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The people most impacted by this news are the bereaved families of the 72 people who died in the inferno and those who managed to survive.
And yet, over the weekend, a number of reports about the politics of this situation not only managed to completely obscure the human cost of the disaster, but failed to mention the building safety crisis across the country.
Bereaved families who lost their loved ones in the fire have told me this negative coverage was only adding to their “hurt” and “pain”. Some have also said they “do not recognise” the way the meeting was portrayed.
One member of the Next of Kin group said: “I just want to take one last walk up the steps to see my home in the tower and say goodbye. I know and accept the tower has to come down. None of these arguments are for me, or about me or my loss. I feel my loss [is] always hijacked.”
Similarly, survivors have told me that much of the coverage of last week’s decision is missing the point.
Rayner has had to make an “impossible decision”, Daffarn told me. He added that there would “never be a good time” to make the call to take Grenfell Tower down.
“It’s upsetting that the whole tower has to come down because some people’s family members are encased in the building,” Daffarn said, referring to the fact that the flames were so hot in some parts of the building that what human remains were found were not possible to identify.
Rayner accused of ignoring bereaved families as Grenfell Tower to be demolished
Read MoreAt present, the charred remains of Grenfell are covered by a shroud which is topped with a banner bearing a green heart and the words: “Grenfell: forever in our hearts”.
It’s almost impossible to imagine what it would have been like for those who lived close to Grenfell to see it every day, or for those who had lost their loved ones and homes.
“My own view is that they should rip the shroud down so the tower shows the naked violence of what happened to our community until we get justice,” Daffarn told me. “But I realise that’s not possible because we have to take the local community into consideration.
Ultimately, Rayner was never going to have any choice but to deliver difficult news to the Grenfell community.
Grenfell Tower was exposed to a severe inferno. As a result of that and the fact that the building’s frame has been exposed since 2017, its structural integrity is deteriorating and requires maintenance and monitoring to ensure that it is safe for those who still live nearby.
Nonetheless, the tower’s remains are a monument to loss and pain, they are a giant headstone for those who have never been able to properly say goodbye to their loved ones. They are also a symbol of grave injustice.
That report confirmed conditions which led to the tragedy were also enabled by a government drive for deregulation in the 2010s and lax building regulations which allowed dangerous cladding and insulation to be used in the first place.
And, so, I will leave you with the words of Nazanin Aghlani. I spoke with her last summer after the inquiry’s report was published. Nazanin’s mother, 65-year-old Sakineh Afrasehabi, and 59-year-old aunt, Fatima Afrasiabi, were killed while trying to escape Grenfell.
“[I want to know] that we don’t live in an animal kingdom where people can just do whatever they like… and get away with it.”
In Italy, where similar fires have occurred in recent years, criminal trials are already under way. This, combined with the fact that so many residential blocks remain clad in unsafe materials across Britain, has left those impacted by the Grenfell Tower fire feeling as though they do not matter.
Shortly before Christmas, I travelled to Folkestone to speak at a book festival. While there, I was approached by local artists who told me that they were being priced out by rent increases.
Do have a read here.
Angela Rayner explained the announcement in more detail in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday. I was also on the show.
Ask me anything
This week’s question has come via Instagram. A frustrated leasehold homeowner wants to know “when Labour will end freehold feudalism”?
Pennycook has started by making it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to invoke the “right to manage” their own homes as of 3 March.
Send in your questions to: @Victoria_Spratt, on X, formerly Twitter, @vicky.spratt on Instagram or via email vicky.spratt@inews.co.uk
Vicky’s pick
There’s lots to love about this programme, which is based on a book by former BBC political programmes editor Rob Burley.
For me, two things stood out in particular. One is that the writers decided to include a scene which, without giving you spoilers, reveals Thatcher’s anti-ageing beauty regime. The other is that the entire series shows just how radical Thatcher was, regardless of whether you agree with her worldview or not.
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