Good interview with artist Chris Ofili on his remarkable tribute to Grenfell, 'Requiem', painted on the walls of a stairwell at Tate Britain and which is planned to be there for at least a decade.
#ChrisOfili #Grenfell #Art #Fresco #TateBritain #Trinidad

Chris Ofili’s Requiem is on show at Tate Britain, London, from today
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/sep/12/chris-ofili-grenfell-fresco-requiem-tate-britain?CMP=firstedition_email

Notting Hill Carnival meeting descends into chaos as angry residents criticise ‘tick box exercise’ | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/notting-hill-carnival-trust-meeting-b2406972.html

#NottingHillCarnival
#Safety
#Carnival
#CarnivalSafety
#Grenfell
#CarnivalVillageTrust
#LocalsSafetyConcerns
#Sunak
#KnifeCrime
#ZombieKnife
#SexualAssault

The Grenfell Tower catastrophe seems to me to mainly have happened because of capitalism, because capitalism means profit above all else, including an inherent callousness in regard to human life.

The image text in its entirety:

'It is time to explain how a cladding panel with a core of solid petrol found itself on the market for use on the walls of people's homes.

Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) was first invented in the 1960s. A German company realised that bonding the metal to plastic made it easier to work and cheaper to produce, and it was initially used in furniture. From the 1990s onwards, it became a popular choice for building facades: providing the elegant curves and crisp finishes modern designers craved.

There are several large manufacturers of ACM in operation. One would ultimately sell the cladding panels on Grenfell: Arconic. This is a company with deep roots, having been spun out of Alcoa, which traces its own history back to the Aluminium Company of America - a giant beast of the American materials sector which was founded in 1886 when the inventor Charles Martin Hall discovered the process of smelting. Alcoa provided the metal for the spacecraft used in the first moon landings, US military hardware from the battlefields of World War I to the bomber jets which rained death over the Middle East in the early 2000s and drinks cans which litter the environment all over the globe.

The panels were sold for use on Grenfell by the European arm of this company, AAP SAS, which is based in north-eastern France. The fire safety risk of these panels was discovered in 2004. They could have been taken off the market then. But no one then was willing to risk corporate profits for basic fire safety.'

The page is from Peter Apps's excellent 'Show me the Bodies', about the Grenfell Tower catastrophe.

#book #capitalism #PeterApps #Grenfell #death

I've just started reading Peter Apps's sober, riveting, and horrifying book 'Show Me the Bodies', a non-fiction book about the Grenfell Tower fire.

'The Grenfell Tower fire killed seventy-two people, including eighteen children. It ripped families apart, traumatised an entire community, destroyed 129 homes and caused damage that, for many involved, can never be repaired. It is the most serious crime committed on British soil this century.'

https://bookrastinating.com/book/486770/s/show-me-the-bodies

#PeterApps #Grenfell #book #reading #NonFiction #scandal @bookstodon

So have they fixed all the fire safety concerns, or does it just suit ministers' evil purposes to house asylum seekers in a floating Grenfell?

#BibbyStockholm #AsylumSeekers #Grenfell

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66424923

Lack of full-time firefighters near asylum barge prompts ‘real concerns’ over emergency response | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/migrant-barge-dorset-fire-safety-b2387239.html

#BibbyStockholm
#FireFighters
#AsylumSeekers
#Barge
#MajorFireRisk
#DeathTraps
#FBU
#OnCallOnlyFireFighters
#PortlandFireStation
#WeymouthFireStation
#DorchesterFireStation
#Grenfell
#Lakanal
#Braverman
#HomeOffice

I see the threat of the #migrants barge in #Portland becoming a burning boat (prompting memories of #Grenfell) has, perhaps surprisingly, caused the #HomeOffice to pause while they check the fire regulation compliance of their barge.

So, it seems there is some limit to the Home Office's humanity.... but I'm guessing this is more a question of finding a way to reassure inspectors all is well, rather than any real change of heart or concern for the migrants wellbeing

Causes of Grenfell fire were entwined with policy decisions driven by saving money | Grenfell Tower fire | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/30/grenfell-fire-policy-decisions-saving-money-analysis

#Grenfell
#FireSafety
#Policies
#CuttingCosts
#FalseEconomy
#KensingtonAndChelsea
#Cameron
#Tories
#RedTape
#ValueEngineering
#NoMoreDeaths
#GrenfellUnited
#NationalOversightMechanism
#HomeOffice

We must ensure we enact the call from #Grenfell tragedy, to say #NeverAgain across our country.

As we stand, we owe it, to all disabled people living in high rises. They should have a personal evacuation plan. They don't. The government had refused, saying it will cost too much.

Meanwhile Sunak is awash with millions, and the Tory landlords profit, as they ignore the cost of death of the poor & most vulnerable

#SocialJustice
#Politics
#PR
#Democracy
#Socialism
#ToriesOut
#GTTO

Cost of #Grenfell Tower disaster soars to nearly £1.2bn

Exclusive: Costs now 4,000 times amount saved by replacing fire-retardant materials with combustible cladding
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/30/grenfell-tower-disaster-cost-soars #ToryPoliciesInAction #ToryInhumanity

Grenfell didn’t happen by accident, it happened by design.

Voices of former tenants lovingly portrayed by actors from the National Theatre 💚

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RgMmdukdtwI&feature=share

#grenfell #GrenfellUnited #nationaltheatre

https://ohai.social/@MrsGalaxy/110730597102081911

#disabled #Grenfell #discrimination

Writer of #Grenfell play says people must be jailed for what happened https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/19/grenfell-tower-play-writer-gillian-slovo-national-theatre

“The public inquiry into the Grenfell disaster heard that Kingspan sold a combustible foam insulation that burned like a “raging inferno” based, it was alleged, on out-of-date tests on an earlier product with a different chemical composition. Lawyers for the victims told the inquiry in 2020 that Kingspan, alongside Arconic, which made the cladding panels, and Celotex, which made 95% of the insulation used, were “little more than crooks and killers”.”

#Grenfell #Kingspan https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/13/use-of-kingspan-insulation-on-towers-near-grenfell-angers-residents?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

@lidsville
Such a good, short piece on #NormalcyBias. It made me think about #Grenfell, where so many died because they were told to stay in their flats and they did.

As part of “docile mode” is doing what are you told, the content of authoritative messaging is key: During #Covid most people obeyed lockdown rules. We don’t have any messaging or instructions along those lines about #ClimateCrisis . Gov message is #BusinessAsUsual. No wonder majority don’t take it seriously.

#Grenfell families call for ‘accountability’ at #Glastonbury Festival talk https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/grenfell-families-call-for-accountability-at-glastonbury-festival-talk-351478/

Grenfell Tower victims were left to die - six years on, no justice
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2023/06/14/on-the-sixth-anniversary-of-the-grenfell-tower-fire-this-country-doesnt-care-if-poor-black-and-brown-people-die/

#Racism
#Grenfell
#Justice
#StayPutOrder
#Pickles
#ReesMogg
#FBU
#HeshamRahman
#Accountability
#GrenfellUnited
#UnitedFamiliesAndFriendsCampaign
#PreventableTragedy

Never forget Grenfell. 6 years later.

I Can't Breathe (Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?)

#Grenfell #ICantBreathe
https://youtu.be/p2UC2BjboMs

Three #Grenfell families still in temporary accommodation six years on from tragedy

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/three-grenfell-families-still-temporary-30234900

Six years later, the #Tories have quietly forgotten #Grenfell Tower

They never cared one bit about it.

https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2023/06/14/six-years-later-the-tories-have-quietly-forgotten-grenfell-tower/