She is damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t. I think macron is a snivelling little turd out to bathe in reflected glory for himself on the back of this disaster. That said Notre Dame is, after the Vatican, the most treasured building in the Catholic Church, adored all over the world - and importantly by Catholics in this Country. As a committed Christian May must be struggling with this, Catholicism has been the cause of great trouble in our History so an official Governmnt donation will be criticised. However there are times when the right thing to do may not always be the popular thing to do. I think that perhaps she will wait to see what other countries do. A donation coming from Israel or the Arab world for instance would signify that it would be a matter of solidarity with what the building represents to France and her people.
We should remember that this could so easily have been Canterbury Cathedral; the heart of the Anglican Christian Church, equally revered worldwide; which had suffered. So What would we have thought then about other countries possible financial help? In truth we would have been equally lucky should the Cathedral have survived such a conflagration. If the Pompiers de Paris were presented with a challenge to get heavy equipment near to the building, then the situation at Canterbury is possibly worse. The access to the Precints for the size of vehicle necessary to reach roof level in safety with a monitor, is probably not possible. While the building has dry risers on the south side the same is not so on the more difficult north side. Kent Fire Brigade obviously keeps is plans for dealing with a roof fire in the Cathedral up to date, but as was clear in Paris it takes time to get mutiple specialist vehicles on site from maybe sixty miles away, time they haven’t got. As we are hearing today the reason Notre Dame was saved from total collapse was down to individual firefighters working at height on the building without the knowledge of an available retreat to safety.
Hat firmly removed in respect.