Towerblock on Fire in West London

[Lyanna Stark]

12 hours ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

So, not free. Merely below market rate.

Considering the prices of housing in London, that basically means "a rent somewhat more approaching affordable", especially for people in non high-paying jobs (even though it seems to me, people in the lower half of the earning spectrum are generally supposed to not be seen, heard or make any demands what so ever on anything. :/ )

 

@williamjm Oh good grief, how can these people live with themselves after having ignored the advice since 2010? How can they sleep at night?? Fireproofing buildings to save lives should be a complete non-issue to prioritise.

[Lordsteve666]

One huge issue is that people assume because it's London that all people there are rich and well off and able to afford good homes, insurance and the like. They totally forget that there is a much less well off population who are doing all the shitty jobs to keep the basic city infrastructure running. Who do they think empties the bins, or stacks the shelves in shops, or goes round sweeping the street, cleaning drains etc. Those are the poorer people who are forgotten by a lot of people because they are the "invisible" background operators of the city.

It's the same in most places, but in rich and well off cities like London, Edinburgh, Aberdeen it's even more jarring. People forget that if you take away the bankers, financial services or oil industry these places are still full of thousands of low paid poorly looked after underclasses. But nobody at the top gives a shit because they will get no return on any investment in these people.

This is the scenario that led to Grenfel tower happening. Those in power, as well as the more well off don't want to deal with the poorest parts of society, they'd sooner let it rot and hope nothing goes wrong to make people see the ugly truth.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

58 minutes ago, Lordsteve666 said:

One huge issue is that people assume because it's London that all people there are rich and well off and able to afford good homes, insurance and the like. They totally forget that there is a much less well off population who are doing all the shitty jobs to keep the basic city infrastructure running. Who do they think empties the bins, or stacks the shelves in shops, or goes round sweeping the street, cleaning drains etc. Those are the poorer people who are forgotten by a lot of people because they are the "invisible" background operators of the city.

It's the same in most places, but in rich and well off cities like London, Edinburgh, Aberdeen it's even more jarring. People forget that if you take away the bankers, financial services or oil industry these places are still full of thousands of low paid poorly looked after underclasses. But nobody at the top gives a shit because they will get no return on any investment in these people.

This is the scenario that led to Grenfel tower happening. Those in power, as well as the more well off don't want to deal with the poorest parts of society, they'd sooner let it rot and hope nothing goes wrong to make people see the ugly truth.

I think they'd much rather they move away to outside london so that the house prices can go right up again, and they don't have to look at the common people every day. 

Central london exists in a sort of bubble for some people. Having grown up on the outskirts of London and moved inwards over the years its like a completely different world sometimes. 

[SeanF]

Like a lot of big capital cities, there's a dearth of comfortably off professional people, the lower middle classes, and skilled working classes in Inner London, compared to smaller cities and large towns.  The gap between rich and poor is stark and in your face.  The middle groups just can't afford to live there.

I live in Luton, which despite its rough reputation, is a place where people on average earnings can afford to buy houses, and I enjoy a much better standard of living than I would if I lived in London.

[Isis]

5 hours ago, SeanF said:

I live in Luton, which despite its rough reputation, is a place where people on average earnings can afford to buy houses, and I enjoy a much better standard of living than I would if I lived in London.

It has a rough reputation?

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

8 minutes ago, Isis said:

It has a rough reputation?

Its bloody horrible.

[Lyanna Stark]

And more politicians suffer from foot in mouth disease apparently. "Lets get ourselves a hanging".

I love the non apology as well "This doesn't make me a bad man" and "I am sorry some people took offense", as if the people who found it bloody offensive are at fault??

[Castellan]

I was too depressed to watch that video. And saying pathetic bullshit ('my family like me!)' in his own defence. The same as the head of Kensington and Chelsea Council congratulating himself on receiving resounding support from his colleagues on the Council. Guess what, we don't think they are very good judges, and doubtless none of them want to take on the job at the point where it stops being easy and you start becoming accountable for bad decisions.

[SeanF]

18 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Its bloody horrible.

