It’s eight years yesterday since the Grenfell Tower fire. The tower is about to be demolished at last but while it’s been standing it has been a strongly visible reminder of what happened, a reminder that people in other similar blocks are still waiting for cladding to be removed and replaced.
“There is the fear that once that tower comes down, they’ll be forgotten,” said Nina Mendy, whose aunt, Mary Mendy, and cousin, Khadija Saye, died in their flat on the 20th floor. “It’s the uncertainty of what next year a memorial will look like. It’s like we’ve been told what’s going to happen, rather than been consulted – it’s almost like being a child.”
Survivor David Benjamin, who was in his girlfriend’s flat on the fourth floor at the time of the fire, said that eight years on from the tragedy, he hoped that “people would remember that it wasn’t just a building – it was our home”.
There is going to be a memorial but the fear is that there will be too long a gap between demolition of the tower and the establishment of a permanent memorial might be too long. Survivor Antonio Roncolato, who lived on the 10th floor, said, “I feel that the time has come for the tower to be taken down. But for me it’s important there is a plan in place – that the tower is not dismantled and then the ground remains sealed off for a year. For me, it’s very important that events like this take place and that we keep breathing down the necks of our politicians to make sure that the recommendations from the public inquiry are implemented.”
It’s amazing how slowly some things move.
As tension in Iran and Israel mounts, and our chancellor has apparently told Sky News that UK military could “potentially” be used to defend Israel, Zarah Sultana MP once again appeals for more sensible action:
“If the UK government wants to defend Israel militarily, put it to a vote in Parliament.
Let the country see which MPs support a genocidal state.”
We need more MPs like Zarah Sultana.
Here’s an ancient quotation from John Lennon:
“Working class people around the world have no innate desire to go to war with each other. They have to be conned into it by sociopaths who will profit from it.”
And here’s one from the late, great Kurt Vonnegut:
"You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society."
In the USA, as well as having the US Army 250th Anniversary Parade, which coincided with Mr Trump’s 79th birthday yesterday, there were huge demonstrations nationwide known as the No Kings protests, also No Kings Day and No Dictators Day. The protests were aimed at opposing the policies and actions of Mr Trump’s administration and follow days of demonstrations against ICE raids in Los Angeles and other cities.
The No Kings theme was created by the 50501 movement. 50501 is short for "50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement”; it is a grassroots political organization founded to protest the policies and actions he second Donald Trump administration. The group organized several nationwide demonstrations starting on February 5, 2025, with anti-Trump rallies. Critics and activists compared Trump to an absolute monarch: hence the name No Kings. Its message: "We reject authoritarianism. We reject fear. We reject tyrants.”
Here’s a photo of the demonstrations in Philadelphia.
And an ironic dog protest:
On a lighter note, here’s a bit of Spike Milligan:
Smiling is infectious
You catch it like the flu
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too
I walked around the corner
And someone saw me grin
When he smiled I realised
I had passed it on to him
I thought about the smile
And then realised its worth
A single smile like mine
Could travel round the world
So if you feel a smile begin
Don’t leave it undetected
Start an epidemic
And get the world infected.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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