Lay blame for Grenfell fire where it belongs
I am glad to see that a panel has been appointed to represent the interests of the Grenfell families in the forthcoming inquiry (May rethink over Grenfell fire panel, May 12) and hope they will be protected against any undue influence, in contrast to the panels that clad the outside of the tower block.
Because you can be certain that politicians from the local council chamber all the way to Westminster will be protecting themselves against any blame.
You may recall that in the aftermath of the Windrush revelations, politicians were quick to lay the blame on Home Office civil servants. Watch out for an action replay.
It was cheaper to use non-fireproof cladding.
After all, with austerity emptying the council coffers, financial corners had to be cut.
And who was listening to the tenants? No-one.
They had been complaining about shoddy workmanship, probably another result of reduced expenditure in the face of cutbacks, well before an internal fire found its way through gaps to the cladding on the outside of their block.
It appears to me that we have learned nothing about protecting people against fires and other disasters, and history goes on repeating itself.
My great-grandfather was one of ten victims of a fire that destroyed a cotton mill in Stockport in 1902.
The mill directors were absolved of any blame despite having taken down an outside fire escape prior to the fire, and failing to install water sprinklers, probably to save money, as I make clear in my book on the disaster, FIRE!
The cotton mill disaster that echoed down the generations. Others got the blame instead – the local sanitary authority, the fire brigade – even the men who stayed to fight the fire and paid with their lives.
It was complacency, cost-cutting, and a cavalier attitude to fire safety that killed my great grandfather, and which led to so many deaths in the Grenfell disaster all these years later.
We really ought to know better now. And we need to lay the blame where it belongs.
David Edwards Hulme, Stockport
Concerned about Karney
I doubt I’m alone in becoming increasingly concerned about Coun Pat Karney’s seemingly OCD behaviour in recent months as he seems to spend all the hours God sends frantically searching the electoral roll whenever a name appears with a North Manchester address. A mammoth task for anyone!
As a member of a party which has ruled Manchester for decades, and the holder of what seems to be the self-imposed title of City Centre Spokesman, he constantly concerns himself with ‘a tiny number of UKIP supporters’ and the ‘threat’ they pose.
Bearing in mind last week’s turf fiasco in Piccadilly Gardens, one would think he as City Centre spokesman would be eagerly attempting to put right his party’s absolute ruination of what were once very beautiful and well kept gardens.
Alternatively, he could even attend to matters in his own Harpurhey ward and leave city centre matters to the councillors who actually represent that area and which Piccadilly Gardens are part of, even though the majority probably haven’t got a clue who these people are.
It would be far more beneficial all round than spending most of his time looking up names.
I have used a pen name for this letter in the hope that it will save Coun Karney some time and enable him to concentrate on matters appertaining to his Harpurhey ward and thereby bring about much needed improvement in that area.
Observer, Moston
We drag each other down
WHENEVER anyone has a new idea, or does not conform and follow the crowd they will get criticised.
Most people in the workplace who are ambitious are likely to attract jealousy and envy.
Anyone expressing an opinion that is a threat to the status quo will usually get a hostile reception.
There is something called a crab in the bucket mentality.
If a number of crabs are put in a bucket, they will all try to get out of it.
However if one of them looks as though it will get out of it, the others will join together and try to stop it getting out.
Human beings are no different in this respect.
Harry Singleton, Ashton-Under-Lyne