Grenfell Tower - Who is to Blame?

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, spoke movingly about the Grenfell Tower on Radio 4 this morning. #GreenfellTower Twitter - David Lammy (@DavidLammy) 

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is a landmark in law. For the first time, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care. 

Grenfell Tower was undoubtedly a total tragedy. The human suffering is appalling. The
repercussions will spread their tentacles through lives for years. I couldn't believe the footage of  the fire that I saw yesterday. How could this happen to people, in their homes, in a wealthy borough & a wealthy nation like the UK?

Well it has happened. What do we do about it?

Like all major news items, there is massive speculation in the media, followed by the press. Experts are brought in & the good, thoughtful, ones refuse to be drawn into conclusions by interviewers looking for soundbites. It really doesn't help - it just fires, (no pun intended), people's anger, grief & fear. People want to know why. They also want to blame. Its human nature in these situations.

We should do the victims & the traumatised people left behind the courtesy of conclusions backed up by evidence. Then we should hold any wrongdoers to account in the courts - Not the court of public opinion.

Meanwhile, Politicians, from the top down, need to examine their consciences about how their austerity, cost saving, policies have affected the less well off people in our country, who are probably the majority of their constituents. The Wealthy & the Corporate World also need to examine their consciences, about how their affluence & power could be better used than giving them a lifestyle most of us gasp at. Paying reasonable taxes would be a start.

The people who lived in the Tower, the emergency services, the local community, showed yesterday the amazing capability of the the human spirit to cope with calamity. They are a shining example to everyone. I really don't know what I would have done in these terrible circumstances, but I hope I could have matched them.