It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, September 02, 2023
The Canadian Press
Fri, September 1, 2023
MADRID (AP) — Spain's government began a move to oust suspended soccer chief Luis Rubiales, who ended a week of silence on Friday by insisting he was the victim of a smear campaign.
Rubiales has come in for a storm of criticism and calls for his resignation for his behavior during and after Spain's recent Women’s World Cup triumph in Sydney. He kissed player Jenni Hermoso on the lips without consent and grabbed his crotch in a lewd victory gesture.
On Friday, a Spanish government legal panel handling sports issues opened a formal case against Rubiales — president of the Spanish Football Federation and a vice president of UEFA — over his conduct that was televised globally, making him a national embarrassment.
Spain is hoping to remove him independently of a FIFA process that has already suspended him provisionally. The government panel will decide if Rubiales abused his authority by kissing Hermoso or damaged the image and reputation of Spain at a sporting event, as the government claims. He could be banned from office for two years.
“When the eyes of the world were played on our players, his acts caused damage to our sport and our country that is difficult to repair,” said Miquel Iceta, Spain’s acting minister of culture and sport.
Following the decision by the panel, Rubiales made his first public statement since refusing to step down a week ago and claiming he was a victim of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.”
“I committed some evident mistakes, for which I sincerely repent,” Rubiales said on Friday. He insisted the kiss with Hermoso was “mutual, consensual and occurred in a moment of euphoria” — a characterization that the player firmly denies.
He added he participated in FIFA’s investigation as well as the federation’s own internal probe.
“During all this time I have suffered an unprecedented lynching by news outlets and politicians that has completely marginalized me. Not just in Spain but internationally,” he said in his statement published on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The decision by the panel, however, to consider Rubiales' acts as allegedly “serious” as opposed to “very serious” dealt a setback to the government. If they had been deemed “very serious" charges, the government could have moved to declare him suspended from office until the panel rules on his case.
Iceta said that while the government cannot directly suspend Rubiales while awaiting the outcome of his case before the panel, as was its intention, it will ask the legal panel to consider suspending him provisionally anyway.
FIFA has already suspended Rubiales for 90 days while it carries out its disciplinary case, so the Spanish decision will have little immediate effect. The panel decision does put more pressure on Rubiales as his few original supporters try to distance themselves from him.
Spain men’s coach Luis de la Fuente, who applauded Rubiales' diatribe against feminism last week, apologized on Friday for having clapped, saying, “I made a human error. It was inexcusable.”
In a statement last Saturday, Hermoso said she considered herself the victim of abuse of power and accused the federation of trying to pressure her into supporting Rubiales.
The federation initially hit back by saying she was lying and it would take legal action against her. But following the FIFA suspension, the federation on Monday urged Rubiales to step down.
On Tuesday, the federation suspended Rubiales’ wages and ordered him to return the federation car, his laptop and mobile phone.
Rubiales has been left with virtually no supporters. His mother staged a brief hunger strike in a church in southern Spain, demanding justice for her son and calling on Hermoso to rectify her stance.
Meanwhile, support for Hermoso from Spanish and international officials, athletes and celebrities was overwhelming.
On Friday, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, said he urged Rubiales “to say sorry, explain what he did and then, without doubt, consider resigning.”
On Thursday, Spain women's star Aitana BonmatĂ was voted best player of the year and used her acceptance speech at the UEFA awards ceremony to voice support for Hermoso.
“As a society, we cannot allow the abuse of power in a working environment or disrespect,” BonmatĂ said on stage in Monte Carlo. “To all women who are suffering the same thing as Jenni, we’re with you.”
Earlier in the week, the United Nations Human Rights office said in a social media message, “We join Spain’s Jenni Hermoso and all those working to end abuse and sexism in sport. Make this a turning point.”
There is no time limit for the legal panel to make a ruling in the case.
The Canadian Press
Fri, September 1, 2023
VANCOUVER — There's a stark contrast between public perception and the reality of how homeless people spend money, says a researcher who gave 50 homeless people in British Columbia $7,500 each to do with as they wished.
Instead of blowing the windfall on "temptation goods", such as alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, they spent it on rent, clothing and food, the study led by University of British Columbia researcher Jiaying Zhao found.
The handout even generated a net saving of almost $800 per recipient, taking into account the costs that would have been involved in providing shelter accommodation.
