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Radio 4,2 mins

A Tale of Two Towers. Rhidian Brook - 06/07/17

Thought for the Day

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Good Morning, On a clear day I can see some of London’s landmarks from the top of the house. The arches of Wembley Stadium to the north, the BT Tower in the centre and, dominating the eastern skyline, The Shard which is 5 years old this week. Sadly, London has another a landmark now, one that draws the eye and stops the heart. The burned out shell of Grenfell Tower. A building clad in sackcloth and ashes, standing as an admonishment to other, grander buildings. What used to be a panoramic view is now a sort of morality tale. A Tale of Two Towers. Grenfell and the Shard are not that far apart – a few miles as the helicopter flies - but they represent polarised experiences of life in this city. For some, one is now a tragic symbol of neglect, incompetence and under-investment; the other a shiny, hubristic symbol of excess. And yet, despite inhabiting different universes, these two towers share the same ground. Their fates are connected and you don’t need to be a poet or a preacher to see the connections. As the displaced people of Grenfell wait for new, permanent accommodation from which to rebuild their lives; news comes that the ten penthouses at the top of the Shard (with a reported collective value of 200 million pounds) apparently remain unsold and, according to the building’s management company, ‘empty shells.’ Shocking though this sounds, The Shard is not an anomaly. London is full of empty luxury flats in shiny glass towers that people can’t afford; investments for some; but homes to few. Whenever there is a tragedy involving human error, it is usual for someone to say that ‘lessons must be learned.’ But what can we learn from this? Learning lessons has to be about more than receiving information or facts; it requires some genuine change of mind, heart and then action. Of course, the Grenfell Fire is more than a lesson to be learned, it’s a lived disaster that awaits a deeper explanation. And The Shard’s difficulties are more than just symbolic of excessive wealth; but there is a line than connects these two towers. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells a mini parable - short enough to quote here in full – that offers some insight into what that connection might be: ‘Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying ‘this person began to build and was not able to finish.’ ’ If I could extract from this short tale a lesson that speaks to these situations, one that might change things, it would be: ‘Let’s stop building towers that are too expensive to buy, or too dangerous to live in, and instead estimate the true value of building homes in which people can live.

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