Grenfell...

Life imitates art

'Private Eye' has fallen through my letterbox fortnightly for over forty years and is the reason why I've managed to remain relatively sane all those years

Amongst its numerous indispensible parodies is:

From the message boards

"From the message boards" is a parody of on-line discussion threads (especially those of BBC Radio 5 Live) whose users publish their comments using pseudonyms and are usually notable for extreme political or social attitudes expressed in poorly written English. The feature includes several recurring characters:

Bogbrush who usually sets the ball rolling by noting a recent news item and then adds an effusive comment ("Great stuff guys!"), once the theme has been expanded.
Hayley 321, who frequently mis-interprets the comments of others and always starts hers with "not bein funny but...". For example, in response to a comment reading "And William has issue now, with the arrival of Prince George!" Hayley 321 wrote "not bein funny but has he got issue's with baby george? thats sad maybe they can get family councilling?"
Metric Martyr, a right-wing commentator who frequently bemoans "political correctness", the BBC and the EU, and also referred to white Britons as an "ethnic minority".
Hatfield Gooner, presumably a supporter of Arsenal FC from his name (the club's supporters are often informally referred to as "Gooners", a corruption of the club's official nickname "The Gunners"). This contributor frequently makes off-topic and off-colour jokes or insulting comments about other board users and is something of an Internet troll.
Justice4Maddy, who in every contribution, attempts to link any given topic under discussion to either the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann or related matters, no matter how irrelevant or removed from the topic at hand these may be.
FamilyMan, an aggressive father who often threatens to "do time" (go to prison) rather than allow his children to be approached by persons, usually topical figures or celebrities, under discussion on the message board.
Brown Out – similar to Metric Martyr, this contributor frequently laments various "injustices" suffered by the British people at the hands of perceived political correctness and liberal values. The name is related to former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a further joke being that Brown lost power in 2010, yet Brown Out still demands his resignation.
Athelstan, a fanatical English nationalist who always opens his contributions with the words "As an Englishman with a thousand years of Angelfolc blood coursing through my veins..." Athelstan is able to bring the conversation around to the apparent decline of "authentic" English identity, regardless of the topic at hand. The name comes from the first king of England Æthelstan, from whom later kings claimed to descend to add legitimacy to their claim to the throne.
Sword of Truth, who concludes a debate on whatever subject with "Time to end the disastrous democratic experiment".
Meat Isn't Necessarily Murder, a member of the fictitious "Committee For Consensual Cannibalism", a group of people who eat each other, having asked each other's permission first. No matter how far removed the subject from cannibalism, he will always draw the subject to the fight for consensual cannibalism.
Stokie Steve, an aggressive Stoke City fan who concludes his posts with "come to stoke and we will kick your f***ing head in", or words to that effect.


(Wikipedia)

Think a large % of those would be the make up of betfair forum nutjobs very funny...but uncannily true:lol:
 
who do you think bombed Manchester and killed people at London Bridge ?? you stupid idiot , and why are you so obsessed with the EDL ? ive not seen any news reporting that they,ve let off bombs or stabbed people with machetes whilst they were in restaurants. btw i am not a member of the EDL , i just live in a city where these atrocities have happened and will again , you keep safe in your safe little town **** everyone else A. you never know they might move all the illegal immigrants out of the tower down to your town ,, i would love to see that REFUGEES WELCOME BUT NOT WHERE I LIVE , HAHAHA

Silence is Golden. Now they are giving all the illegals an amnesty ( great decision not ) maybe you could invite a few down to your neck of the woods , as you seem to care so much.
 
Looks like white van mans going to be doing at 20year stretch nice....:cool: should get the right wingers seething!!!
 
I've said this before, but its mainly about who's right and wrong, not left or right, Gigs.

Not everyone on the left, is cushy with mass migration.

The London-left obviously have their own enhanced multi-cultural identity, so therefore a bit different from what people in a mining village up North might think.

Likewise, don't believe everyone on 'the right' is happy about white supremacy groups either.

The main point I've gleaned in 2017, more than ever, is that a private view, is often totally different to a public view.

Some of us know this from contributng to this forum, thinking we are sharing our private viewpoints, then realising we are bound by the norms of a public forum.

