I think you're dead right Summer, when the object of everyones efforts should be in helping those affected, this whole thing has been hijacked by left wing rabble making naked political capital out of the misery of others. But hey, nothing new there...

Actually a huge amount more could have been done the council should have had an emergency action plan ready and waiting for such an event relatives people who were made homeless should have been taken to a place of safety give them food and water there they should have been given updates by professionals and not left to rely on the charity of the general public.
They should not have been left to be prayed upon by the vultures that are the media asking for the every emotion, they should not have been left to scratch around for information via news media social media and hear say it was badly organised it was a shambles and frankly the government should be darn well ashamed of themselves.
They let the people down and if the people now rebel they only have themselves to blame And I don't think the Tories would have been any more charitable towards the Labour government had they been in power then it is the other way around..Politics is a dirty business and we cannot expect any better from politicians one against the other but when it comes to dealing with homeless grief-stricken people we should and we must demand better treatment.

I can't agree with you there Cass. Knowing who was at the flats and who weren't, who escaped and who didn't. Many families must have been injured or overcome by smoke, so it certainly wouldn't have been easy to establish how many people were involved and how they had fared, when there could have been 500 people involved. I think priority was given to the residents of the block, not their families, and some people seemed to want to talk to the Press... it can help to talk in times of stress!

To a much lesser degree, I helped deal with a disaster, where a coach hit another and then crashed into my field... it was full of teenagers. I was first there so tried to comfort the 4 badly injured while I those who weren't sent to my house... where my elderly mum was making sweet tea, for shock! The police and ambulances were called so I stayed with the injured till the Air Ambulance arrived. Neither the police or I knew if any of the passengers had wandered off, so I told every one of them to phone home and let mum know they were OK... but don't mention any of the others.

Every neighbour on my road was at my house helping, it took 3 hours to get a coach to take the kids home, so they stayed at my house. It is a very long story, what happened that evening, but I have a great understanding, now, of how much work has to be done where there is an unexpected disaster( and I was dealing with just 40 teenagers).... so I don't criticize the speed it is done at or what is done!

Yes I agree with many of your points Cass in retrospect things could have been handled better. I hope my post about the victims of this disaster did not come over as uncaring, I cannot imagine the horror people went through in that building and I feel for the friends and relatives left with those thoughts for the rest of their lives.

I still think the situation is now being hijacked by people with sinister motives and I think to gain politically from the situation is immoral as has been said already people are very vulnerable right now, they need support and understanding.

Actually a huge amount more could have been done the council should have had an emergency action plan ready and waiting for such an event relatives people who were made homeless should have been taken to a place of safety give them food and water there they should have been given updates by professionals and not left to rely on the charity of the general public.
They should not have been left to be prayed upon by the vultures that are the media asking for the every emotion, they should not have been left to scratch around for information via news media social media and hear say it was badly organised it was a shambles and frankly the government should be darn well ashamed of themselves.
They let the people down and if the people now rebel they only have themselves to blame And I don't think the Tories would have been any more charitable towards the Labour government had they been in power then it is the other way around..Politics is a dirty business and we cannot expect any better from politicians one against the other but when it comes to dealing with homeless grief-stricken people we should and we must demand better treatment.

They may well have had a plan, most councils do have them and when my DIL was with St Johns Ambulance she attended many meeting in London where preparation were made for every kind of disaster.
The fire was on an unprecedented scale and came in the wake of two terrorist attacks which left hospitals full of casualties and the emergency services stretched and traumatised.
You can't plan for every conceivable eventuality.

I think at these times we should cut a bit of slack for council staff and not be so critical .

I was listening to an item on the radio after the Manchester terrorist attack from the emergency services explaining why there is often an unavoidable delay in notifying people about the retrievable dead or survivors in these situations.

They can't get it wrong, they have to be absolutely sure who someone is before releasing the details.
They say it is better to say nothing than to get it wrong.

I was disgusted to see the angry rent a mob scenes at the council offices. Yes, people are understandably distraught but outside political forces have turned it into a 'them and us' race issue.

Strange how we didn't see these people demonstrating after the Manchester bomb and the London attacks. I wonder why?