Hundreds of British schools are at risk of collapse because they were built using cheap and less durable, reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). But Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is frustrated that no one is thanking her for doing “a f*****g good job ‘cause everyone else has sat on their a**e and done nothing.”
One wonders who the “everyone else” is in her comments, for Mrs. Keegan said her frustration was not directed at anyone “in particular.” Even so, given the tribal nature of British politics, it would be fairly safe to bet she was having a pop at the Labour Party. Yet, all her immediate predecessors—those whom she correctly identifies as having “sat on their a**e[s]”—are from her own: the Conservative Party.
Keegan is repeating the very same formula adopted by almost all Tories who insist, for example, that illegal immigration must stop, or that the criminal justice system should be much tougher, completely ignoring the fact they have been in power for well over a decade and have had the authority to make the obvious and badly needed changes.
It is also worth noting that school safety fears were only prompted after a beam that was “thought to be safe” collapsed at one school during the summer. Officials, as we previously reported, have known about the presence of RAAC in public sector buildings since the 1990s. But, in what politicians like to describe as a leading, advanced nation, the walls have actually started to cave in. It took part of one school literally collapsing—during the weekend, thank goodness—to bring about any serious action. Even then, Mrs. Keegan, who is now cursing about her lack of praise and telling reporters about her struggle sleeping, felt she was able to go on holiday.
Of course, this is all about the current education secretary. RAAC was a popular material in public sector buildings in the sixties and seventies, up until the nineties (note that Labour was in power for a not unmentionable amount of time). It is supposed to have a lifespan of 30 years. So there could have been decades of notice for important renovations. Instead, schools got just a few days. This, as Molly Kingsley of child advocacy group UsForThem told The European Conservative, is indicative of the whole British establishment’s “disregard” for children, which was well demonstrated during the lockdown years.
Thanks to the successive failure of recent governments to do much at all about this crucial issue, instead passing it down for others to muddy their hands, it appears that option has closed for this administration. There are now not just a few hundred schools at risk, as originally thought, but possibly more than 1,000.
So, as is often the case, a problem (that is decades old) that can no longer be ignored has come to light (only after it could no longer be hidden), and has exploded beyond its initial perceived (or controlled) scope. All that remains for Education Secretary Keegan and her Conservative Party to do—with the helpful assistance of the Labour Party and the press—is to distract themselves and the masses with another matter, forget about this one, and learn nothing from their mistakes.