"The goal is to do something about the homelessness crisis here in Canada, and specifically Vancouver because the current approaches are failing," said Zhao, who is working with policymakers on the problem. "I think this study provides very strong evidence in favour of a basic-income policy."
Researchers tracked the spending of the recipients for a year after they received the cash. They also followed a control group of 65 homeless people who did not get the handout.
The study, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found recipients spent 99 fewer days homeless, and spent 55 more days in stable housing. They also retained $1,160 more savings.
Zhao, an associate professor of psychology at UBC, said in an interview Wednesday that the researchers "found a range of surprising positive benefits of a cash transfer."
Spending on "temptation goods" was no different between the recipients and the control group. However, the study did not include people with severe substance or alcohol use or mental health symptoms. Other criteria required participants to have been homeless for less than two years.
Participants were recruited from 22 homeless shelters across the B.C. Lower Mainland.
The study said that by reducing time in shelters, the cash transfer was "cost-effective."
It said the societal cost of a shelter stay in Vancouver was about $93 per night, and the fewer nights in shelters resulted in "societal cost savings" of $8,277 per recipient.
That represented a net saving of $777 compared to the cost of the handout.
"Alternatively, freed-up shelter beds can be reallocated, so the benefits can trickle down by helping others avoid sleeping on the street," the study noted.
Zhao said the study was funded by a grant from the federal government and by private donors and foundations she declined to identify.
The researchers also conducted an online survey of about 1,100 U.S. residents to understand public perceptions of homeless people's spending.
Vancouverites were not recruited because researchers were seeking a "representative voice" in North America, and Zhao said "people in Vancouver are more progressive than an average person in North America."
Survey respondents predicted that recipients of an unconditional $7,500 cash transfer would spend 81 per cent more on goods like alcohol, drugs and tobacco if they were homeless than if they were housed.
Zhao said most also predicted homeless people would spend $300 on such goods a month, while the study found those individuals only spent about $100 per month on such goods.
"That's an unfortunate, pervasive belief held by many people, so we wanted to actually examine or look at this bias," she said.
Zhao said her team found public perception can be challenged through effective messaging and policy changes.
"I'm working with politicians and policymakers in Canada on bills like this," she said, referring to Bill S-233 that is currently before the Senate and aims to create a national framework for a guaranteed basic income to cover essential living expenses for people in Canada over age 17.
She said researchers are now replicating the study with a larger sample of people, and expanding it to other cities in Canada and the U.S.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2023.
Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press
AFP
Fri, 1 September 2023
Search dogs looked for bodies on Friday in a Johannesburg building that went up in flames killing dozens and forcing South Africa to confront an illegal housing "crisis".
At least 74 people including 12 children died as fire ripped through the five-storey building in the early hours on Thursday.
Authorities asked relatives to go to a morgue in Soweto to identify the victims, as the search continued at the site.
The fire has reopened a debate about so-called hijacked buildings -- old disused blocks that have fallen under the control of criminal syndicates who collect rent from squatters.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was "a wake-up call for us to begin to address the situation of housing in the inner cities" as he visited the site late on Thursday.
The building, located in an economically depressed, crime-ridden area, was owned by the municipality and listed as a heritage site.
During the apartheid era, black South Africans would go there for papers allowing them to access white areas for work.
City authorities said it was last used as a shelter for abused women but was "invaded and hijacked" towards the end of the past decade.
Police raided the building in 2019, arresting 140 foreign nationals.
But in a country struggling with massive crime rates, little changed.
Johannesburg city manager Floyd Brink told reporters on Thursday that police had opened a case following the raid but "no update" was immediately available.
About 200 families were thought to be living at the premises at the time of the fire, he said.
Authorities estimated that more than "80 shacks" were set up inside.
- 'Catastrophe waiting to happen' -
The case is not isolated.
Illegal occupation of abandoned buildings in downtown Johannesburg, which slumped into decay and decline in the 1990s, is widespread.
After years of sanctions during the 1980s, the advent of democracy in 1994 saw many white-owned businesses move out to security-fenced suburbs.
Entire blocks were left empty. Hotels simply bricked over their doors without even bothering to auction off the contents.
"Many of these abandoned buildings are controlled by gangs who rent out the space," said Mervyn Cirota, a provincial councillor in Johannesburg's Gauteng province from the opposition Democratic Alliance party.
