National catastrophes that deserve space of their own

Marcio and Andreia Gomes (below) were unwrapping boxes of things that had been rescued from their flat in Grenfell Tower. Andreia started crying when she found a simple bowl. It had belonged to Lily, the family dog. In the choking smoke, as the Gomeses and their two daughters fled down the stairs, Lily got confused, ran back and perished.

Andreia was seven months pregnant on the night of the fire. Her son, Logan, was born while she was still in an induced coma.

Due on Aug 21 2017, the baby was delivered in June at seven months’ gestation – perfect, only not alive.

Logan Gomes’s story was the first told at the Grenfell Tower inquiry this week. We would hear stories of many who had died, but Marcio and Andreia’s son had the tragic distinction of never even getting the chance to live at all.

It’s deeply unfortunate that the Grenfell inquiry began in the same week as the first anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing, marked nationwide with a minute’s silence.

The two national catastrophes – one an appalling accident, the other an evil terrorist attack – deserve space of their own.

The fact the suicide bomber could have been stopped by the security services, and the knowledge that there has been an attempted terrorist attack every single month since, only adds to a contorted sense of guilt and embarrassment.

That warped reaction was summed up in Manchester: A Year of Hate Crime, a Channel 4 programme that documented racist attacks on Muslims in the wake of the bombing.

Of course, what Salman Abedi did to those excited little girls and their parents is never called a “hate crime”. Too incendiary, too close to the bone.