CardiffWalesMap

2 cases of fire and the cladding system is failing, how many non towers have burnt down in between your mentioned cases? Its like saying how unsafe flight travel is just on a few cases compared to car deaths. Fire happens, i am sure from what people are saying there was something not quite up to spec on the terrible disaster in London, but there are plenty of towers in the world that have had fires and managed to contain them.

Picking up on the Ty pointe Y hearn discussion above, i think its prominence is only due to the fact that subsequent developments around it havent gone ahead and hidden it, most of the building faces the railway track and given a 4 storey and above development on Adam street, we wouldn't really see it except from a distance.

As awful as the fire in the London Tower block is, I feel the media coverage has been totally disproportionate. Unfortunately, building fires and collapses happen all the time around the world, in rich and in poor countries. Had this fire happened in Swansea or Gateshead, there wouldn't be half the attention.

Mathew5 wrote:As awful as the fire in the London Tower block is, I feel the media coverage has been totally disproportionate. Unfortunately, building fires and collapses happen all the time around the world, in rich and in poor countries. Had this fire happened in Swansea or Gateshead, there wouldn't be half the attention.

I understand what you are saying, but this didn't happen in another country, it happened in England.

But like I say, this happens in China, USA, Russia, Dubai, Australia, Germany...

It just shows how skewed our media is.

Mathew5 wrote:But like I say, this happens in China, USA, Russia, Dubai, Australia, Germany...

It just shows how skewed our media is.

UK media skewed towards prominent reporting on events happening in the UK, well I never

Didn't you read my point? The collapse and death of people in Didcot didn't get half the attention. If this was a tower block in Flint or Cwmbrân, it simply wouldn't have had the same coverage.

Mathew5 wrote:Didn't you read my point? The collapse and death of people in Didcot didn't get half the attention. If this was a tower block in Flint or Cwmbrân, it simply wouldn't have had the same coverage.

I don't think you can just flippantly say that had this been elsewhere in the UK it wouldn't have had the same coverage. I'm sure if one of the high rise towers in another town or city went up in flames and tens of people died it would be front page news everywhere.

Didcot power station collapse was a completely different scenario. What's happened in London could in the public's eyes happen to any number of other tall buildings across the UK. As tragic as the collapse of Didcot was, the media will always give it less attention like it does to most instances of people dying in constructions/demolition sites across the UK. It sadly doesn't command the same 'human interest' to the media as something like this fire

Mathew5 wrote:But like I say, this happens in China, USA, Russia, Dubai, Australia, Germany...

It just shows how skewed our media is.

Firstly it is not skewedness of the media but skewedness of people in general - most people care more about things in their own backyard (within their 'demos' or nation) than elsewhere in the world. The media reflects that.

Secondly, this sort of event is very rare. High rise buildings are designed to contain fires within flats or within floors. Hence the concrete walls, the fire safety doors, etc. It seems something went wrong here - perhaps in the recent recladding, perhaps in general maintenance. It fits into a narrative being sold by the left that austerity/outsourcing is reducing the quality and safety of public services (like social housing) so is newsworthy from a 'political' angle as well as the obvious tragic human interest angle.

And third it really does seem like a terrible tragedy - 17 dead, many still missing and presumed dead, and the image of a mother dropping her baby from the 10th floor (luckily caught) shows the desperation and terror people were facing.

So I'm not surprised it is featured heavily in the news.

I don't detect any London-centricity in this story either. It would have been huge news wherever it happened in the UK (and would have got coverage if it had happened elsewhere in the developed world).

Mathew5 wrote:But like I say, this happens in China, USA, Russia, Dubai, Australia, Germany...

It just shows how skewed our media is.

These things do not happen 'all the time' they are exceptionally rare especially in developed countries.

One Google search and look we have some actual facts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper_fire
Notable high-rise fires in Australia = 0
Germany = 0
USA has had plenty but none with close to this many fatalities in 30+ years

The other examples you cite aren’t exactly developed nations and places you might expect to see less regulation, or more circumventing of regulations, even so:
Russia = 5 (2 while under construction, one from military action, only one with fatalities (3) was an observation tower not a regular high-rise
UAE = 7 with 5 fatalities total
China = 5 with only 1 having significant fatalities

If we ignore plane crashes, this is in the top ten worst high-rise fires in history. Most incidents of this scale warrant their own Wikipedia article and involved significant investigations and long term impacts.
This is a significant event, it would be if it happened in Cwmbran, or Glasgow or Corby and it warrants the media coverage.
I'm afraid all you've shown is how 'skewed' your world view is.

Does it seriously justify intense and constant news coverage? It's tasteless.