The spectrum of viewpoints reasonably minded people have these days, is so diverse, that what a fair person might think in private.... when said publicly...could be assumed to be extreme, bigoted, or even racist, by another segment, of the otherwise, reasonable public.

The dynamic is pretty diverse alright...
 
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As a local resident to this appalling disaster (its 5mins walk from my house) it was very distressing to see the effects of the fire which i could see from my garden.

The media has a lot to answer for as they have been camped out since it happened and could be accused of fuelling the hatred and mistrust for anyone even vaugely involved in the council or government that might have had even a passing involvement in the building. Several friends have complained to me about media intrusion either directly by them having microphones shoved in their faces within an hour of the event to all local roads being closed to allow the media circus to camp out.

And as for the charity record - the so called caring stars were literally 2mins from the tower when they recorded the song but did any of them actually go down to talk to the people affected or was their conscience eased by posing outside the studio with a smile and bottle of water along with their designer clothes?

There will be many people to blame and i am sure there will also be a partial cover up to ensure no one important has to take the flak. But what is starting to annoy me is the continual reporting of what the residents will be getting - new flat (fair enough), fully furnished (whose paying - not them despite the £250k they are getting from the funds / government), immigration status waived (and its true some flats were densely and illegally occupied), relations being flown in and visas granted (how many will refuse to return?) plus rent paid at old rate and no council tax (then again if they were on benefit they wouldn't have been paying!)

The calls for the residents to be rehomed immediately was never go to be possible - with the best will in the world you cannot magic 120 flats in one neighbourhood overnight. Again media fuelling the fire.

Its a tragedy but sometimes we need to step back, allow authorities to have the time to do what is required right first time and not move residents about several times and give them all space to grieve and start to rebuild their lives without throwing anyone under the wheels of a bus.
 
White van man deserves all he gets , but i if the Islamist Terrorists scum keep on , its got to erupt sooner or later , hopefully not, but people are starting to get very agitated .
 
Can I also just add to my post that whilst I may be local and therefore a resident of the Royal Borough I am also in social housing along with all my other friends in the area so I am not speaking as one of the "not in my back yard" brigade or over privileged few with multi million pound residences.

We have the Carnival happening in 6 weeks - its not my "bag" and never has been so usually go away to escape but this year I am doubly grateful for escaping as there is an undercurrent in some pockets of the community (no guesses for which) that there will be retaliation against the Council for these events and with people coming from all across London (theres usually several unreported gang attacks each year) it worries me that it wont take much for there to be unprecedented levels of violence against the police (who arent even local and are drafted in from all over the country) and some will use the Grenfell area as a starting point for protests which will quickly turn ugly.

If riots do break out at the event it will be not further their cause and quite possibly turn even more people against them - the local area is already on a knife edge and will not take a lot of tipping to take it over. The level of violence will be worse than seen a few years back.
 
The calls for the residents to be rehomed immediately was never go to be possible - with the best will in the world you cannot magic 120 flats in one neighbourhood overnight. Again media fuelling the fire.

You should perhaps remember that all unitary authorities are required to produce, review, and update a civil emergency plan. These plans are designed to be more than capable of coping with the loss of a single tower block. They're supposed to be robust to cope with widespread displacements of tens of thousands, multiple deaths, and events covering things from epidemic outbreaks up to nuclear attack. Central government also holds very extensive reserve powers that they delegate at their discretion. To be honest, an evacuation of an accommodation block and rehousing (which is what this amounts to for logistical purposes) should easily fall within the compass of being manageable. Camden put theirs into action within hours. Also worth noting is that the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea is reported as having £120m in reserves (I think its significantly less having read their accounts) but they still have the resources to fund this themselves

All in all, I'd be pretty confident what's happened here, (the clues are there) but doubtless it will be swept under the carpet
 
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Think that was a 1.01 swept under carpet,what we expect from this lot, also are we now to believe the final amount presumed dead is 79 havn't heard a thing for days what the hell is going on and if that's the case let's see the full residents list etc..
 
Within the unitary plan does it allow for the residents all to be rehoused within 1m of their previous property? I am not disputing or arguing that this should have happened but do the plans move the affected away from the area?