"This leads to overcrowding, there are no toilets, no electricity and no water," he said, describing the fire as a "catastrophe waiting to happen".
"Measures need to be put in place urgently to ensure that we do not have another disaster like this one."
- 'Urgent solutions' -
More than 60 people were injured in what was one of the deadliest fires worldwide in recent years.
Bodies were discovered piled up at a security gate that was closed, preventing people from escaping the blaze, an official said.
Residents told AFP each of the five floors had a gate that was kept locked at night to keep out police and possible intruders.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.
House fires are relatively common in South Africa, plagued by chronic power outages, where poverty and homelessness are widespread.
Authorities said candles used for lighting inside the structure or stoves and other heating devices were a likely cause.
"All metropolitan municipalities must urgently find solutions to the hijacked building crisis in major cities," said lawmaker China Dodovu, chairman of a parliamentary committee on human settlements.
South Africa, with the continent's most industrialised economy, attracts millions of migrants, many undocumented, from other African nations.
Most of those living at the building were foreigners, one resident said.
ub/kjm
Iceland resumes fin whale hunting to dismay of animal welfare groups
Chris McGreal in New York
Fri, 1 September 2023
Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
A public feud has broken out between the US’s leading pro-Israel lobby groups over who represents the true interests of the Jewish state in Washington under the most rightwing government in its history.
The hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has called its smaller and more liberal rival, J Street, a “grave threat” to Israel’s security and accused it of endorsing the country’s “most virulent critics” in Congress.
J Street has responded by portraying Aipac as a front for Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition, while accusing it of failing to support unprecedented Israeli public protests against an undemocratic power grab by the government.
The vitriolic dispute reflects a deepening divide among American Jews about what it is to be pro-Israel. But it also comes as Aipac’s once-unchallenged influence in Washington has been diminished by its unwavering backing for Netanyahu over the past decade or more, including siding with the Israeli leader against President Barack Obama, and by growing support for the Palestinian cause within the Democratic party as Israel further entrenches its occupation.
Aipac’s standing was also damaged when, for the first time in its history, it broke with its claim to be bipartisan last year and began directly funding political campaigns against critics of Israeli government policies. It was accused of being “morally bankrupt” for endorsing Republican members of Congress who tried to block President Biden’s presidential election victory.
At the heart of the dispute is Aipac’s position that support for Israel means virtually unquestioned backing for whatever government is in power. J Street argues that support for Israel requires standing for the country’s broader interests, including an end to occupation, even when that is in opposition to the policies of a particular administration in Jerusalem.
As the two lobby groups prepare to face off by pouring millions of dollars into backing rival candidates in next year’s congressional elections, Aipac sent its donors a letter attacking J Street’s policies such as imposing conditions on the US’s $3.8bn a year in military aid to Israel to prevent it being used to annex Palestinian territory, expand Jewish settlements or other actions to entrench occupation. J Street endorsed the Democratic congresswoman Betty McCollum’s 2021 bill to place similar conditions on US aid.
“Today, one of the gravest threats to American support for Israel’s security comes from an organization that outrageously calls itself pro-Israel,” Aipac said in the letter.
“J Street’s efforts fracture the bipartisan consensus for Israel and give its radical opponents in Congress a veneer of legitimacy from an allegedly ‘pro-Israel’ group. This is a clear and present threat to American support for the Jewish state.”
J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, fired back in a series of tweets.
“Sadly, over time, Aipac has embraced an increasingly distorted vision of what it means to be ‘pro-Israel’ – one more aligned with the goals of the Netanyahu government and the American right than with the Jewish, democratic values of most Jewish Americans (+ Israelis themselves),” he wrote.
“There’s no room for genuine concern over eroding democracy, endless settlements, racist rhetoric and the growing toll of maintaining a permanent, unjust, undemocratic occupation.”
Aipac’s attack in part reflects a growing concern within the Israeli government that demands by J Street and others for the US government to take a stronger stand to end the occupation will gain wider traction in Washington.
The dispute has spilled over to Israel itself.
The liberal Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz two weeks ago described Aipac as “the pro-Netanyahu, anti-Israel lobby” and accused the group of flying in 24 Democratic members of Congress “so that Netanyahu could mollify them with lies”.
“Effectively, the organization has become an operational wing of Netanyahu’s far-right government, one that peddles a false image of a liberal Israel in the United States and sells illusions to members of Congress,” it said.
