It’s our fervent wish that Rees mogg finds himself trapped in a burning building real soon, so we can see how clever he is. If it’s the house of commons, so much the better. – Ed.
Header image by Carcharoth
You could be forgiven for thinking that in this day and age, certain false narratives like the myth of meritocracy and racial superiority are a thing of the past. Not so, felt Jacob Rees-Mogg, who this week decided to test his usually teflon-tongue, speaking on Nick Ferrari’s radio show about the report on Grenfell Tower. When asked about the causes of the 72 reported casualties, attributed in part to race and class discrimination that meant their concerns about the cladding went unheard until they burned to their deaths, he chose to partially blame the victims themselves for not ignoring the fire brigades’ advice and fleeing the building.
He then compounded this narrative of how, and on whom, to apportion blame by asserting that, unlike the black and brown working class victims, “you and I” (the interviewer and himself) would have had the “common sense” to know better than to listen to the fire brigade. Despite the fact that any reasonable person might suspect the fire brigade are experts on fire safety, Jacob claims he would have exited and fled to safety. It is not immediately clear what distinction Jacob draws that holds himself and Nick on one side and the Grenfell inhabitants on another. But, Jacob and Nick are both white men, both Leave voters and both drive (and enjoy talking about) their expensive cars, a Jaguar for Mr Ferarri and at least one Bentley for Jacob. Or to put it simply, whilst the Grenfell victims were people of colour and poor, Jacob and Nick are both white and rich.
Wessex Solidarity 