Never shout fire in a crowded theatre.

Subject: Never shout fire in a crowded theatre.

How mad are we in this country.
Due to the findings regarding the terrible fire in the block of flats in Kensington and Chelsea, specifically the cladding which had been erected to make the block more modern and more in tune with the surrounding properties, suddenly there is an awareness of other blocks of flats around the country which have been clad with the same material and therefore pose a similar risk. So far so good.
The fact that the Fire regulations and the specifications regarding construction material had been ignored and that the Fire inspectorate seem to have been negligent in doing their job we now have the ludicrous situation where, in a neighbouring London borough the Fire authorities have, with the borough councils approval, chased residents of four high rise blocks out of their flats in the middle of the night. Not because there "was" a fire but because "if" there was a fire you would have the same catastrophe.

You can see the legal minds working. We are at fault in not overseeing the specification, the regulations, and the subsequent installation. We are guilty of gross inaction and therefore the thing to do is to act, irrespective of the hardship and chaos our decision, to act on the minute with immediate effect. Never mind the fact that for over three years the residents in the stricken block had offered their opinion that the flats were a death trap and the fire authorities has chosen to do nothing. Now we can show how proactive we can be. Out, Out, Out. 2am in the morning Out, Out we don't care, Out. It beggars belief that on the coattails of a massive blunder they would wish to repeat the blunder in such an insensitive way.

With only 4 blocks at risk why not post fire wardens in all the blocks so that if the very unlikely fact that a fire would start they had trained people to lead the people to safety.
Evacuate the flats systematically in the morning, allow the collection and removal of personal belongings and handle the situation with sympathetic humanity.
There is a strain of thinking amongst those in power in this country that the underclass are vassals in some feudal landscape unfit to any sort of consideration and of course, the threat of litigation bears even more heavily on their dark hearts.