culpability is discovered, the establishment's ability to let it slide off them and face no repercussions is incredible.
72 landlord MPs voted down fire protection legislation, hopefully they're twitching in their britches. Boris' closure of fire stations means that whereas fire fighters should and used to get a break after four hours of being on the front line, many worked twelve hours without a break! That in itself is madness as it risks even more lives.
Nothing ever happens! The Panama papers, 2008 financial crash, Hillsborough so on and so forth. Its like the establishment/corporations are immune to the full wrath of the law.
I predict, this will eventually be subsumed in the back pages, lost to the next series of disasters and absolutely fook all will happen in terms of; what needs to happen and who needs to swing for this.
It is a political hot potato. The systematic profit making at the expense of the disadvantaged.
The longest day of my life but it's minuscule in comparison to what those families are going through. I played on the building site that became Lancaster West Estate in the late 60s early 70s. . I lived 100 yards from the building for most of my childhood. My bedroom looked out onto the flats. Working at Holland Park station (nearest station opened) I had to deal with loads of distraught people looking to find one of the five assistance centres. We also had to deal with the numerous volunteers looking to help out. Then news filtered through that a work colleague had lost his sister in law and five kids under 10 years old. Everyone openly wept for him.Then I had to send another colleague home when his missus text to say her uncle is missing. Turns out he's the one reported missing on TV as he couldn't escape from the 20th floor as he was disabled. His wife and daughter had to leave him behind to escape. Then I got told my mate Eddie Daffarn lived on the 16th floor. When I saw him being interviewed on ITV at 7pm I wept for joy. He's even in last nights Standard on page 5 telling how he was lucky to escape when a fireman found him in the darkness and dragged him to the stairs. I've also been given a list of blokes I knew growing up but haven't seen for over 20 years that are on the missing list. It numbers over a dozen but could rise.
[Post edited 15 Jun 2017 10:31]
Sorry to hear that, old pal. Heart-rending tragedy.
Are you working today? If not, make sure you're with someone and make sure you're talking about everything you experienced. You need to be around friends or family today, my man.
Much love x
"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
"Everyone in the community already knows, we already have community meetings and we all know,that they are planning to demolish all the blocks. We know their intentions. But they keep giving us this facade like there’s options. You can either have your blocks regenerated or you can have your blocks knocked down. Then they do things like spend £10 million putting flammable panels on that building when the lifts in our building cost £60,000 to fix, and I'm telling you now, this is not an exaggeration. At least four out of seven days of the week at least one of the lifts in my block is definitely not working."
"Everyone in the community already knows, we already have community meetings and we all know,that they are planning to demolish all the blocks. We know their intentions. But they keep giving us this facade like there’s options. You can either have your blocks regenerated or you can have your blocks knocked down. Then they do things like spend £10 million putting flammable panels on that building when the lifts in our building cost £60,000 to fix, and I'm telling you now, this is not an exaggeration. At least four out of seven days of the week at least one of the lifts in my block is definitely not working."
The lifts haven't worked, the emergency lights haven't worked, and then as it turns out the fire alarms didn't work.
But there was money for an external refurb and more flats packed into the lower floors.
The lifts haven't worked, the emergency lights haven't worked, and then as it turns out the fire alarms didn't work.
But there was money for an external refurb and more flats packed into the lower floors.
They're going to end up with another riot on their hands here if they're not careful. All this stuff coming out about the building, about the warnings the council were given, all these double barrelled surname wnkrs from K&C Council talking about how it "definitely complied with the building regs" while it smoulders behind them. Theresa May turns up but won't speak to them. There's a lot of anger building and rightly so.
Throw in the face that people are homeless, wandering the streets, and it's hot. And the complete lack of information they're being given on death count, where the missing are, where their loved ones are. Families just left to traipse from hospital to hospital asking if they've seen their kids.
Demonstration march planned for Friday evening apparently and I can see it going off, if not there then before too long. Particularly if it turns out this buried government report is as damning as you would suspect. Particularly if they try and bury the inquiry and inquests and somebody just ends up with a poxy £500k fine.
These people have been treated like sht for too long, and it's still happening today.
They're going to end up with another riot on their hands here if they're not careful. All this stuff coming out about the building, about the warnings the council were given, all these double barrelled surname wnkrs from K&C Council talking about how it "definitely complied with the building regs" while it smoulders behind them. Theresa May turns up but won't speak to them. There's a lot of anger building and rightly so.
Throw in the face that people are homeless, wandering the streets, and it's hot. And the complete lack of information they're being given on death count, where the missing are, where their loved ones are. Families just left to traipse from hospital to hospital asking if they've seen their kids.
Demonstration march planned for Friday evening apparently and I can see it going off, if not there then before too long. Particularly if it turns out this buried government report is as damning as you would suspect. Particularly if they try and bury the inquiry and inquests and somebody just ends up with a poxy £500k fine.
These people have been treated like sht for too long, and it's still happening today.
There is also the The People's Assembly anti austerity march on the 1st July that's always big and lively. now this ?
Sorry to hear that, old pal. Heart-rending tragedy.
Are you working today? If not, make sure you're with someone and make sure you're talking about everything you experienced. You need to be around friends or family today, my man.
Much love x
I'm fine Brian. My two colleagues are going to need loads of help. Luckily TFL have their own counsellors and psychiatrists.
They're going to end up with another riot on their hands here if they're not careful. All this stuff coming out about the building, about the warnings the council were given, all these double barrelled surname wnkrs from K&C Council talking about how it "definitely complied with the building regs" while it smoulders behind them. Theresa May turns up but won't speak to them. There's a lot of anger building and rightly so.
Throw in the face that people are homeless, wandering the streets, and it's hot. And the complete lack of information they're being given on death count, where the missing are, where their loved ones are. Families just left to traipse from hospital to hospital asking if they've seen their kids.
Demonstration march planned for Friday evening apparently and I can see it going off, if not there then before too long. Particularly if it turns out this buried government report is as damning as you would suspect. Particularly if they try and bury the inquiry and inquests and somebody just ends up with a poxy £500k fine.
These people have been treated like sht for too long, and it's still happening today.
And who will be the ones getting thrown bricks at and attacked at any riot? Yep, same poor sods who have to run with a batton towards knife wielding terroists.....the police.
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