72 empty seats scream of long wait for justice
A corner of London slowly ignored since Grenfell blaze killed dozens
JUST ONE street party did it for me over the weekend.
No, not the one you might think. This one was far more haunting. Far more striking and far more poignant.
As table legs across the land groaned under the weight of excess drink and dishes to die for, the guests of honour at this one were simply dead.
So no, there was no food, laughter or flag waving.
No pomp, no pageantry, no pop concerts and no paper cups full of fizz.
Because, five years on, there is still no justice for the 72 people who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Nor have there been any arrests over the June 14 2017 fire that wrecked lives, shattered families and shamed this country.
There was bunting and a table laid out with ‘Grenfell green’ cups and napkins.
But the seats remained empty while the paper plates bore three columns of the names of the victims.
Around them, the headline: 72 Dead. And Still No Arrests? How?
So while the massed ranks crammed along the coronation route a few miles down the road, a corner of London that has slowly been ignored since the blaze that trapped and killed dozens, remains silent.
The families of those victims – and their frustrations in their fight for accountability – could be any one of us at any given time, such is the skill with which our establishment dodges
responsibility. Local council support was poor at the time with the ongoing inquiry told in recent months of a haphazard rehousing process and some displaced by the fire eventually sleeping rough.
Worse still was the allegation that the council refused to ask for external help for fear of looking as though it couldn’t cope.
Without a hint of irony, officials and politicians are actually patting themselves on the back over the banning last week of the specific type of cladding used on the Grenfell Tower – even though it took five years to do so.
Also forgetting ministers rejected a key inquiry recommendation – that all disabled tenants receive a personal evacuation plan in the event of any future fire – citing problems such as the costs to landlords.
You can see why the resolve of local people to fight for themselves grows stronger with every day.
They have work to do. They have no time to party.