THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

fuddle

I would like to think that the councils involved only motivation is for the good of their tenants but I suspect the spotlight is on them in terms of their paperwork, their dealings in hiring contractors to do work which could raise concerns about what money was spent on what and raising questions about expensive substandard work.

I also can't help but think this is a beautiful excuse to rehouse the tenants out of the tower blocks that 'lower the tone' of up and coming districts.

[Deleted User]

I'd be supporting a move to sell Mayoral Limousines and buy them Pushbikes! and to do away with all the trappings and lavish entertainments and let them support the local chippy instead of spending council tax payers money on banquets.

I always thought that being in 'Public Service' meant serving the public, not serving yourself the best portion of corporate cake first!

Witless

fuddle wrote: »

I would like to think that the councils involved only motivation is for the good of their tenants but I suspect the spotlight is on them in terms of their paperwork, their dealings in hiring contractors to do work which could raise concerns about what money was spent on what and raising questions about expensive substandard work.

I also can't help but think this is a beautiful excuse to rehouse the tenants out of the tower blocks that 'lower the tone' of up and coming districts.

It would be far to cynical to suspect there was an even vaguely political aspect to the decision: it's obviously totally coincidental that the decision immediately preceded the controlling party's leader addressing a music festival ..... isn't it?

I mean ... no political party would even dream of using a tragedy for electioneering, especially when there surely isn't likely to be another election for 5 years .... would they?

lillibet_dripping

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

...and re the fires aspect of prepping. It was a Hotpoint fridge/freezer that started the Grenfell fire and I saw (on another thread on forum) that London Fire Brigade have commented that over 25 fires have been dealt with by them in the last 5 years that have been from a Beko appliance.

Before anybody starts blaming Hotpoint, have a read of the blog which the Grenfell Action Group wrote: https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/grenfell-tower-from-bad-to-worse/

Residents had been experiencing unexplained 'power surges', the result of which was many 'smoking appliances' in the flats.

Witless

I've read the LFB report linked to on several sites. So far one essential statistic isn't immediately apparent.

How many fires in London of all types per day / year / 5 years?

5 per year from fridge freezers, 1 per day from domestic appliances (which presumably includes the fridge freezers) is obviously frightening, but the % gives the risk factor.

In 2015/16 the LFB received 171,488 emergency calls. These consisted of: 20,773 fires
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Fire_Brigade

20773 per year is approx 57 per day meaning 1.75% of fires are caused by domestic appliances - not quite the same fear factor if quoted as a headline: '85 times more likely to have a fire not caused by a domestic appliance' has even less impact.

The % for fridge freezer fires is 0.024% per year or 0.000065% per day.

Of course the above is equally meaningless without knowing the number of domestic appliances in London - would it be unreasonable to assume, given that the population in 2016 was believed to be 8.63 million, that there were between 863000 (1 in 10 per head of population having 1 appliance) and 1726000 (2 appliances)?

If it's not an unreasonable assumption the the % is more ..... je ne sais quoi : imagine the headline - 0.0001% (or possibly 0.00005%) of domestic appliances are fire risk!

My apologies if my maths calculations are awry.
(also posted in DT)

nuatha

Witless wrote: »

It would be far to cynical to suspect there was an even vaguely political aspect to the decision: it's obviously totally coincidental that the decision immediately preceded the controlling party's leader addressing a music festival ..... isn't it?

I mean ... no political party would even dream of using a tragedy for electioneering, especially when there surely isn't likely to be another election for 5 years .... would they?

The council has beeen controlled by the Conservatives since 1964, though it did just elect a Labour MP. As far as I'm aware Theresa May hasn't addressed a music festival.
Given it was politics that led to buildings been clad in this material, there is a political dimension to this tragedy.
As for another election, the Fixed Term Parliament Act was abolished, I suspect there'll be an election by spring 2019.

Witless

Conservative council?

Camden London Borough Council comprises 40 Labour Party councillors, 12 Conservative Party councillors, and one each for the Green Party and the Liberal Democrat Party. In 2013 one Labour councillor resigned the whip and serves as an Independent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_London_Borough_Council

My apologies for using Wiki as a source.

I was referring to the evacuations, not the fire.

Again, apologies for any confusion.

nuatha

Witless wrote: »

Conservative council?

Camden London Borough Council comprises 40 Labour Party councillors, 12 Conservative Party councillors, and one each for the Green Party and the Liberal Democrat Party. In 2013 one Labour councillor resigned the whip and serves as an Independent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_London_Borough_Council

My apologies for using Wiki as a source.

I was referring to the evacuations, not the fire.

Again, apologies for any confusion.

My apologies, I assumed you were referring to the fire.

The evacuations should have been better handled, though I can understand the assumed urgency - a second fire would have the media crucifying the relevant body (whether local authority, student landlord or Premier Inns) for not acting speedily enough.
Not making provision for babies and pets is not acceptable. Though no authority should actually have sufficient empty properties to handle an evacuation of this scale.

[Deleted User]

maryb wrote: »

It says it gives you extra talk time. Presumably it just extends the battery life so she could equally use it to get internet access to work out travel options?

Of course she could.

I suspect the reference to "talk time", was simply to differentiate it from "standby time", which will, of course, be longer.

[Deleted User]

jk0 wrote: »

never mind enough non-flammable cladding.

The buildings are perfectly usable without cladding, so there's no reason to keep the blocks empty, once the existing cladding has been removed.