The Grenfell Inquiry has just learnt that mere weeks after the June 2017 tragedy, Kingspan - who made some of the combustable insulation on the tower - hired a PR firm to lobby MPs on their behalf.
WATCH: These politicians are the sort of 'key decision makers' who Kingspan were trying to access. Looks like they wanted to convince MPs that ‘combustible materials are no more dangerous than non-combustible when properly installed’. #GrenfellInquiry
Here’s the reaction from the Fire Brigade’s Union
And then there’s this thetimes.co.uk/article/grenfe…
NEW: Lead Counsel to the Grenfell Inquiry calls Kingspan's evidence to the Housing Select Committee in 2018 "gamed" and a "deliberate attempt to deceive."

Their Head of Technical & Marketing, Adrian Pargeter, denies it.
Combustable Insulation maker Kingspan's Adrian Pargeter thinks he had a meeting with a Minister after Grenfell, but he can't remember which one...

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Rachael Venables

Rachael Venables Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @rachaelvenables

3 Dec
Gavin Williamson won't say that Brexit helped us to get the vaccine first. Instead, he tells @LBC:

"I just reckon we've got the best people & medical regulators. Much better than the French/ Belgians/ Americans have. Because we're a much better country than every single one."
Full quote here:
This is the moment Gavin Williamson told @NickFerrariLBC the UK was the first to approve a vaccine because “we’re a much better country”
Read 4 tweets
2 Dec
HUGE: the Pfizer vaccine will be made available in the UK from next week, after the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved it for use here. Statement from the Dept of Heath here
This means the UK is the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use.

It has a 95% efficacy, and the UK has pre-ordered 40 million doses (enough for 20 million people).
Matt Hancock says there will be three locations for the vaccine rollout:

1. Hospitals, he says 50 hospitals are already 'set up and waiting to receive the vaccine'

2. Vaccination centres which are 'being setup now'

3. Community rollout - GPs and pharmacists.
Read 6 tweets
1 Dec
New: In a landmark ruling, the High Court says Children under 16 who wish to undergo gender reassignment can only consent to puberty blockers if they are able to 'understand the nature of the treatment.'
The challenge came from Keira Bell, a 23y/o woman who identified as trans as a teenager, took puberty blockers aged 16, before detransitioning. Lawyers argued children going through puberty are "not capable of properly understanding" the effects of such treatment.
Although Fenella Morris QC, representing the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, argued the use of hormone blockers is "a safe and reversible treatment with a well-established history."
Read 5 tweets
23 Nov
💉 the Oxford jab is far cheaper and easier to store than Pfizer and Moderna’s
💉 the UK has pre-ordered 100m doses
💉 the 90% success rate comes when people were given a ‘low’ dose, followed by a ‘high’ one - which should mean there’s more vaccine to go around.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock tells @LBC its “good news and a good day.”

Next the regulator needs to look at this data and “will only sign it off if it’s safe.”

Then “the NHS stands ready to deliver the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines from next month.”
Matt Hancock tells @LBC he should be in one of the first waves to get the coronavirus vaccine as “I count technically as a health worker, as the Health Secretary.”

He says he’s very happy to get the jab if the regulator finds it’s safe.
Read 11 tweets
27 Oct
New: Figures from the Home Office show there's been a 53% yearly rise in Stop and Searches in England and Wales.

2018-19 : 365,554
2019-20 : 558,973

@LBC
73,423 of those stops led to an arrest BUT the data shows the stop and search arrest rate dropped slightly from 16% to 13%.

That means the relative 'success' of these stops are dropping.
In 2019-20 people from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background were 4.1 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.

This was similar to the previous year when the rate was 4.3 times higher.
Read 5 tweets
16 Sep
🚨This report finds only 1/3 of all high-rise buildings with ACM cladding (the same type as Grenfell) have had it removed. Even though the Government's deadline was June 2020: " Progress has been unacceptably
slow"

publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmse… Image
- 155 out of 455 buildings have had the cladding fully removed.
- The Dept Housing made £600m available to pay for ACM removal BUT by April 2020 it had only paid out £134m "due in part to difficulties in working with private building owners."
The main recommendation from the Public Accounts Committee is for the MHCLG to meet their new deadline - removing all ACM cladding by the end of 2021. Even though they say "the Government has no convincing plan for how it will meet that new deadline though." Image
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!