big fire waiting

A fire broke out in the Stockholm subway this week. Fortunately no one was killed but the incident is the worst since this network was established in the fifties. As usual with issues of security, interest surges after an incident, questions are asked: investigative panels will be appointed. Rightfully so. 

The labor union has all the answers at once, of course. Guess what? This is all the fault of the employer. How surprising! Cost-cutting has led to poor maintenance, they claim. Well, maybe. 

I’d suggest we take a closer look at another factor: the uncontrolled spreading of waste-paper in stations as well as in trains and on the tracks. Tons and tons of free “newspapers” are distributed every morning. Every grown-up who fails to bring his paper out from the subway again is partly responsible for the real big fire which will hit us one day.