The leaders of Israel’s pro-democracy movement, which has led months of mass protests against the government’s moves to weaken the power of the judiciary, accused Aipac of blocking the visiting Democratic members of Congress from meeting the protesters.
“It is about time Aipac realizes that there are no longer any buyers for the fake picture of Israel it’s trying to sell,” said the authors, who included the former deputy head of Israel’s national security council and former officials in the prime minister’s office.
“Aipac is trying to offer an alternative reality and is effectively turning from a pro-Israel organization to one that promotes the anti-democratic overhaul and the de facto annexation of the West Bank, led by Netanyahu and aided by the most extreme, racist and violent elements of the Israeli far right.”
The Canadian Press
Thu, August 31, 2023
GOLD BRIDGE, B.C. — About 160 firefighters battling a blaze in British Columbia's Interior have pulled out of their camp after they were subjected to what the BC Wildfire Service calls "persistent bear activity."
The service says the bears threatened the safety of personnel "within and around" the camp near Gold Bridge, about 100 kilometres west of Lillooet, B.C., prompting the decision to move everyone Wednesday evening.
Nic Kokolski, an information officer with the service, says the animals had been moving around tents and other camp infrastructure.
Kokolski says no one has been injured and no animals have been harmed, but conservation authorities felt it would be safest if the firefighters left the area.
A social media post by the wildfire service says its personnel are being hosted at T'it'q'et First Nation and Lillooet municipal facilities for the time being.
It says conservation officers have been "assessing and advising" on plans to safely return crews as they battle the Downton Lake wildfire.
Scavenging bears have been a problem in other B.C. wildfire zones, with authorities in the Shuswap region in the Interior collecting refuse and refrigerators in hopes of keeping the animals at bay.
The Downton Lake fire has scorched 95 square kilometres of land and prompted evacuation orders and alerts.
The wildfire service says the fire's activity remains low after rain fell in the area.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.
The Canadian Press
'It's A Simple Yes Or No': Naga Munchetty Skewers Tory Minister Over Crumbling Schools
Kevin Schofield
Fri, 1 September 2023
Naga Munchetty grilled Nick Gibb on BBC Breakfast
A Tory minister was skewered by Naga Munchetty as he struggled to defend the government over the closure of unsafe schools just days before the end of the summer holidays.
More than 100 will have either partially or completely shut their doors to pupils because the concrete used to build them - known as RAAC - is at risk of collapse.
Schools minister Nick Gibb this morning admitted that some of the affected schools have yet to be contacted by the government, and that it is still not known how many will have to close completely.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Gibb was grilled on the government’s response to the crisis, which will see thousands of pupils forced to learn from home when the new term starts next week.
The minister insisted the government had been “very proactive in assessing the school estate” and had taken action as soon as the extent of the problem became apparent.
He said RACC was used between the 1950s and 1990s, and that surveys were sent to every school in England in 2022 asking whether it was present in their buildings.
But Munchetty told him: “I’m sorry, please let me interrupt. You’ve given me the history of RACC and the dangers known.
“In 2018 when there was a national audit report saying that it was in 572 schools, why did it take until 2022 until surveys were sent to schools?”
Gibb said “warning notices” had been sent to all schools after that report, but that further evidence had emerged since then about the dangers posed by the crumbling concrete.
He added: “You seem to be criticising us for being more proactive than other governments around the world.”
The minister said that prior to yesterday, the government had already taken action in 52 schools where RACC was identified.
Munchetty said: “Is it fair to say that they were unsafe up until that point - that children were attending schools with buildings unsafe?”
Gibb replied: “This evidence was emerging over time ...”
The presenter then interrupted to say: “It’s a simple yes or no, isn’t it? They were either safe or unsafe.”
The minister said: “Well we felt, having had that evidence, that parts of the school that had RACC that was in a criticial condition were not safe.”
“So they could have potentially collapsed?” Munchetty replied.
Gibb said: “Yes and that’s why we took action.”
Labour has accused the government of “staggering incompetence” in not taking action until just before schools return from the summer break.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Ministers have been content to let this chaos continue for far too long.”
Mike Short, head of education at the UNISON union, said the situation was “nothing short of a scandal”.
