An uncaring posh council run by someone with a double-barrelled name? Guilty. Local government as a whole? Bureaucrats who face a ‘looming crisis in confidence'. Such was the reaction to the Grenfell Tower fire.

The difficulty with our rush to judgement and search for villains is that as always life is more complicated than that. Kensington & Chelsea RLBC didn't react well to the fire. Apparently, they didn't trigger the London Gold Command system for a major emergency at once. Their culture has seemed like noblesse oblige – they have really improved the poorer northern part of the borough but are out of touch with the times. The members call the chief executive ‘chief executive', not their real name. It is the only authority where I have met a member wearing a monocle. There is nothing wrong with monocles – and I don't want to suggest the judge investigating the fire is inappropriate because he's posh and likes holidays in Tuscany – but clearly the council reacted poorly to the fire, especially in terms of clear communications and transparency.