These were "avoidable deaths" says the final Grenfell fire report. But no, quite evidently the 72 deaths were not avoidable - not under this profit-before- safety system, which continues to be so vehemently defended by the political establishment, be it right, left or centre!
This fire was caused by the profit motive: the perpetrators consciously put monetary gain before human life: a truism which has been repeated over and over - and above all, by the survivors of the fire themselves.
But every time there is a social catastrophe, the lengthy enquiry which follows leads everyone straight back to square one, no matter how honest and diligent the enquiry team may be. So, 7 years later, in the shadow of the burnt-out Tower, which is still wrapped up to disguise its charcoaled walls, survivors may well ask, where is "justice"? And where is "change"?
The fires foretold
Just over a week ago, fire broke out at a 7-story block of flats in Dagenham. It was having its flammable cladding removed - which they call "remediation"! The fire apparently started from building materials kept on the scaffolding which had been erected around the building, spreading within minutes to the whole block. It rapidly burnt out most of it, despite the best efforts of over 200 firefighters. A hundred residents have been left homeless, but fortunately, this time, all are alive.
This is the real and outstanding "scandal". The latest (official) government data shows that, 7 years after the Grenfell catastrophe, there are 4,613 residential buildings of 11 metres in height or more (those considered most at risk) with "unsafe" cladding... But remediation work has begun or been completed on only 50% of them... This means that to date there are still 2,331 buildings with unsafe cladding, in which people are having to live - or, in fact partly live!
Much of the time this is because the owners and freeholders refuse to pay for the work to be done and have handed the very large bill to residents. Which obviously throws a spanner in the works - and so these potential fire hazards remain!
Yet this situation could have been safely sorted out straight away, if, 7 years ago, the government had taken full responsibility for organising - and paying for - the immediate removal of all inflammable cladding everywhere, as the matter of urgency which it was - and is!
And yes, once the threat of fire had been removed, then all the parties responsible in the first place, could have been made to stand trial and be sentenced for their criminal negligence and their lethal greed. Government ministers' heads - of all stripes - would also have had to roll.
But no. The government of the day, Theresa May's in this case, just passed the buck.
The finger of blame
In fact these ignorant parrots of the bourgeoisie sitting in the House of Commons and the Kensington and Chelsea Borough council chamber who consistently supported "a bonfire of red tape" are just as much arsonists as the construction companies they represent. They not only cut safety regulations to ribbons, but cut the fire service, under-equipped it and ignored all of the many warnings from residents in the run-up to the actual fire on 14 June 2017.
Indeed the Grenfell fire was a fire fully foretold, and now on this very day on which the final enquiry report is published, there are 2,331 more such foretold fires...
So, what on earth is to be done about it?
Today the new prime minister, Labour's Keir Starmer, sanctimoniously gives the government's reaction: an "apology" on behalf of a state which failed the victims. Incredibly, he is echoed by Rishi Sunak who goes so far as to call this "a damning indictment of 30 years of state failure" Yes indeed, failure of your very own state!
So what conclusion is one meant to draw? To get justice, one must put "the state" on trial? Both these characters know full well that this "admission" of state responsibility means nothing. And Starmer has already told the population that "things can only get worse" thanks to the black hole he claims that the Tories left for his government. Which strangely enough is more or less the same amount - £22bn - dispensed with by the Tories with that National Insurance "tax cut" in April... which Labour supported! So for now, forget about even sorting out the 2,331 buildings with combustible cladding or ending the nightmare for their stranded residents.
The reality is that there is no way within this system to get change, nor to get justice. That will only come through revolution: when the profit system is completely overturned and replaced.