Teachers clear out classrooms after 104 schools in England told to shut
Parents told ‘don’t worry’ as school buildings with concrete prone to collapse ordered to shut immediately
Schools in England must immediately shut buildings made with a type of concrete that is prone to collapse, the government has announced.
Extra measures are set to be put in place, with some schools having to relocate children to other teaching spaces.
However Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has told parents ‘don’t worry’ over the closures.
She saidmost parents need not be worried at all – there are more than 20,000 schools in England, and just over 150 have RAAC present.
She said: ‘We are working to minimise this a much as possible. The priority for me is your children’s safety and that’s why we are taking these precautionary measures.’
Keegan says engineers have been combing school sites looking for RAAC and over the summer, ‘a couple of cases have given us cause for concern’.
She added: ‘We need to take the cautious approach.’
A ‘minority’ of the state facilities will need to ‘either fully or partially relocate’ to alternative accommodation while safety measures are installed, the Department for Education (DfE) said.
The department has contacted 104 settings that do not currently have mitigations in place to vacate spaces containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Unions and opposition parties criticised the Government for failing to take action sooner, as schools were being shuttered ahead of the return from the summer break.
Some 52 of the 156 educational settings containing the concrete have taken protective steps already this year.
Two schools in Bradford have already been partially closed on the eve of the new term after surveys found weak concrete in the buildings.
Pupils at Crossflatts Primary School and Eldwick Primary School will be moved to ‘safe’ areas, after the problem came to light.
Bradford Council said temporary classrooms would be set up in the coming weeks and months.
The council has carried out detailed surveys at 45 schools to determine whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was used in their construction.
The lightweight material was used to construct many civic buildings from the 1950s to the 1990s, before being found to deteriorate over time.
It has an estimated lifespan of around 30 years.
Sue Lowndes, Bradford Council’s assistant director schools and learning, said: ‘We are putting plans in place for those two schools to make sure no one is put at risk and also to minimise any disruption to children’s education.
‘We know how important it is to make sure children can continue at school. Headteachers at the affected schools are working with parents and staff so we can keep them informed of the changes that are being put in place.’
Earlier this week a private prep school was fined £80,000 after a classroom ceiling collapsed on top of a group of seven and eight-year-old children.
Year 3 pupils at Rosemead Preparatory School in Dulwich, south London, were in the middle of a handwriting lesson when the roof caved in above their heads on November 15, 2021.
Several of the youngsters along with their teacher were taken to hospital with various injuries – including fractured limbs, cuts and concussion – when tables and chairs fell from the attic above.
Safety measures include propping up ceilings in buildings made with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
The Department for Education (DfE) has not given a timeline for replacing the RAAC, but school leaders have called for an ‘urgent plan’ to fix buildings.
A report in June assessed the risk of injury or death from a school building collapse as ‘very likely and critical’.
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT, the union representing school leaders told the Guardian: ‘NAHT has repeatedly raised concerns about these buildings for a long time now, so while this news is shocking, sadly it is not hugely surprising.
‘What we are seeing here are the very real consequences of a decade of swingeing cuts to spending on school buildings.
‘The government is right to put the safety of pupils and staff first – if the safety of buildings cannot be guaranteed, there is no choice but to close them so urgent building work can take place.
‘But there is no escaping the fact that the timing of this couldn’t be worse, with children due to return from the summer holidays next week.
‘This will put school leaders under tremendous pressure as they have to scramble to organise alternative accommodation.’
The Unison public service union’s head of education Mike Short said: ‘This situation is nothing short of a scandal.
‘The DfE and government have squandered valuable months hiding this crisis when they should have been fixing dangerous school buildings.
‘The schools minister even broke his own promise to publish information about at-risk properties before parliament’s summer recess.
‘Parents, pupils and staff will be relieved the issue is finally being taken seriously.
‘But to wait until the eleventh hour as schools are preparing for a new academic year will create turmoil for thousands of families. And this could just be the tip of the iceberg.’
Association of School and College Leaders policy director Julie McCulloch said the Government had been too slow to respond.
She said: ‘The danger of structural failure in school buildings where this type of concrete was used in construction has been known since at least 2018.
‘The Department for Education’s own annual report last year identified the condition of school buildings as one of six ‘significant risks’ it was managing, describing this risk as ‘critical – very likely’ and ‘worsening’.
‘It has taken the Government far too long to act on a risk of this seriousness.
