Of course it was an appalling tragedy. Of course ones heart goes out to those who died and to those who were injured and to those who grieve after the Grenfell Tower fire. But four weeks on the demands of the survivors grow louder and they are in many cases just plain unreasonable. Anyone who dissents from their demands for justice (on their terms), free unicorns and whatever else is their "right" is flamed as an uncaring, heartless bastard. At the risk of being viewed thus...
There are some who say that the old, rather posh and Cambridge educated white Judge appointed to lead the enquiry should be fired as he cannot relate to and empathise with the victims. Hell's teeth the man's job is to find out the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Not to hug a victim. That is what Prince William or Jeremy Corbyn are for.
These calls display a wider prejudice that is abroad in Britain today. Perhaps, as an ageing, white, fairly posh but certainly upper middle class man who went to Oxford I am not allowed to suggest that some of us in that category - and even some fellows from Cambridge - are actually quite clever. Surely we want clever folks heading up enquiries like this? But we live in an era when affirmative action is regarded as universally welcome and meritocracy seen merely as a mechanism to keep folks like Sir Martin Moore-Bick in well paid jobs. Move over Sir Martin for someone more "qualified" in a post fact sort of way.
I note that 14 families from the tower have so far been rehoused. Only 14? That is a disgrace say you. But then we learn that 149 offers of accommodation have been made but 135 have been rejected as not good enough. Let us be straight most of these folks were Council tenants but they are rejecting properties that are the same size because they are not good enough. As one chap told Radio 4's Today show this morning as he justified turning down a place without seeing it "they had not read my demands." He added that the place was 30 minutes walk away. Hell's teeth, if you are not picking up the tab is a 30 minute walk really a breach of your human rights? Simply because your flat burned down you have no right to demand an upgrade to a place & location of your choice. But to demand sympathy when you do not get your "demands" met really is pushing it. The victims equate "demands" with "rights". There are no rights here.
And we also have the thorny issue of subletting. One reason that we cannot know exactly who died yet is that subletting was rife at Grenfell Tower as indeed it is in council accommodation across central London and even into the newly fashionable parts of the East End. Here is how it works. I pay a minimal amount to the Council for my 2 bed flat in Grenfell Tower. I then sub let that flat at market rates - £2000 pcm which sounds a lot but when the new "tenant" can claim the lot back on Housing Benefit it is really not that hard to find. With that £2000 I go and rent larger property like a 2 bed terraced house in a downmarket part of London - try East Ham - for £1100 pcm ( yes I found a place on the internet at that price). I thus net £900 pcm tax free for doing nothing. Chuck in all the usual welfare benefits and bob's your uncle. What is not to like?
Well what is not to like is that you are stealing from the taxpayer and by sub-letting you are allowing someone to jump the waiting list for a Council flat in Kensington. You wonder why there are big waiting lists for Council properties in London? Endemic sub-letting is a real issue. As far as I have seen those who were illegally sub-letting are now being offered new free accommodation. Why?
So is the Egyptian tenant of Grenfell Tower who was initially feared dead but then appeared alive and kicking saying he had been on holiday in Egypt. Oddly this fellow - living on benefits - was in the UK having gained political asylum because he would have been persecuted in Egypt. Natch he too has a "right" to new free accommodation. As of course do the various illegal immigrants who lived in Grenfell Tower. They now have a "right" to demand not only permission to stay here though there is not standard factual basis for that but to get full benefits and free housing too. We ignore the fact that more unicorns for the illegals means fewer unicorns for those who are genuinely entitled to free housing and welfare.
Meanwhile folks from miles around appear to be complaining that they remain traumatised and have yet to be offered the counselling they were promised which is, of course, one of their "human rights". One wonders how our grandparents managed to survive the blitz with this basic human right not on offer.
Slowly some folks are starting to ask these awkward questions but to do so risks being slated and demonised. I suspect that as some residents hold out forever and a day insisting that their demands, however unreasonable, are simply a basic human right, more and more folks will stand up and say that compassion has to have some limit.