Natalie Solent | |
Politics, news, libertarianism, Science Fiction, religion, sewing. You got a problem, bud? I like sewing. E-mail: nataliesolent-at-aol-dot-com (I assume it's OK to quote senders by name.) Back to main blog RSS thingy  Jane's Blogosphere: blogtrack for Natalie Solent.  Links ('Nother Solent is this blog's good twin. Same words, searchable archives, RSS feed. Provided by a benefactor, to whom thanks. I also sometimes write for Samizdata and Biased BBC.) The Old Comrades:
Archives November 2001December 2001January 2002February 2002March 2002April 2002May 2002June 2002July 2002August 2002September 2002October 2002November 2002December 2002January 2003February 2003March 2003April 2003May 2003June 2003July 2003August 2003September 2003October 2003November 2003December 2003January 2004February 2004March 2004April 2004May 2004June 2004July 2004August 2004September 2004October 2004November 2004December 2004January 2005February 2005March 2005April 2005May 2005June 2005July 2005August 2005September 2005October 2005November 2005December 2005January 2006February 2006March 2006April 2006May 2006June 2006July 2006August 2006September 2006October 2006November 2006December 2006January 2007February 2007March 2007April 2007May 2007June 2007August 2007October 2007February 2008April 2008May 2008June 2008July 2008September 2008October 2008November 2008December 2008January 2009March 2009May 2009June 2009July 2009August 2009October 2009January 2010March 2010May 2010June 2010July 2010August 2010September 2010October 2010November 2010December 2010January 2011February 2011April 2011June 2011August 2011September 2011October 2011November 2011January 2012February 2012March 2012April 2012May 2012June 2012July 2012August 2012September 2012October 2012November 2012December 2012January 2013February 2013March 2013April 2013May 2013June 2013July 2013August 2013September 2013October 2013November 2013 | Monday, March 30, 2009 "We had to wait for the fire brigade because of health and safety" Reported by Lucy Bannerman in today's Times: Fire kills child, 3, and parents as police prevent neighbours from trying to rescue themIn a previous post about loss of nerve in our public services I said, referring to instances in which firemen and policemen had "broken procedure" to save life, that despite their personal courage "institutional gutlessness surrounded them, was embarrassed by them, and will kill off their like eventually. Poisoned soil does not long give forth good fruit." Seems like the poison has worked its way well in. Note: I do not know whether the Colly family could have been saved had the attempt been made while Mrs Colly was still alive to scream for someone to save her kids. A spokeswoman for the South Yorkshire Police said, “The senior officer in charge is confident we handled this incident as professionally as possible. In a situation like that you could end up with more deceased bodies than you had in the first place.” One of the lesser known sights of London is the Watts Memorial in Postman's Park. I gather it featured in the film Closer, starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law. No, I am not being funny, suddenly veering off into a travelogue in the middle of a post about the deaths of a family. I wish there were something to laugh about. The memorial was set up by a Victorian artist, George Frederick Watts, to commemorate those who died saving others. It consists of hand made plaques each bearing the name of a person who sacrificed his or her life and a brief citation. Very quaint they are, with their crowded lettering with the extra-large initial capitals and little swirly plant motifs and curlicues in the corners. Even the names are quaint, laboriously given in full. Police Constables Percy Edwin Cook, Edward George Brown Greenoff, Harold Frank Ricketts and George Stephen Funnell are among them. I wonder what PC Percy Edwin Cook, for instance, who perished when he "Voluntarily descended high tension chamber at Kensington to rescue two workmen overcome by poisonous gas" would have made of his successors in the South Yorkshire force. Perhaps the police spokeswoman was right. Perhaps if health and safety had been less comprehensively assured and the Colly incident handled rather less professionally, we would have ended up with more than the three "deceased bodies" - no, make that four, when you count the child expected to be born in two weeks - that we did end up with. Still, more than four dead bodies is quite a lot and quite unlikely, I cannot help thinking. And I also cannot help thinking that there is more to this than just counting the dead under different scenarios. If the critically injured five year old girl does survive she will be burdened by more than just the fact that her family died. She will eventually have to know that those who might have answered her mother's last desperate appeal were held back on grounds of "health and safety." Not theirs, obviously. UPDATE: Otheraccountsgive the spelling of the family name as "Colley". They confirm that the police actively prevented rescue attempts. FURTHER UPDATE: There is a thoughtful discussion in the comments regarding several moral and practical questions, and whether the press accounts are to be trusted. Quite possibly not. Yet I must add that if the South Yorkshire police are trying to convince me that they are not abdicating responsibility in order to follow rote "health and safety" procedure (as commenter "sjv" put it), then best not claim, as they appeared to in the Mail report linked to in the word "other", that the reason they will not tell us exactly how long elapsed between the arrival of the police and the arrival of the firemen is "'data protection' rules." (Cross-posted to Samizdata.) |