‘The scramble now taking place to contact affected schools ahead of the imminent start of the new school year is clearly vital, but the actions these schools will need to take will be hugely disruptive, and this will obviously be worrying for pupils, families and staff.
‘The Government should have put in place a programme to identify and remediate this risk at a much earlier stage.’
Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said: ‘This shocking admission is a concrete result of years of Conservative neglect of our school buildings.
‘Parents, teachers and pupils will be horrified that children have been taught in unsafe buildings and cannot return to school next week.
‘Instead pupils face more misery learning in temporary classrooms or being bussed miles to local schools.
‘Pupil safety is paramount but for this to come out just days before term starts is totally unacceptable.
‘Liberal Democrats would invest in our schools urgently to remove RAAC where it is a risk to life and clear the backlog of school repairs.’
School trust chiefs warned the timing of the announcement ‘couldn’t be more disruptive’ and called on the Department for Education (DfE) to make sure its response was ‘as strong as possible’.
Confederation of School Trusts chief executive Leora Cruddas said: ‘This is a very serious situation and it couldn’t be more disruptive at the start of a new academic year.
‘However, children’s safety must come first so the government is right to proceed with caution.
‘It is absolutely imperative that the operational response from the DfE is as strong as possible and that this gets schools and trusts the help they need in this extremely challenging circumstances.’
How the Government Failed to Act on the Collapsing School Building Scandal
Ministers’ claims that the school building scandal only emerged ‘over the summer’ is contradicted by evidence of warnings going back years
Ministers claimed today that the collapsing school buildings issue only emerged as a serious problem in recent weeks. Education Minister Nick Gibbs told ITV this morning that “this is only an issue that emerged over the summer”.
However, this claim is refuted by a wealth of evidence, from local government to the National Audit Office, to one of the Government’s own agencies.
The problem actually first emerged five years ago when a school roof collapsed in Gravesend, Kent destroying the staff room and a computer room. No children were there when it happened.
The collapse alarmed Kent education authority who decided to alert all councils in England about the problem so everyone, including the Department for Education, were aware of the issue.
Then last September The Office for Government Property – which supports the government and the wider public sector to manage their estate more efficiently and effectively – issued a blunt warning about the dangers of aerated concrete to Whitehall.
It said: “RAAC[aerated concrete] is now life-expired and liable to collapse – this has already happened in two schools with little or no notice.”
The National Audit Office, Parliament’s financial watchdog, decided to launch a thorough investigation into how many schools were affected and how much money schools needed to put it and other schools right. They came up with the figures of £7 billion but the Treasury was only prepared to spend £3.1 billion on the problem.
The NAO report, published at the end of June, revealed that there were 572 schools built using aerated concrete and provided a map broken into London boroughs and English education authorities, showing how much money was needed to be spent in each authority to bring all buildings, including those with aerated concrete, up to scratch. The government would have known the NAO’s findings months before publication because it had to factually clear it with the Department for Education.
Only then did the Department start checking some of the schools to see if they were safe.
During the summer holidays two school buildings using aerated concrete collapsed, one bringing a beam down and it seems only then that ministers began to panic and take action to protect children.
Last night Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, suddenly announced that over 100 schools were going to be closed, or partially closed, and the pupils diverted to temporary accommodation or other schools just before term begins next week.
The issue is that the buildings were constructed with aerated concrete which is now life-expired and prone to collapse without any warning.
The ministry is refusing to release details of the two schools where the collapses occurred (including one last week) or to name the 104 schools being closed or partly closed. The ministry claimed that it didn’t want the media to overwhelm the schools concerned “saying it was up to the schools or the parents to make the information public”.
Despite this, information is leaking out with schools in Bradford, Leicester, Sheffield, Basingstoke, Brixton in south London, County Durham and a special school in Southend all facing closure or partial closure.
It also emerged on Thursday that seven of the hospitals being rebuilt or replaced also have aerated concrete problems and Harrow Crown Court has been closed for nine months to replace its aerated concrete roof.
Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said: “Nothing is more important than making sure children and staff are safe in schools and colleges, which is why we are acting on new evidence about RAAC now, ahead of the start of term.
“We must take a cautious approach because that is the right thing to do for both pupils and staff.
“The plan we have set out will minimise the impact on pupil learning and provide schools with the right funding and support they need to put mitigations in place to deal with RAAC”.
Labour plans to challenge the Government over the issue next week when parliament returns.