Snapshot of Stories
The 25th anniversary of the fire at King’s Cross Underground station is to be marked by a union raising concerns over Tube safety standards. Thirty one people died when a fire on a wooden escalator engulfed part of the London station on 18 November 1987. The blaze is thought to have been started by a dropped match and led to a smoking ban at Tube stations. Members of the RMT union will gather on Sunday at the station to commemorate the fire and highlight safety fears. Bob Crow, the union’s general secretary said: “Due to a culture of complacency and systemic failure, 31 people lost their lives at King’s Cross.” He has called for London Mayor Boris Johnson to withdraw the threat of cuts to staffing levels and maintenance schedules and abandon plans to introduce more driverless trains. Frank Dobson, the local Labour MP since 1979, said such tragedies highlighted the need for stations to be “properly staffed”. “There are all sorts of propositions put forward by people ‘Oh, you can get rid of these staff and you can rid of others’ and then there’s even this idea of getting rid of drivers on the Underground trains, which may be all very well until something goes wrong.” More than 100 people were taken to hospital after the King’s Cross fire, after becoming trapped as the escalator went up in flames. Nobody has ever been prosecuted over the fire. The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Railway Inspectorate said there was “no justification” for charges.
A drunk man who climbed into a crocodile enclosure in Australia and attempted to ride a 5m (16ft) long crocodile has survived his encounter. The crocodile, called Fatso, bit the 36-year-old man’s leg, tearing chunks of flesh from him as he straddled the reptile. He received surgery to serious wounds to his leg and is recovering in hospital, police say. He had been chucked out of a pub in the town of Broome for being too drunk. The man, Michael Newman, climbed over a fence and tried to sit on the 800kg (1,800lb) saltwater crocodile. “Fatso has taken offence to this and has spun around and bit this man on the right leg,” Sgt Roger Haynes of Broome police told journalists. “The crocodile has let him go and he’s been able to scale the fence again and leave the wildlife park.”
Songs Played
Daniel Bedingfield – Gotta Get Thru This
Maximo Park – Girls Who Play Guitars
Ellie Goulding – Anything Could Happen
Missing Andy – The Way We’re Made
One Direction – Live While We’re Young
Mumford & Sons – The Cave
Olly Murs – Troublemaker
Of Monsters And Men – Mountain Men
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Not Giving Up On Love
Snow Patrol – Just Say Yes
Degrees of Motion – Do You Want It Right Now?
Cee-Lo Green – I Want You
Beatfreakz – Somebody’s Watching Me
Beatles – Taxman
Coldplay – Hurts Like Heaven
Rajiv feat Mr Arch – Catch Me If You Can
Westlife – Bop Bop Baby
Busted – What I Go To School For
Embrace – Nature’s Law
80s Hour
Wham – I’m Your Man
Taylor Dayne – Tell It To My Heart
Yazoo – Don’t Go
Jason Donovan – Too Many Broken Hearts
Kim Wilde & Junior – Another Step (Closer To You)
Erasure – Sometimes
Bruce Hornsby – The Way It Is
Bangles – Walk Like An Egyptian
Beastie Boys – Fight For Your Right (To Party)
Foreigner – Waiting For A Girl Like You
Eurythmics – Sexcrime
Chris Lowe – We All Feel Better In The Dark
