So Boris why did you close so many London fire stations?

[Guest]

https://skwawkbox.org/2017/06/14/tories ... tallation/

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned since cuts – across the country as well as in London – were first announced, that reducing the number of fire stations would inevitably increase response times and put lives at risk. With horrible prescience, the FBU’s regional secretary Paul Embery said,

Mayor Boris Johnson will have blood on his hands. It will be only a matter of time before someone dies because a fire engine did not get to them in time. You cannot close 10 fire stations and slash nearly 600 firefighter jobs without compromising public safety.

These proposed cuts are dangerous and wrong. If they are implemented, they will undoubtedly jeopardise the safety of Londoners and firefighters alike.

The London Fire Brigade now faces perhaps the biggest threat to its ability to function since the Second World War.

The mayor has argued that response times will not be affected by these cuts. Aside from the fact that he has provided little supporting evidence for this claim, anyone who knows anything about firefighting knows that it isn’t just about the speed of response.

The weight of response, ensuring that you have adequate resources to deal with developing and large-scale incidents, is just as crucial.

These cuts would deplete the service and impair its ability to respond quickly and effectively to serious incidents.

Johnson was not only warned by firefighters that his rash cuts would cost lives. Seven councils went to court in an attempt to block the closures, with councillors and London Assembly members pointing to the inevitable consequences.

Labour AM Navin Shah said at the time,

This will reduce fire cover in London, these cuts will put the safety and security of Londoners at risk…the level of cuts forced on the London Fire Brigade by the Mayor and government are truly reckless. Boris’s cuts are hitting front-line services and putting public safety at risk.

while LibDem member Stephen Knight warned,

These cuts being forced on London’s fire brigade by Boris Johnson will make London less safe and are unnecessary.

To compound Johnson’s recklessness, the Tories resisted the installation of sprinklers in tower blocks such as Grenfell in spite of warnings of the risks:

[wutang]

Tories reject move to ensure rented homes fit for human habitation

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... habitation

Gavin Barwell: Theresa May's new chief of staff faces questions over delayed tower block fire safety review
Mr Barwell was housing minister when the review was again delayed, fire expert confirms

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 89266.html

Sacrificing the lives of normal people just to keep their landlord chums happy (a lot of the Tory that vote against making homes safe are landlords themselves)

[wutang]

[wutang]

FIRE MINISTER WAS AMONG 72 TORY LANDLORDS WHO VOTED AGAINST MAKING HOMES “FIT FOR HUMAN HABITATION”

Theresa May’s new Police and Fire Minister, Nick Hurd, was among the 72 Tory MPs – who are also residential landlords – that voted against a motion to make homes “fit for human habitation.”


Many people have been reposting articles about the debate in Parliament last January in light of today’s tragedy at Grenfell Tower.

Labour submitted an amendment to the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill designed to ensure all rental properties were “fit for human habitation.”

The need to improve fire prevention was explicitly set out by then Shadow Housing Minister Teresa Pearce. Proposing the amendment, she said:

“New clause 53 is about safety and would introduce a requirement for landlords to undertake electrical safety checks. Many organisations from across the sector support the measure, such as the Local Government Association, the London fire brigade, Shelter, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, British Gas, Crisis and the Fire Officers Association. They have all given their support in the past to measures that will see the introduction of mandatory electrical safety checks.

“It is estimated that electricity causes more than 20,000 house fires each year, leading to about 350 serious injuries and 70 deaths across the UK. Carbon monoxide, gas leaks and other fires and explosions cause fewer deaths and injuries, with 300 injuries and 18 deaths—these risks remain serious and it is right that we should continue to monitor them, but that shows what is at stake as regards electrical fires in the home.”
Labour’s amendment was defeated with the help of the 72 Tory MPs who top up their Parliamentary salaries as landlords.

Hurd, who makes at least £20,000 a year rental income from a 2 bedroom flat in Ruislip and a house in London, was among them.

Today, as Police and Fire Minister, he is leading the Government’s response to the Grenfell tragedy

https://politicalscrapbook.net/2017/06/ ... abitation/

Scum. Absolute fucking scum.

[Si_Crewe]

That Skwarkbox website is full of batshit-crazy leftards.

Daft thing is, it they weren't so batshit-crazy they could have still maintained their anti-tory position without seeming like nutters.

The news seems to be reporting that the building was recently "re-developed", which included an exterior cladding to make it look prettier.
There seems to have been an air-gap between the cladding and the structure and a venturi effect drew the fire up through the gap, allowing it to take hold of the entire building very quickly.

Kensington & Chelsea is apparently a tory area, with a tory council and tory MPs, who were responsible for re-developing the building.

Without knowing any more about the causes of the fire, it would seem that the recent upgrades to the building were responsible.
Upgrades commissioned and approved by the local council.

[wutang]

Residents had made their fears known to the landlords but nothing was done.

A blog from 2016 about the issues

It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders. We believe that the KCTMO are an evil, unprincipled, mini-mafia who have no business to be charged with the responsibility of looking after the every day management of large scale social housing estates and that their sordid collusion with the RBKC Council is a recipe for a future major disaster.

