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It must never happen again !
Lessons must be learned !
Why do they always come out with such hyperbole nonsense ?
Starmer .......the victims and their families are always in our hearts !
What a load of crap
Classic public and private sector PR lines. Councils do it. CEOs do it. Politicians. Civil servants. Headteachers.
When do they ever get their P45 for it? Never. "Lessons learned" is a proxy for "We sound like we care. Today's news is tomorrow's chip bag buddy. You'll forget about it in six month and I'll carry on regardless, pissing myself laughing that you're a mug. Laters"
Originally Posted by Keyser Soze
Cocks the lot of them
What do you want them to say?
If they said less and did more (did anything really) that would be a start.
Much as I dislike Gove he did at least appear to be pushing a post Grenfell action plan - very late and very watered down, but something.
Now we are back to nothing but platitudes and bullshit. PR before safety and respect - again!
They can say what they like
It's doing something that matters
Absolutely let down the victims
Lessons must be learned !
Bullshitters
Words are cheaper than actions.
It’s developing into another Hillsborough, right down to the blaming of the victims - this time by an idiot who has just been knighted
What you want is not that only (words).
I find it shocking that senior politicians come out with these trite lines and little has progressed. We seem to have gone through phases during the political years:
John Major 1990-1997 In these years the statements from his politicians were cold and uncaring. Simply no feelings let alone media training. “If it isn’t hurting it isn’t working” was a classic line which summed up that bunch.
Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak 1997-2023: These trite lines of “We feel your pain. There will be lessons learned”. It gives the image of caring. Often a commission is set up to investigate it, it gets kicked into the long grass, politicians are saved, and little gets done.
In both of these eras the outcome is distrusted politicians because there is a lack of commitment to meaningful action and a follow up.
I received some PR training way back around 2005 from an American who had advised big US corporations, and although thankfully I never had to deal with the media, there is a very effective model for handling crisis and image issues. It is a simple model but requires leadership and management to make the changes, and communication of its effects. Simple five steps:
1. Acknowledge the problem / issue
2. Empathise with the feelings of the affected (this part the 1997-2023 cabal are doing.
3. State your principles and values (“We take this issue seriously and this is our view on it.” This conveys that you will do something because you believe in it, not just because you are reacting to it
4. Your action plan / steps
5. Your anticipated benefits as a result of your plan. This part buys the confidence of listeners as the benefits of your actions should tangibly fix the problem. The issue politicians don’t like 4 and 5 is that this takes time, effort and analysis. But you simply convey that you will be back to them by a certain time with an update on 4 and 5.
So take for example, Grenfell. If they were genuine, after a few months or a year or two of analysis they could have produced something like this, running steps 1-5….
“The Grenfell disaster has been a fire incident that will scar our generation for many years. Many innocent lives have been lost unneccessarily. (1)
Families have been hurt and although we feel their pain, we can never feel what they feel or bring back their families. For that we are sorry amd offer our deepest condolences (2).
Fire safety, and in general, the protection of the lives of our citizens are the most important thing we can do as a government, which is why we will investigate and correct this so that it will never happen again. The guilty will be brought to justice and fire safety as part of construction of flats will be reviewed and altered where necessary (3).
Following up later…
(4) In line with our promises we have followed up on our actions. Mr X and Mr Y have been brought to justice. Compensation has been paid to “X”. Existing cladding will be fixed at an estimated coat of “X”, to be completed over the next five years. Replacement social housing has been planned. Planning laws have been changed so that this type of cladding will never happen again.
(5). Whilst we will never be able to bring back the people we have lost, we will at least have reduced their hardship. We have offered new modern housing. We have brought the guilty to justice. And we have taken concrete steps to make as sure as possible that this will not happen again.
Now the details of the above can be argue. The politics and cost can be debated. But that five step process, if followed, does at least show that the response is genuine and credible.
Why doesn’t step 4 and 5 happen? Perhaps laziness. Perhaps lack of training. Or perhaps incentives in the system. As a seasoned economist once said “Show me the incentives and I will show you the outcomes.” In the case of CEOs they have their bonuses, share options and salaries to protect. Public sector and politicians? They cover each others backs - golden pensions to protect. I don’t think my opinion is particularly controversial.
The materials have been banned, no? That's progress isn't it?
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/b...new%20projects.
The lowest hanging fruit - and that took long enough.
After 6 years the record of the government on dealing with the causes of Grenfell is shameful. As was their total failure to tackle the causes of Lakanal House in 2009 (only 6 residents dead!) and implement the actions agreed after the inquest.
Grenfell was a totally avoidable tragedy, mainly made in central government (with other players like the Council, the TMO, the various contractors and suppliers contributing). Blair had a few fingerprints on it, Cameron and Campbell and May had their prints everywhere (mainly acts of cynical and callous omission and cuts to the organisations and services that should have enforced regulations and standards to the point where they were gutted).
And then May, Johnson and the other clowns have overseen 6 years of incompetent and uncaring failure - made worse by the cheap soundbites they throw out when seriously challenged.
It shows how bad they have been when I can point at Michael Gove as someone who at least tried to do something, however inadequate.
If anyone is interested in the whole Grenfell story the recent book by Peter Apps (the Housing Today journalist) called 'Show Me The Bodies' is the most complete and best yet.
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