Should These Missing Tower Block Residents Be Granted Amnesty?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/mayor-of-london-sadiq-khan-backs-amnesty-on-illegal-immigrants-who-lived-in-grenfell-tower-at-time-a3570446.html

[EDDIE51]

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term this is the definition of 'Devil's Advocate'
devil's advocate
noun
a person who expresses a contentious opinion in order to provoke debate or test the strength of the opposing arguments.
"the interviewer will need to play devil's advocate, to put the other side's case forward"
I think it fits AOG perfectly!

[Islay]

Why don't you give it a go AOG and see if you get banned?

[-Talbot-]

EDDIE51
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term this is the definition of 'Devil's Advocate'



lol

[anotheoldgit]

Islay

Like a good little ABer, I am awaiting permission.

[-Talbot-]

I actually don't think AOG is in any way a devil's advocate.

[anotheoldgit]

EDDIE51

I am not a 'Devil's Advocate' as you have wrongly described me, but I could be classed as a lone Right-Winger, speaking out at a mass Left-Wing rally.

[Islay]

What / a mass Left-Wing rally/?
Is that the case now - if someone disagrees with you then they must be a left winger?

[scooping]

Us catholics occasionally get it in the neck so I think it only fair that we should receive due recognition for having come up with Devil's advocate, a pivotal role in our community outreach programe called the Inquisition.

[EDDIE51]

AOG, I said I had 'considered the hypothesis' that you were a 'Devil's Advocate'. That is NOT the same as 'saying it' !
But many thanks for adding weight to my hypothesis!

[hereIam]

If they're illegal were they living there without paying rent ?? No, they shouldn't be granted amnesty.

[New Judge]

Meanwhile back to the question:

No, they should not be granted amnesty. When this tragedy happened I made a guess that the authorities will never know how many people perished. That is simply because they have no idea how many people (or which people) live in such establishments. Many original tenants in such places sub-let the property (often to a far greater number of people than it was designed for) whilst drawing considerable assistance to pay their rent. Many of the illegal sub-tenants go further and rent space to sub-sub-tenants. Many more simply squat with others. It would not surprise me if, in the 120 flats, there were around six or seven hundred people resident.

The tragedy is terrible and nobody deserves such a fate. But there is simply insufficient accommodation in central London for such numbers of people and quite why the authorities insist on spending huge sums to provide housing which is clearly unsuitable is a little puzzling. I cannot afford to live in Kensington (even the rough end) so I see no reason why people less well off than me should be provided with heavily subsidised accommodation in such an area.

If my house burnt down I would be told to scour the ashes for my insurance policy, contact my insurers and get on with it. Quite what makes these people different befuddles me.

[agchristie]

NJ > If my house burnt down I would be told to scour the ashes for my insurance policy, contact my insurers and get on with it.

If you had a garden pond you could perhaps attempt to retrieve said docs from the microfish! :o)

[Garaman]

I am not sure at all what would happen either way. If say a flat was sublet to illegal immigrants then in one scenario those illegal immigrants could come forward and get help, and in the other they couldn’t or they would be sent packing. But if they don’t come forward then I imagine the rogue landlord would claim the help and sublet the new flat to another load of illegal immigrants, and the ones here who have lost everything would try to survive here somehow. Neither sounds ideal, but I think I would rather those who have lost everything get the help.

[Peter Pedant]

// f my house burnt down I would be told to scour the ashes for my insurance policy, contact my insurers and get on with it. Quite what makes these people different befuddles me. //

easy one - let me unbefuddle you - insurance

bldg and that narty cladding - KCTMO

house contents none- it is virtually impossible to get insurance for rented accommodation

- I would be amazed if anyone were insured in that building
but as a houseowner you really always knew that didnt you ?

[Khandro]

Amnesty ---No!

But it for me raises the question, that with so many unregistered people coming and going from the this building and presumably others as well, why is the security so lax and need it be so?
There must be hundreds of duplicate keys to the individual flats and the building itself. Much of this could be alleviated by issuing electronic cards like those in hotels which cannot be replicated, only to the legal residents. Just a thought.

[Khandro]

............. and what is more, if illegal immigrants are granted amnesty, they become 'legal' and before long some smart-..... human rights lawyer will be demanding entry to the country for their overseas 'dependants'.

[New Judge]

“house contents none- it is virtually impossible to get insurance for rented accommodation”

Not so, Peter. Plenty of quotes available for contents insurance for tenants of rented accommodation including social housing. The big snag is you have to seek it and pay for it. Many social housing tenants believe that all their worldly needs should be met by either the government or the local authority. Like you I would be amazed if anybody in that building was insured.

[webbo3]

I wonder if Khan knows more than he is letting on.


Oh and No they shouldn't


Dave.

[Islay]

PP I rent and have always had contents insurance and never had an issue getting it at all!

[Khandro]

Islay; //I rent and have always had contents insurance and never had an issue getting it at all! //

But am I right in thinking you do not live on benefits?