Camden managed it but they didnt start moving tenants until the plan was in place - RBKC didnt have that luxury and there were far too many chiefs trying to get brownie points or assign blame to others and not enough Indians to carry out any instructions.

I passed one of the churches on my way home that first evening and it was total chaos - there must have been 30+ people organising and cars all over hte place dropping off emergency supplies but no one person seeme to be in charge. That's probably one lesson that Camden has taken on board and it looked more organised

In the digital age it would have been so quite simple to set up a shared google page and add all the information on like who was there, what clothes etc have been dropped off so those affected could find what they need easily and not stress. That could also have covered offers of accommodation etc. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but like you say there was a plan in place and it was obviously not followed or suitable for purpose.
 
Can I also just add to my post that whilst I may be local and therefore a resident of the Royal Borough I am also in social housing along with all my other friends in the area so I am not speaking as one of the "not in my back yard" brigade or over privileged few with multi million pound residences.

We have the Carnival happening in 6 weeks - its not my "bag" and never has been so usually go away to escape but this year I am doubly grateful for escaping as there is an undercurrent in some pockets of the community (no guesses for which) that there will be retaliation against the Council for these events and with people coming from all across London (theres usually several unreported gang attacks each year) it worries me that it wont take much for there to be unprecedented levels of violence against the police (who arent even local and are drafted in from all over the country) and some will use the Grenfell area as a starting point for protests which will quickly turn ugly.

If riots do break out at the event it will be not further their cause and quite possibly turn even more people against them - the local area is already on a knife edge and will not take a lot of tipping to take it over. The level of violence will be worse than seen a few years back.
bally
you clearly know whats going on , so why wont you say who the gangs are ? i will say it for you , they are 99% Black gangs, there you go . why cant people tell the truth without being classed as Racist, if and when the riots breakout you can be sure the Guardian will not be reporting it.
 
First off, please dont shorten my name that shows a lack of respect.

Secondly, I do not know what is going on or who the gangs are - my post clearly states that friends of mine who live closer to the tower block than I have indicated that tensions are running high in the community - a community which is made up of Irish, Jamacain, Moroccon and Somalian nationals. Take from that what you will regarding the gangs but dont presume that 99% are black or that I am racist. If you watched the news the people who stormed the Council offices were not black - and whilst the fire was taking hold, the police line was stormed by young muslims men accusing the police of being racist because they were stopped from attempting to reenter the burning block to locate families. All this whilst the fire brigade were trying to get into the flats but were hindered by this group.

I have not visited the site out of respect to those who lost their lives as the tower block is for all intents and purposes a gravesite. The police regualrly turn people away who come just to take photos - and this will only get worse during Carnival.

Have you decided that I am racist because I dont like Carnival or that I suggseted that the community would riot - neither of which makes me racist.
 
Ozgood is best ignored, Ballydoyle.
Living in Talbot Green you really no nothing about what were talking about ,so keep your nose out Country Boy, Ballydoyle i was not calling you a Racist. the carnival is ok in the day but of a night its a jungle of violence which hardly gets reported.
 
I see we are still on toll of 79,as predicted at beginning of thread 2 months down the line will gradually get drip fed some sort of total,see resident at Grenfell is now working out people missing just from friends she knew in the tower with her relatives and she has a total of 130,they are just the ones they knew...
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40445069
The above would seem to give a number of logical reasons for he lack of clarity in numbers. Not quite so intriguing as a conspiracy by the child eating Tories. As for for instant Justice now( before all the facts are clear) a good target for vilification could be the guy charged with inventing a family living in the block and seeking compensation.
 
Judge already admitting he won't be able to appease the victims,what a surprise that is,don't worry i'm sure in 2 years time all will be sorted...:ninja:
 
Cladding was switched to save £300,000,of course lets not make this political no no that's such bad taste,fcuk off..
 
yes it seems most were not British born , if you think they were all scroungers , then that,s your opinion, i dont think it matters what government is in charge ,all governments would bury this, they all look after each other , your never going to change that, they have the power , something will happen soon to deflect this, 99% not in your town tho concerned citizen , REFUGEES WELCOME BUT NOT WHERE I LIVE,, PLEASE
 
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