Grenfell Tower

• I WOKE up this morning to see my housemate gasping over a story that £6,250 was saved on the Grenfell Tower redecoration, by opting for flammable plastic rather than non-flammable cladding.

What he found so shocking, and what is so uncomfortable for many people, is the idea that life and death can be haggled and bartered away.

For the council tenant, their life is reduced to nothing more than being an object held up at an auction, with the victors those who have managed to keep hold of as much of their money as possible.

For many others like myself who grew up in inner-city council housing, the headline was upsetting, and sobering, but was it shocking? Sadly not.

I grew up in a council estate in King’s Cross, and throughout my 18 years there was reminded on a daily basis the worthlessness of our lives. However I am thankful for it and will, as long as I live, assert the merits of social housing and fight those who would rather see it wiped off the face of the planet.

But here’s the problem. Anyone who has grown up in a council house is fearful of criticising it too much, we all know those who want rid of it have powerful voices and, after all, if we didn’t have it what would we do? Surely something is better than nothing?

When I was a child my mother complained to the council because we had a damp problem that was making me cough. We were told that if we didn’t like it the council had about 200 families that would happily take our place. So we didn’t complain any more, and the damp rose and rose, until it crawled into the flat of our neighbour who was a leaseholder. Then they got rid of the damp.

When you grow up in an environment like that you learn very quickly the value of your health. You struggle every day knowing that the conditions of your life are bad, yet you have a roof over your head, you can wash and shower, and you’re not on the street: it could always be worse.

It takes for people to lose their lives for people to question how worse could this really get? We live in a world where cutting corners at every opportunity to maximise the profit of billionaires is toasted over shareholders’ meetings, celebrated in penthouses, not far from, but next to, the very buildings that their greed has condemned.

I wonder how they celebrated the news that they had saved £6,250 on plastic cladding? They probably went on a night out and spent £6,250.

RACHEL ANNANDALE, N19