UK home to a tenth of world’s best seats of learning
THE BIBLICAL reference was lost on no one at the Grenfell Tower inquiry as the story unfolded of a man named Moses who had, as the flames came closer, tried to lead people to safety.
Six people were in his top-floor flat, sheltering in his bed, when the rescuers finally came. But it was too late – he had already seen them die.
Raymond “Moses” Bernard, a 63-year-old grandfather-of-three, had been sitting on the floor beside his dog, Marley, when he died in the disaster last June.
As the flames licked upward, and with no escape below, the only chance of rescue was to head to the top of the tower, Mr Bernard’s sister, Bernadette Bernard, told the inquiry as its commemoration hearings drew to a close.
She was clearly close to tears as she spoke of the “apt” allusion to her brother’s namesake, who had led the Israelites to safety through the parted Red Sea.
“My beloved Ray was my modern-day Moses, my hero,” she said. “On that fateful night, seven individuals were located in Ray’s flat. As there was no way down to escape, the only alternative was to head towards the top floor.
“There they met Ray and took refuge in his flat.”
Ms Bernard said the positioning of the six people he took in, on her brother’s bed, showed “the respect he gave to those who lost their lives that night”.
She added: “We know that he would have given comfort to each of them before they took their last breaths and departed this world.
“Ray being a man and the strongest was probably the last to die. He would have been so alone. We know from the details shared by the coroner that Ray was a hero on that tragic night.”
Mr Bernard lived in Grenfell Tower for more than 30 years. Having moved to London from Trinidad in 1969, he became an electrician and worked on jobs at the Palace of Westminster and Buckingham Palace.
Several calls to the emergency services had been logged from his flat as the blaze engulfed the block in North Kensington.
The inquiry went on to hear from the daughter of another victim that by placing a “vulnerable, physically disabled and partially sighted pensioner” on the 18th floor of Grenfell Tower, the council of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea had denied “her human right to escape”, even before the fire started.
Nazanin Aghlani said the council’s housing team shared responsibility for the death of her mother, 65-year-old Sakineh Afrasehabi, who died with her sister, Fatemeh.
“She was a vulnerable, disabled person and she was put in a place that was worse than her own,” Ms Aghlani said.
“The fear of living so high in her condition was always at the back of her mind.”
On her final night, Ms Afrasehabi cooked for her family at her flat before seeing them out to the lift, where she asked her daughter if she could kiss her grandson one last time.
Ms Aghlani said: “With the fire at Grenfell, something in all of us died that night.
“Our mum lost her life not only due to the fire that night, but to the corporate negligence of the very people who were to ensure her safety.
“She couldn’t go down 18 floors of stairs on a good day, let alone in a fire.”
Her son Sharok paid her a poignant tribute. Her death, he said, had helped him to see what he had been searching for through years of studying religious and theological texts – the meaning of love.
“That night when she was burning, she told me not to come, trying to look out for me,” he said.
“In one sentence, she told me something that I couldn’t find in any books – the meaning of love, unconditional love.” THE UK is home to nearly a 10th of the most prestigious universities in the world, but there are warnings that their status among the global elite “is not guaranteed”.
New rankings, based on reputation, include nine UK institutions this year, down from 10 that made the top 100 last year.
Oxbridge continues to dominate, with Cambridge the topranked UK university in this year’s
World Reputation Rankings, taking fourth place, with Oxford one spot behind in fifth.
Two other UK institutions – both in London – University College London (joint 18th) and Imperial College London (20th), made it into the top 20. But Phil Baty, editorial director of global rankings, warned that while the nation has some of the most prestigious universities in the world, these institutions have either “fallen down the global pecking order, or stayed static”.
The rankings look at each institution’s reputation for research and teaching, based on a survey of more than 10,100 academics in 138 countries.
Other UK universities to make it into the top 100 this year were the London School of Economics and Political Science (25th), Edinburgh University (35th), King’s College London (42nd), Manchester University (51-60) and Warwick University (81-90).
Mr Baty said: “The UK has some of the most prestigious universities in the world, admired across the continents. But their status is in no way guaranteed – all UK universities have either fallen down the global pecking order this year or stayed static.
“This should give pause for serious thought as the country seeks to champion its status as ‘global Britain’ in a post-Brexit world.”
Overall, Europe claimed 33 places, with the UK the best represented, followed by Germany (six universities in the top 100) and the Netherlands (five universities).
The UK was one of only two countries with institutions in the top 10; the other was the United States, which took the other eight places.
The US had 44 universities in the top 100 overall. Taking top spot again this year was Harvard, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second place and Stanford University in third.