THE horrendous Grenfell Tower fire should be a wake-up call for the nation (“Haunting images from Grenfell after devastating blaze”, The Herald, June 19). That there are 1,399 unoccupied properties in the immediate vicinity owned by property speculators, many of them domiciled overseas, is impossible to reconcile with a situation where there is an acute housing shortage and many vulnerable people are homeless. That so many innocents have lost their lives in an avoidable fire is unacceptable. Cost would appear to have been a significant factor in the disaster.

That is disgraceful in an affluent country that can afford to spend more than £6 billion in renovating the Palace of Westminster and upgrading Buckingham Palace, but it underlines the mindset of those who control our lives.

Worse scenarios happen all the time we just don’t hear about them. A recent research project by Oxford University and others demonstrates that, due to lack of care and resources in the NHS and social services, deaths in 2015 were 30,000 greater than would otherwise be expected. Between December 2011 and February 2014 the equivalent of about 90 people a month died after their Employment and Support Allowance payments were stopped as they were deemed fit for work.

The Government’s figures demonstrate that more than half of those who appeal decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions while trapped in the benefits quagmire win their appeal; something is deliberately, horribly wrong.

Despite unemployment levels falling, the majority of citizens find their income reducing in real terms and personal borrowing has increased. The economy is collapsing because personal borrowing has plateaued and GDP growth is predicated on consumption and the service sector. The Joseph Rowntree foundation estimated that, for 9.6 million families, benefits make up more than half of their income (30 per cent of all families); this despite the fact they have jobs, often multiple part-time or zero-hours contracts.

According to House of Commons figures, 962,000 people with jobs claimed housing benefit in in 2014, predicted to rise to increase to 1,238,000 in 2018-19. These are people who are working who want careers but who are not paid a living wage. Meanwhile, the Government pursues an austerity policy inflicting hardship on most citizens while cutting taxes and being forced to borrow money from, and pay interest on loans to, the very section of society that owns the unoccupied properties that overlook the burnt-out shell of Grenfell Tower.

The television performance of Theresa May when questioned about Grenfell Tower, devoid of empathy and emotion and stuffed with the usual platitudes about learning lessons and inquiries, summed up the divided “us and them” society we live in. I despair.

David J Crawford,

Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street,

Glasgow.

ON reading that the Queen and her grandson visited those made homeless by the fire in Grenfell Tower it occurred to me that most, if not all, of the people could easily be accommodated in nearby Kensington Palace, thus rehousing them in the same borough. The Queen could easily call on all of the resources needed to make this happen.

I am sure those members of the royal family who live in “grace-and-favour” apartments in Kensington Palace could easily be relocated to one of the many other properties owned by the Queen.

Homeless families rehoused would no doubt be guaranteed fealty to the monarchy for generations to come.

Maureen Lanigan,

31 Torrington Crescent,

Glasgow.

I AM a republican but I have the greatest respect for our Queen and admire her for the courage of her years in visiting the victims and relatives of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. That is leadership and worthy of the regard in which she is held.

How different from the wretched creature sharing 10 Downing Street’s powers with the Orangemen and the Woman Who Destroyed Stormont. Theresa May, having nipped down to North Kensington for a photo opportunity with the emergency teams “so brave and dedicated” and so close to industrial action over frozen wages, dashed back to Number 10 and was not heard of again until rolled out for a couple of bedside pictures with patients too ill to tell her what they thought of her and the rotting system she purports to lead.

Mrs May was home secretary when the Grenfell cladding was installed and the penny-pinching reductions in safety requirements happened on her watch. She says she created the chaos that is now the state of the UK and thus it is her job to sort it out. Brave words from a stable woman. Rubbish. God help us all if we allow her leadership to continue.

KM Campbell,

Bank House,

Doune.

HAS there ever been a more apparent difference in the qualities of empathy, love and leadership as those demonstrated by the Queen and her family and the seemingly high-handed and disconnected approach of the Prime Minister and her Cabinet? Has there ever been a time when the price of being poor has been so high?

Roddy MacDonald,

1 Glenmount Place,

Ayr.

ONE aspect of London’s devastating fire I have not heard mentioned was the windows. When the blaze spread rapidly up the facade burning the insulation cladding, it would immediately melt the UPVC windows, which I assume were probably fitted with the recent refurbishment. This would allow the glass to be blown into the flats, and their soft furnishings would be ablaze in minutes, explaining the sight of flames inside so many flats.

In Scotland, when we apply insulation to high or low rise buildings, this is usually finished in a cement render that will not burn. The windows would therefore not be subjected to external flames and flats would be protected. As a retired architect, I am surprised I have not heard this obvious feature mentioned. It could be part of the reason for the speed and extent of the disaster.

Iain Barclay,

Barochan Road,

Houston.