The Socialist 23 January 2013

Action can stop cuts

Action can stop cuts

London copter crash 'accident waiting to happen'

Changes to ESA: more attacks on disabled people

Fight the unfair bedroom tax!

Them ... & Us

Book review: Planning for the Planet

Film review: Les Miserables

USA - Workers start to demand change

Sahel: No to the war in Mali

Ystrad Mynach: Give us back our A&E!

'You won't see an investment banker with a hose'

Save London's fire service

Southampton: Give youth a future!

Building an anti-cuts voice in council elections

East London school rejects 'academisation'

Campaigning against the cuts

Manchester: fightback needed in city of extreme poverty

Bristol mayor says 'out with the new, in with the cuts'

Leicester: Build a united campaign for community resources

London teachers call for strike action against Performance Related Pay

Victory at Runcorn Thermal Power Station

Bolton hospital - fighting mass redundancies

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/749/16020

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 23 January 2013 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | PDF | ebook

London copter crash 'accident waiting to happen'

Steve Nally, Brixton Hilll Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate

"An accident waiting to happen," was how one of my tower block neighbours summed up the Vauxhall helicopter crash.

Anyone who lives by the river Thames has seen a big increase in helicopter traffic and occasions when they seem too close for comfort.

This will get worse as more towers for the wealthy are built on London's riverfront.

On 16 January, freezing fog meant that I could not see the top of the building that the helicopter struck.

London City airport was cancelling flights and the Woolwich Ferry wasn't operating, so questions need to be asked as to why a helicopter was allowed to fly. Even the police helicopter was grounded.

Clapham fire station

Lives were saved because fire crews arrived on the scene very quickly including those based at Clapham fire station.

Yet that station is now up for closure which will inevitably mean more avoidable deaths and slower response times.

But London Fire Brigade management have ordered FBU members to remove posters informing local residents of the closure of the station and what it will mean to them.

Helicopter flights across London also need to be reviewed. Flight records show that the peak use of such flights takes place when the Royal Ascot races and other similar events take place, which indicates that helicopter flights are used more for ferrying the rich around than for practical purposes.

That helicopter landed yards from a railway line, a school playground a petrol station and supermarket. Things could have been much worse.

No fire station should be closed and helicopter flights across London should be restricted to emergencies and practical purposes, not a plaything for the rich.

In this issue

Socialist Party news and analysis

Action can stop cuts