ABSTRACT
While we were writing this chapter, a devastating fire overwhelmed Grenfell Tower, a 24-floor high-rise block in one of London’s most prosperous districts, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. While the borough as a whole is one of the wealthiest areas in England, the locality of the tower is in the top 10 per cent most deprived areas in the country. The marks of inequality were starkly evident. Official figures state that in the fire 71 people lost their lives, many of them apparently following fire safety advice to stay in their flats. The external cladding and insulation material on the building were reported to have not been fire-resistant, survivors said there were no water sprinklers, and the building had only one exit. Whole families were said to have perished in the fire. Rage and anger quickly gathered momentum in the fire’s aftermath, as local residents expressed their fury at developers, local government councillors, and national government austerity policies.
