Norwich City Council, in apparent solidarity with rough sleepers, are taking away armrests from public benches so that night sleepers can stretch out more. This is an endeavour to be more supportive of those reduced to turning public spaces into temporary dormitories.
For perhaps the last 20 years many local authorities and private property owners have been doing the exact opposite. Putting metal bolts on flat spaces so that they become impossible to sit on, let alone lie on. ‘Social dislodgement’ you might call it; architectural solutions to social problems. One of the canniest inventions was to turn bus shelter seats slightly tilted so that after a short time you began to slip off.
At the risk of being a stinking pedant, the cladding didn’t cause the fire. According to the enquiry, it was likely caused by a Hotpoint fridge freezer’s dodgy wiring. However, the cladding gave it all the fuel and protection the fire needed to turn it from a relatively manageable kitchen fire to a towering inferno.