Grenfell, covid, obesity: excluding commercial interests from public policy making

Abstract

Last year I spoke at Kensington Aldridge Academy. My task was to inspire the schoolchildren. I may or may not have succeeded, but the children certainly inspired me. They were full of hope and a clear sense of a better world. Their questions and comments were intelligent and insightful, and it was my favourite speaking engagement of 2023. Kensington Aldridge Academy is at the foot of Grenfell Tower. David Cameron, prime minister during the period leading up to the Grenfell fire, was a previous speaker. I was told that the children had asked him to apologise for the fire that killed 72 people, including five of the academy’s pupils.12 The fire destroyed lives and livelihoods, leaving people with long term physical and psychological sequelae—poor …