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Eric Pickles , one in a long line of David Cameron’s ministers in charge of housing, was questioned about the role deregulation had played in the Grenfell disaster.
The inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick , found otherwise.
This refusal to acknowledge the truth by people high up in government is what Karim Mussilhy was talking about when he told us for our National Theatre play: “The system isn’t broken. The system was built specifically this way to keep us where we are and them where they are”.
As the years have rolled by, the atmosphere of the marches has begun to change.
Though the marchers are still silent, the posters they carry now call more strongly for justice.
The 2024 silent march started with speeches by the younger generation.
They made it clear that they would be silent no longer out there in the world.
The New Statesman
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The report does not pull its punches and criticises some of those it criticises were merely negligent.
Others knew exactly what they were doing, even if they might not have considered the potentially fatal consequences of doing it.
Arconic Architectural Products , which sold the panels used in the external wall of the tower, knew they were more flammable in cassette form; but it was “determined to exploit what it saw as weak regulatory regimes’ such as the UK ’s.”.
Systemic failures present a unique challenge when it comes to accountability: if everyone is responsible, then nobody is. But letting this disaster go unpunished would not merely offend our sense of justice: it would make a repeat more likely. Greedy executives and negligent officials should face consequences, as a warning to those who come after. Trials may not happen before 2027 , by which time a decade will have passed. That is far, far too long. But even so even though not all those responsible may face justice there must be prosecutions..
The New Statesman
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National Audit Office ( NAO ) is the body that scrutinises public spending.
At its head is Gareth Davies , the chief bean-counter of the Exchequer .
The NAO may not be a household name but the reports it produces often become headlines.
Davies has the difficult job of pointing out that the government could save 20bn a year through better governance without implying that this is a criticism of the people doing the governing.
NAO ’s work on the “VIP lanes’ for certain suppliers during that time the contracts given to people with access to ministers and the tens of billions lost to fraud and error was a trustworthy and impartial source during a febrile time.
NAO audited HMRC’Gratuitous waste’ where something has just been done shoddily, when it clearly hasn’t been a priority.
The New Statesman
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Kenya and Bangladesh have experienced a summer of unrest, ostensibly in opposition to a new finance law.
Kenya has gone from a rural, tribal-based society to a much more complex and middle-class one.
Both are developing the vigorous middle class that is a prerequisite for democracy.
But success only leads to new patterns of instability, including riots and revolutions.
Kenya ’s youth-led revolt was not over tribal or ethnic dispute but a tax hike that threatened to increase the price of basic goods.
In Bangladesh , Sheikh Hasina who had been in office for two decades was forced from power in early August because of repression, democratic backsliding and curbing of media freedom.
The American Conservative
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Simon Heffer's new book, Sing As We Go : Britain Between the Wars, is a worthy successor to A.J.P. Taylor ’s magisterial treatment.
Heffer outlines how England emerged from the First World War to confront novel challenges.
The dominant political figures in the postwar period for Heffer were Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain .
Heffer ’s study of Britain in the interwar years will become the standard interpretation of the era for a long time.
Heffer admires Gracie Fields as another unifying figure, especially for the working classes.
The author's treatment of the appeasement crisis, which ended with the betrayal of Czechoslovakia , follows traditional lines.
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The Northern Territory's new chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro , has made many statements reinforcing her conservative party’s plans to deal with crime.
These have included reducing the NT’s age of criminal responsibility back down to 10 years old , creating boot camps, welfare cuts for parents of youth offenders, and the reintroduction of spit hoods.
While other jurisdictions are looking at raising the age (though the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan , has walked back her support to raise the age to 14), the NT is going backwards.
Selena Uibo has now taken up the leadership of NT Labor .
Celeste Liddle was a Greens candidate for the seat of Cooper in the 2022 federal election.
She left the party in February 2023 .
Liddle is a freelance writer, social commentator and activist.
She is an Arrernte woman living in Melbourne and lives in Melbourne .
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Gil Hoffman : Like Anne Frank , Hersh represented hope of the Jewish people that hostages would survive.
Hoffman : Hersh 's name will live on, but his story transcends evil of Hamas propaganda.
He says Israelis are too often dehumanized in the international mainstream and social media.
Hoffman says Hamas has a long-term strategy of exploiting global media to shift public opinion.
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Labour managed to unite advocates of the two sides in what may be the world's bitterest conflict.
The point of convergence was Britain ’s suspension of 30 arms export licences to Israel .
The decision was taken after the government determined a “clear risk” that the hardware sold military aircraft, helicopters, drones and targeting equipment could be used in violations of international humanitarian law.
For one side, what deepened the offence was the timing of the announcement, they were burying their dead in Jerusalem .
Jonathan Freedland says Israel-Palestine issue never easy has become for politicians of the centre-left such as Starmer or Lammy .
Israel - Palestinian issue has become harder and so much more painful for the likes of Starmer and Harris , he says.
Israel 's brutal far rightists think Palestinians ’ only role is to get out of their way, he adds.
60% Match
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Aysenur Eygi , 26 , was protesting against the expansion of illegal settlements in the Palestinian town of Beita , near Nablus , when she was shot by Israeli troops.
Eyewitnesses say Eygi was rushed to a hospital in Nabluses where she was later pronounced dead.
The Israel Defense Forces admitted Friday that its soldiers opened fired on demonstrators.
Washington Examiner
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Ruben Navarrette : Six Israeli hostages were found murdered in a Hamas tunnel this week .
He says Hamas has never agreed to any ceasefire agreement; it means a complete Israeli capitulation.
He asks: How can Israel negotiate any meaningful ceasefire with people who welcome the death of their own people?.
David Frum : Polls consistently find Palestinians , by huge majorities, support Hamas .
He says any new Palestinian state is going to be a proxy of Iran , which may well have nuclear weapons soon.
Frum says the Left and factions of the far Right are increasingly antagonistic toward the Jewish state.
Hamas leaders are probably tickled by the sight of thousands of college students donning terrorist garb.