Austerity’s Inferno

“Accepting fraud from our leaders means accepting fraud in our personal lives” – DaShanne Stokes

Sadiq Khan goes directly to the scene to offer solidarity and support, and understandably is on the receiving end of frustration, anger and abuse from traumatised local residents. Jeremy Corbyn does the same, doing his best to offer support and listening to the frustrations of the community. The Queen - yes, the Queen - is attending the scene today with Prince William. Each of them, in their own way, understands that most fundamental of human requirements in such situations - compassion. Whether that's in the form of sympathy or empathy is redundant; as leaders they comprehend that it is incumbent on them to be seen as well as heard, if for no other reason than to give the grieving, stunned populace somewhere to direct their ire.

And where was our glorious leader, the Prime Minister with no mandate, Theresa the Appeaser? Well, she popped in to do the obligatory thanking of emergency services at the scene, citing security concerns as her reason for not meeting the locals. Security concerns? So these other leaders felt safe enough to show solidarity but she didn't? What about showing a hint of sympathy or empathy for people whom the very notion of security - being in a safe home - has just been extinguished in the most horrific of circumstances? Maybe she had an appointment to go and run through some fields of wheat.

I am beginning to have a profound dislike for this Prime Minister and her government. She has demonstrated a singular inability to engage with ordinary people, a remarkable appetite for u-turns and a penchant for opportunism and vapid soundbites. Like her government, she takes no responsibility for the impact that punitive, austerity-centred policies have been having on public services and the people who are most dependent on them. And despite being a vicar's daughter (or perhaps because she is one) she cannot seem to apply the notion of 'loving thy neighbour as thyself' unless the neighbour has a detached house and a salary in excess of £80,000. Kensington and Chelsea Council (KCC), who have been the flagship Tory Council for decades (although Wandsworth might dispute) are symptomatic of the disdain that this government has for the poor, the vulnerable and the destitute. As opposed to actually improving the internal living conditions of their tenants, they were far more concerned with bettering the external aesthetics of Grenfell Tower so as not to make the wealthier residents choke on their quinoa salads, kale smoothies and chai lattes. Come on - it's important to make the Russian and Arab super-rich feel welcome for the 2 months a year they spend in the capital.

And KCC are not alone. All over London - in fact all over the country - local authorities are evicting poorer tenants with an enthusiasm that borders on zealotry. Housing estates are literally being ethnically cleansed as we speak. For every Oliver and Annabel that has moved in to Dalston, an Ade & Zainab has been moved out to Hastings, Ramsgate, Southend or wherever else they can be dumped. I don't blame Oliver or Annabel but I do blame the grubby politicians and developers who would rather raze all of these estates to the ground in order to accommodate wealthier clientele. The bedroom tax, social welfare reform, the suggestion that council tenants should pay market rates for social housing - this government has continually assaulted the poor and compounded it by refusing to fund the support services they need to survive the austerity policies.

Britain has suffered recently and London more than most. But this tragedy rankles in a way that no others did, or have. And that's because even without knowing all of the facts, a lot of us understand the anger and frustration of these residents. If you've ever had to report a need for repairs for the 87th time in 3 months to your housing association or had to spend an entire day in the housing office and STILL not receive any meaningful help or support you'll look at this apocalyptic scene and KNOW it could have been you. That could have been you holding your child over a balcony, willing to hurl them in to the abyss, hoping, praying that they might survive whilst just as surely knowing that you were going to perish. That could have been you choosing whether to jump or be burned alive. That could have been you, trapped in a high-rise coffin and possibly thinking as your final thoughts, "we told them this would happen."

Grenfell Tower, I weep with you, I weep for you. We are with you in any way we can be. When austerity was first trumpeted by a bunch of public schoolboys and schoolgirls, they said, "we're all in it together." They were and are f***ing liars. But hopefully we're all in it together now and the morally bankrupt leaders of KCC will experience the criminal justice system first-hand. Finally, please spare a thought for those survivors in hospital who get a visit from Theresa May. That's surely the last thing they need.