At the start of September, just as parents were preparing for their children to return to school, more than a hundred schools were closed due to the risks posed by RAAC concrete.
This cheap and lightweight building material was widely used from the 1950s to the 1990s, but becomes prone to crumble and collapse after about 30 years.
Quite naturally, questions were asked of the government as to why this risk had not been identified earlier and schools rebuilt. Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, was interviewed on ITV to defend the government’s record. She was subsequently caught off-camera swearing as she expressed her irritation over the concrete crisis and a reporter’s questions, asking: ‘Does anyone ever say you’ve done a good job?’
How the Titanic encapsulates the human dilemma
Last month a gold pocket watch worn by John Jacob Astor, the richest passenger on the Titanic, was sold …