After Grenfell

The LRB Podcast

London Review of Books

Society & Culture

4.4 • 581 Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry established that the fire on 14 June 2017, which killed 72 people, was the ‘culmination of decades of failure’. Every death was avoidable, and every death was the result of choices made by corporations, individuals and elected officials. James Butler, who writes about the report and its findings in the current issue of the LRB, joins Tom to discuss the causes and consequences of the fire and whether those responsible will be brought to justice. Read James's piece: https://lrb.me/butlergrenfell Sponsored links: Use the code 'LRB' to get £100 off Serious Readers lights here: https://www.seriousreaders.com/lrb To find out about financial support for professional writers visit the Royal Literary Fund here: https://www.rlf.org.uk/ Discover the LRB's subscription podcast, Close Readings, and audiobooks here: https://lrb.me/audio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the LRB podcast is sponsored by Serious Readers,
0:04.2	whose reading lights use daylight wavelength technology, replicating the daylight spectrum as closely as possible,
0:10.1	to help you read in comfort for longer, without eye strain, especially as the evenings are drawing in.
0:16.3	Serious readers' lights are recommended by more than 500 opticians, and they're easy to adjust with a
0:21.6	flexible arm and a dimmer function. Words really stand out on the page with the higher contrasts
0:27.8	that the HD light provides. So if you'd like to make reading enjoyable again with less eye
0:33.5	fatigue during darker evenings, visit www.seriousreaders.com forward slash LRB and use the promo code LRB to get £100 off any HD light
0:45.3	with free delivery in the UK. And there's a 30-day risk-free trial, so if for any reason
0:51.5	you're not happy with it, you can return the light within 30 days for free.
0:55.6	That address again, it's www.com. You're listening to the London Review of Books podcast. I'm Thomas Jones, and I'm joined today by my
1:23.8	colleague James Butler, a contributing editor at the LRB who has a piece in the new issue
1:28.2	on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Hello, James, and thank you very much for talking with me today.
1:33.6	Hi, it's always a pleasure to be here. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry's final report
1:38.3	was published on the 4th of September, which is more than seven years after the fire. I suppose perhaps to begin,
1:45.7	you could remind us, though we shouldn't need reminding, and perhaps, you know, we don't want
1:49.9	to have to listen to this, but we should have to listen to it. What happened on that night,
1:54.3	on the 14th of June 2017? Right. Well, I mean, just to say at the start, I think that's right.
1:59.8	And one of the things that I think has confronted all of us over the process of this inquiry is how rapidly these things fade into memory, even when they're extraordinary outrages. So the story of that evening is really the story of quite an ordinary household appliance fire.
2:17.6	It's probably about half midnight, maybe slightly earlier,
2:21.1	and a whirlpool fridge in a flat on the fourth floor
2:24.5	belonging to a guy called Baha'alukebede,
2:27.7	it's Ethiopian guys, an Uber driver who's come home and fallen asleep.
	...

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