Tag: Grenfell

Posted on by Tim Worstall

So What Really Caused Grenfell Then?

The report on the Grenfell Tower fire is about to come out. At which point, who is to blame?

Grenfell Tower: ‘The fire was no accident. Now we must go after those responsible’

Assume that it wasn’t an accident, yes, obviously, go after those who killed in that non-accident.

Phase one of the public inquiry, chaired by the retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, examined the events of the night, including how the fire started in a fourth-floor flat and spread to the top of the building in less than 30 minutes, and the response of the fire brigade and other emergency services.

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

What Is It About Grenfell Tower That Turns Everyone Into Cretins?

That the Grenfell Tower went up in flames and killed so many people is an appalling event, of course it is. But what is it about it that turns everyone into entire cretins? We’re told, for example, that this shows that tenants must be intimately involved in the management of their dwelling places – Grenfell was already managed by a tenants’ cooperative of sorts.

Then we’ve this:

An adult education college at the heart of the Grenfell Tower community has been saved by a £32m government bailout following a campaign against plans which could have turned it into luxury housing.

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

As Grenfell Tower Shows, It’s Private Sector Landlordism That Kills People

If we were to listen to the constant voices telling us about the Grenfell Tower tragedy we would have to believe that all those people died because of the privatisation of British housing. It was that capitalist lust for profit that allowed – nay, insisted – that the place be badly maintained, flammable cladding used and so on. The absence of a sprinkler system, the incompetence of certain fire fighting efforts – Fatcher and Tory Austerity no doubt.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

So Here’s An Interesting Question About Grenfell Tower – How Much Was Sublet?

That the Grenfell Tower fire was a tragedy is obvious. That lessons need to be learned is equally so. At which point, OK, which lessons would we like to learn? One that would be useful is to work out how much of social housing in London – for that’s what the evidence allows us to estimate – is illegally sublet. Or, as we might also put it, how much social housing in London is not actually needed as social housing?…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Yes, It’s Economic Ignorance Day At The Guardian Again – Dawn Foster Edition

Now it’s true that we rational people don’t go to The Guardian for economic advice. Sadly it’s also true that all too many of those who rule us do indeed go to that pit of iniquity for their information on how the world should be. Then of course there’s Dawn Foster and her beliefs about reality:

Instead, we were gifted David Cameron’s assault on regulation. Cameron boasted that the corner-cutting and revocation of many regulations on building and business would save £500 per home built: a small sum in the grand scheme of things.

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