Parts of it are.  Where I live is very nice, and crucially, I can afford a much nicer property than I could get in London.

[Isis]

20 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Its bloody horrible.

But it does not have a 'rough reputation' to my knowledge. It's just a not-very interesting place not that far outside of London. A bit like Watford.

If I say I live in Streatham (which I do), people are like 'ooooh, really?' - as if it is terrifying. If you say Brixton, which is a couple of miles away from me people are horrified - because it has a rough reputation, people assume there are stabbings on the street every day (because a relatively high number of stabbings do occur in that part of London).

 

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

4 minutes ago, Isis said:

But it does not have a 'rough reputation' to my knowledge. It's just a not-very interesting place not that far outside of London. A bit like Watford.

If I say I live in Streatham (which I do), people are like 'ooooh, really?' - as if it is terrifying. If you say Brixton, which is a couple of miles away from me people are horrified - because it has a rough reputation, people assume there are stabbings on the street every day (because a relatively high number of stabbings do occur in that part of London).

 

I see your point, I guess it depends on your definition of rough. I'm guessing Sean meant it in a more 'run down' kind of way rather than in terms of violence. I've only been there a couple of times and parts of it are quite downtrodden, but only in the same way as a lot of other areas you'd find in London.

Luton does have a reputation as being a hotbed of racial tension however, there is a large muslim population and I know a lot of EDL activity targets the area because of this. 

[BigFatCoward]

Luton is a shitehouse, but not what I would call rough. And obviously it has a lot of woollybacked bogtrotters. 

[Lordsteve666]

10 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

woollybacked bogtrotters. 

That there is a masterpiece of name calling that I must try to use more often. 

[Isis]

22 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I see your point, I guess it depends on your definition of rough. I'm guessing Sean meant it in a more 'run down' kind of way rather than in terms of violence. I've only been there a couple of times and parts of it are quite downtrodden, but only in the same way as a lot of other areas you'd find in London.

Luton does have a reputation as being a hotbed of racial tension however, there is a large muslim population and I know a lot of EDL activity targets the area because of this. 

You get 'nice' and 'not so nice' areas of most places, even within small-ish towns. And yes, I'm sure there are some places where you're more likely to get EDL/BF activities. I have a friend in Grimsby and he would likely say the same.

[James Arryn]

Met a girl from Hull who swore it was a nice place. Tastes vary.

[Werthead]

On 2017-6-22 at 9:49 PM, James Arryn said:

Met a girl from Hull who swore it was a nice place. Tastes vary.

The UK City of Culture? Yeah, it's a pretty nice place, from the couple of times I've visited it.

[Jen'ari]

On 20/06/2017 at 11:09 AM, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I think they'd much rather they move away to outside london so that the house prices can go right up again, and they don't have to look at the common people every day. 

Central london exists in a sort of bubble for some people. Having grown up on the outskirts of London and moved inwards over the years its like a completely different world sometimes. 

I've lived in London for most of my life and am soon going to move out, honestly can't say I enjoy living here anymore and I live in a very nice part of it, still overcrowded, polluted and not somewhere I want to raise a family.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

1 hour ago, Lord Sidious said:

I've lived in London for most of my life and am soon going to move out, honestly can't say I enjoy living here anymore and I live in a very nice part of it, still overcrowded, polluted and not somewhere I want to raise a family.

Agree. Raising a family in London is an impossibility for most, or at least a road to extreme difficulty and belt tightening. The over crowding in the last few years is very noticeable

[Jen'ari]

22 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Agree. Raising a family in London is an impossibility for most, or at least a road to extreme difficulty and belt tightening. The over crowding in the last few years is very noticeable

For me it's not the financial aspect, I'm in a very fortunate position in that regard, it's more just that London isn't a nice place to live, I don't want to raise a child in somewhere so overcrowded, crime ridden and choked with diesel fumes, I'm considering emigrating to the US but if I don't I will probably move out to Surrey.

[ljkeane]

They're fire safety testing about 600 hundred high rise buildings and apparently the cladding on every building so far, about 60, has failed. That's not ideal.