Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread [5]

[Lancebloke]

Me too. And there were 3 people There when I did mine at 10am. Sure most would be in the evening after work.

Let's see what happens next!

[Mrs Figg]

just vote Labour.

But Diane Abbott!

I know. But she has done a bunk.

[chris63]

BBC Sport‏Verified account @BBCSport 22m22 minutes ago
More
Saudi football chiefs have apologized after the national team refused to join a London Bridge minute's silence.
http://bbc.in/2sJy9I8

Disgusting.

[Mrs Figg]

what is going on in Qatar?

[Lancebloke]

World Cup soon apparently.

[azriel]

World cup ? I have trouble registering that phrase seeing how so much of the world cant stand the other half of the world, what with bombings & race crimes, corruption, mutilations & just about any other crudity human wants to inflict on human. How about "Selective World Cup" ? Then you could pick & choose who's been naughty or nice this year ? Even the Eurovision gets fraught & tense & that's just over songs. I get the feeling as camera's go back stage to view singers that IL see a big guy in black wielding a gun of some sort.

[chris63]

Big fire in London tower block.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-40269625

[Lancebloke]

Looks like a pretty bad one.

[halfwise]

World cup ? I have trouble registering that phrase seeing how so much of the world cant stand the other half of the world, what with bombings & race crimes, corruption, mutilations & just about any other crudity human wants to inflict on human. How about "Selective World Cup" ? Then you could pick & choose who's been naughty or nice this year ? Even the Eurovision gets fraught & tense & that's just over songs. I get the feeling as camera's go back stage to view singers that IL see a big guy in black wielding a gun of some sort.

That's nothing compared to baseball's "World Series" Canada and USA.

[azriel]

I saw that horrible bit of news also It looks so horrific I don't remember seeing a tower block on fire so aggressively before. Those poor people.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{Horrific and terrifying. Something somewhere has gone terribly wrong- those blocks are supposed to be built so that fires will be contained within the flat it starts in. And that block was recently supposedly 'refurbished'.
If this turns out to be caused by 'austerity' it might just finish May and her conservatives. }}

[halfwise]

I don't understand how these big buildings, which obviously are not built of wood, can burn so much. I do have wood floors, and then drapes and furniture...but should ceiling material be flammable? should brick, concrete, steel burn? I have to think the fire in on apartment weakens the concrete above it, which collapses and the fire spreads. Gives you the heeby-jeebies to think about.

[Eldorion]

The fire seems to have spread largely due to the cladding that was added during the renovation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/14/caused-grenfell-tower-fire-theories-fire-chiefs-will-examine/

Fire safety expert Graham Fieldhouse told BBC London the spread of the fire, which witnesses said took only 15 minutes to engulf the building, may have been exacerbated by the wrong materials being used and it had echoes of the 2009 Lakanal House tower block fire in Camberwell that killed six people.

"This is very different from normal fires we see within blocks flats because normally we deal with what's internal," he said.

"But the external spread of fire, which seems to be the case that happened here, is nothing new though because Lakanal was partly an external spread."

Said cladding was added for insulation and to improve the appearance of the building in its increasingly gentrified surroundings.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-cladding-fire-cause-improve-kensington-block-flats-appearance-blaze-24-storey-west-a7789951.html

[David H]

.but should ceiling material be flammable?  should brick, concrete, steel burn?  

There are trade-offs. You might not want a lot of brick or concrete in the ceiling over your head in an earthquake for example, unless there was a lot of steel with it.

A bare, soviet style tilt-slab apartment building is amazingly fireproof (but would you want to live there?)

[Mrs Figg]

what is the prat Trump doing to Cuba?

[David H]

what is the prat Trump doing to Cuba?

Nothing yet. For now he's just "showboating", promising to undo everything Obama ever did but giving us no details.
(mostly I think he's trying to talk about anything but Russia and emoluments. )

[halfwise]

He's making some minor changes, mainly making things worse as usual, but not a total undo.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{{ You know the worst thing about the Grenfell fire tragedy is that it should have been prevented. The warnings were all there. And not just hints either but the full story.

There are no tower blocks in Scotland which have this cladding and for a very good reason- we had our own towerblock tragedy in Irvine in 1999 in which 1 died and 5 were injured by fire. The cladding was identified then as being the issue.

'... then local MP, Brian Donohoe, said at the time he believed there was something "quite wrong" in the use of the cladding....the Labour MP pushed for a parliamentary inquiry into the extent of the problem.
The review - by the select committee on environment, transport and regional affairs - was set up quickly and reported back in January 2000....the inquiry suggested most external cladding being used in the UK did not pose "a serious threat to life or property in the event of fire".
But the report added: "Notwithstanding... we do not believe that it should take a serious fire in which many people are killed before all reasonable steps are taken towards minimising the risks."- BBC

Sadly this clearly did not happen in England and it take a serious fire before anyone reacted but fortunately in Scotland building regs are devolved.

'The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 introduced the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004...contains the mandatory regulation: "Every building must be designed and constructed in such a way that in the event of an outbreak of fire within the building, or from an external source, the spread of fire on the external walls of the building is inhibited."
The Scottish government said on Friday that no local authority or housing association high-rises in Scotland used the cladding installed on Grenfell Tower.'- BBC


Given this I really dont see how the government can avoid manslaughter charges. They knew of the problem, their own committee recommended dealing with it, then did noting about it. }}}

[halfwise]

I just read that a survey found 60 high rises in London with the same problem. Should be hell to pay if nothing is done.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ According to the BBC-

'The government said 75 buildings in 26 council areas had now failed fire safety tests - every one tested so far......"All I can say at the moment is they don't pass any safety tests."'

And more local authorities still to report back in. So expect that number to go up as its just a drop in the ocean potentially-

'Cladding from as many as 600 tower blocks across England is being tested for safety.' }}}

[Mrs Figg]

so they bribed the DUP then. £1.500 billion quid.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Yup a shameless straight up bribe. Cash for votes. Funny how May was deriding Corbyn during the campaign saying there was no magic money tree then she can pull a billion out from down the back of the Downing St sofa when she needs a bribe. }}

[Mrs Figg]

its shameful, embarrassed to be British. Again.

[Lancebloke]

People may not all like Destiny the game, but the community is doing some awesome things...

www.twitch.tv/guardiancon

[Pettytyrant101]

{{Always good to see when gamers make that extra effort for a good cause. }}