Tag Archives: grenfell tower fire

John Armah

Do Black Lives Matter to the Liberal Democrats?

By John Armah | Tue 26th May 2026 - 11:15 am

May 25th marked the sixth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. His death sparked a global conversation on race that I, like many, hoped would result in serious, systemic change. After the platitudes around black squares, the meaning of taking the knee and the rather depressing debate that followed, it is time for a different debate. What change has actually occurred and how do we as Liberal Democrats play an effective part in delivering systemic and lasting progress?

Rob Blackie and Roderick Lynch powerfully outlined how poor our performance was in inner London in the recent elections and, if we’re honest, in wider metropolitan areas across England, Wales and Scotland. Our cities are the youngest, most diverse and liberal parts of our country. The multicultural, multiracial team in Brent scored our greatest success in London and are now the official opposition. Frankly as a Liberal Democrat Party, we’ve seen years of hard work by urban local parties be submerged by a Green wave powered by a strong national message and an active social media presence.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 7 Comments
The Voice

Housing fire safety a civil emergency – Brinton

By The Voice | Sun 25th June 2017 - 9:55 am

Sal Brinton, who sits on the All Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group has said that the Government should declare a civil emergency over fire safety in tower blocks and compensate those who had been evacuated. During the flooding damage in 2015, the Government extended a Council Tax discount to help those who had been badly affected. Sal said that those evacuated should have their Council Tax suspended:

This is a civil emergency. The government must guarantee funding for local councils to do everything necessary to keep people safe and compensate those who have had their lives disrupted.

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
Chris Key

We can learn from the aviation industry about preventing and managing disaster

By Chris Key | Wed 21st June 2017 - 1:45 pm

Air travel is safer than it has ever been. Despite a 60% rise in worldwide passenger numbers in the ten year period to 2015, that year was the safest on record for aviation. The following year was the second safest.

So this begs the question of whether we should look to the aviation industry when we consider how to respond to future tragedies like the Grenfell fire.

Put quite simply the airline industry is very good at learning from past accidents and near misses to understand why these have happened and what changes need to be made to make flying safer.

As an example after the Manchester airport runway fire in 1985 in which 53 people died, procedures from how pilots should react to an on board fire on the ground, to the seating configuration on planes were altered.

Planes are taken out of service when deemed a safety risk  and parts changed, pilots are re-trained and technology moves on to adapt to the safety needs of the industry. National air accident investigation bodies from different countries share knowledge and often work together after a crash.

This gives passengers re-assurance that their odds of being caught up in a plane crash are incredibly low.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Eddie Sammon

Grenfell Tower fire: Answers, accountability and help are needed

By Eddie Sammon | Fri 16th June 2017 - 10:25 am

At approximately 00:54 on Wednesday morning an horrific fire was reported at Grenfell Tower in north Kensington, London. Within half an hour the flames were reported to have engulfed an entire side of the building, leaving many people trapped inside. We need answers and to do whatever we can to help the victims and ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.

Firstly, The Guardian has are some questions that need to be answered:

  • How did the fire start?
  • Why did the fire spread so quickly? Was the recently fitted new cladding at fault?
  • Did the new gas pipes, which were

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 33 Comments
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