I will try to summarise the key details and issues about this horrific event in London on Wednesday night, and its continuing aftermath.

Disclaimer — I have not provided sources for everything and am happy to be proven wrong. This post is meant as a consciousness raiser. If you are as incensed as I am, please do your own research and ask your own questions.

Grenfell Tower was a 24-storey council owned tower block in west London's affluent Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. On Wednesday night it became a towering inferno. At least 58 people were burned alive or died through smoke inhalation. Survivors were hospitalised or set up in temporary shelters. Just one look at the tower's burning husk shows the extent of the destruction.

At first look the sight was horrific; a building ablaze like a torch. As the story unfolded, and still unfolds, it appears there are darker forces at work. Forces that make this inferno—to my mind—one of the biggest political scandals in modern times.

There is so much depth to this situation that a list feels more appropriate than prose. Here is some of what we have been told so far:

• The tower block had no fire alarm, sprinkler system, fire hoses or communal fire extinguishers. There was no evacuation plan; on the contrary, residents were advised to stay inside and put wet towels at the base of their doors. That advice was clearly worse than useless.

• In 2015, most of the right-wing—Conservative or 'Tory'—ruling party voted against a bill to make the UK's rental homes "fit for habitation by humans"
  While this sounds awful—and it is—the bill applied only to private landlords. Grenfell Tower was managed by the local council, so does not fall into its remit. However, it does give a valuable insight into the mindset of the local Tory council.

• Grenfell Tower underwent extensive redevelopment in 2015-16
  But this did not include upgrades to fire safety. Quite the opposite if reports are to be believed. The whole tower was clad in some kind of flammable plastic. You read that correctly. Flammable plastic. The supplier has since confirmed that its fire-retardent equivalent would have cost a mere £6000 more. And why was it installed in the first place? To make Grenfell look more attractive to the wealthy neighbours.

• A blog post was written about Grenfell fire safety concerns in November last year
  Grenfell Action Group warned "that only an incident that results in serious loss of life of KCTMO (Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation) residents will allow the external scrutiny to occur that will shine a light on the practices that characterise the malign governance of this non-functioning organisation." As a result of the post, KCTMO threatened GAG with legal action.

• The Prime Minister, Theresa May, refused to meet with evacuated residents
  Later on Wednesday, Theresa May, the Conservative leader and current UK PM met with members of the emergency services without whose valiant actions many more lives would surely have been lost. Since 2010, the Tories have made significant cuts to fire, medical and police services under the guise of austerity. This is seemingly an attempt to privatise these services to serve the greed of the wealthy. May did not meet with the survivors for fear of—in my opinion—quite legitimate security concerns. But she could have addressed them as a whole, perhaps. She could have given them something. Instead she hid, and under mounting pressure has invited them to her residence for a face-to-face. She has also ordered an inquiry but, I understand, has not allowed residents to be represented by their own lawyers and also refuses to investigate the KCTMO!

• In 2013, then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson told a politician to "get stuffed" when he raised fire safety concerns
  This "clown with a flower that shoots acid" (I can't remember who said that) is now the UK Foreign Secretary and this kind of response to legitimate questioning in the public interest is entirely typical of his style.

• Most or many survivors still have not been rehoused.
  Some have been moved to hotels, others to accommodation miles away from their destroyed home. Reports suggest that they have been given little clear help or instruction by the KCTMO. Moreover, neighbouring Ealing council have stepped in to take control of the situation. Tellingly, Ealing has a left-wing—Labour—council. There was a huge protest at the KCTMO town hall on Thursday. These survivors deserve much better. So much better.

• Disaster tourists have had to be asked not to take selfies with the tower
  This would be beyond belief had I not seen the same thing happen at Ground Zero, New York in February 2002. Disgraceful beyond reason.

Analysis

There is so much more to say. There are so many more questions to be answered. (Eg. A journalist allegedly tried to gain access to a victim in hospital by posing as his friend.) There is so much more to this catastrophe.

But make no mistake, this is an act of criminal negligence. It could have been prevented. It has highlighted the stunning divide between rich and poor in the Western world. I call it a massacre because I can think of no better word.

A small light in this abyssal darkness is Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Here is a man who might have been Prime Minister if the election was this Thursday just gone, and not the one before. Here he is meeting, hugging and consoling Grenfell survivors like I can never imagine a Tory doing. Somebody please prove me wrong.

I hope for justice and a sea change in public policy.

Thank you for reading and I welcome your thoughts.

Photo courtesy of Natalie Oxford