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.c ... with-fire/

If there is any justice in the world the people at KCTMO would be spending the rest of their lives in jail

[wutang]

The news seems to be reporting that the building was recently "re-developed", which included an exterior cladding to make it look prettier.

At the behest of local rich cunts who didnt like looking at the tower block

he cladding that might have led to the horrifying blaze at Grenfell Tower was added partly to improve the view from the luxury flats around it.

During a refurbishment aimed at regeneration last year, cladding was added to the sides of the building to update its look. The cladding then seems to have helped the fire spread around the building, allowing it to destroy almost the entirety of the structure and kill people inside.

And that cladding – a low-cost way of improving the front of the building – was chosen in part so that the tower would look better when seen from the conservation areas and luxury flats that surround north Kensington, according to planning documents.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 89951.html

[Guest]

That Skwarkbox website is full of batshit-crazy leftards.

Daft thing is, it they weren't so batshit-crazy they could have still maintained their anti-tory position without seeming like nutters.

The news seems to be reporting that the building was recently "re-developed", which included an exterior cladding to make it look prettier.
There seems to have been an air-gap between the cladding and the structure and a venturi effect drew the fire up through the gap, allowing it to take hold of the entire building very quickly.

Kensington & Chelsea is apparently a tory area, with a tory council and tory MPs, who were responsible for re-developing the building.

Without knowing any more about the causes of the fire, it would seem that the recent upgrades to the building were responsible.
Upgrades commissioned and approved by the local council.

said no one with an IQ over 65

[Guest]

That Skwarkbox website is full of batshit-crazy leftards.

Daft thing is, it they weren't so batshit-crazy they could have still maintained their anti-tory position without seeming like nutters.

The news seems to be reporting that the building was recently "re-developed", which included an exterior cladding to make it look prettier.
There seems to have been an air-gap between the cladding and the structure and a venturi effect drew the fire up through the gap, allowing it to take hold of the entire building very quickly.

Kensington & Chelsea is apparently a tory area, with a tory council and tory MPs, who were responsible for re-developing the building.

Without knowing any more about the causes of the fire, it would seem that the recent upgrades to the building were responsible.
Upgrades commissioned and approved by the local council.

Which stories on Skwarkbox are batshit?
You like to bandy that insult around without any proof.
When asked about something else on Abbott you linked to a batshit Tory site that had made up shit every story.
Twat.

[wutang]

More from the Grenfell action blog.

Emergency meeting of residents in 2015 about worries over the regeneration work and lack of consultation

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/tmo-and-the-smell-of-bootleather/

2012 fire safety assessment - weak safety measures and negligence going back to 2004

Another Fire Safety Scandal

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.c ... y-scandal/

[Si_Crewe]

Which stories on Skwarkbox are batshit?

All of them.

If the people involved weren't so busy being swivel-eyes, frothy-mouthed Momentum zealots, they might manage to be more diligent journalists.

Course, maybe they're playing to a specific audience, eh?

[Viper]

Too soon for partisan point scoring? Not for the lefties.

[McAz]

Too soon for partisan point scoring? Not for the lefties.

Why is it too soon to highlight the blood on Tory hands?

[rollup]

FIRE MINISTER WAS AMONG 72 TORY LANDLORDS WHO VOTED AGAINST MAKING HOMES “FIT FOR HUMAN HABITATION”

Theresa May’s new Police and Fire Minister, Nick Hurd, was among the 72 Tory MPs – who are also residential landlords – that voted against a motion to make homes “fit for human habitation.”


Many people have been reposting articles about the debate in Parliament last January in light of today’s tragedy at Grenfell Tower.

Labour submitted an amendment to the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill designed to ensure all rental properties were “fit for human habitation.”

The need to improve fire prevention was explicitly set out by then Shadow Housing Minister Teresa Pearce. Proposing the amendment, she said:

“New clause 53 is about safety and would introduce a requirement for landlords to undertake electrical safety checks. Many organisations from across the sector support the measure, such as the Local Government Association, the London fire brigade, Shelter, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, British Gas, Crisis and the Fire Officers Association. They have all given their support in the past to measures that will see the introduction of mandatory electrical safety checks.

“It is estimated that electricity causes more than 20,000 house fires each year, leading to about 350 serious injuries and 70 deaths across the UK. Carbon monoxide, gas leaks and other fires and explosions cause fewer deaths and injuries, with 300 injuries and 18 deaths—these risks remain serious and it is right that we should continue to monitor them, but that shows what is at stake as regards electrical fires in the home.”
Labour’s amendment was defeated with the help of the 72 Tory MPs who top up their Parliamentary salaries as landlords.

Hurd, who makes at least £20,000 a year rental income from a 2 bedroom flat in Ruislip and a house in London, was among them.

Today, as Police and Fire Minister, he is leading the Government’s response to the Grenfell tragedy

https://politicalscrapbook.net/2017/06/ ... abitation/

Scum. Absolute fucking scum.

So the inquiry is to be led by a Tory landlord who voted against making rented property safe and habitable. Fantastic Tory politics at play.

[calitom]

So every time increased govt spending is turned down its the fault of the people who voted against it when a disaster happens. Bullshit.
You can never turn down new spending on anything that is in any way related to safety??? keep living in dreamland. How about focusing on efficiency and common sense.
Sounds like something screwtape would come up with.