I had planned to write this week’s column about the outcome of the general election, but the devastating loss of life in the Grenfell Tower fire has made party political winners and losers seem like such a small thing in comparison. Like many people across the country, my shock and grief at the scale of the tragedy has been compounded by anger and disgust as information emerges showing not only that these deaths were preventable, but also that warnings were dismissed and ignored.

Many of the Grenfell Tower victims were people our society marginalises: migrants and refugees; renters rather than owners; people working in the low-paid, insecure jobs of outsourcing culture; people who had to rely on food banks to make it to the end of the week. We may never know who some of the victims are, because they have lived without the kind of support network most of us take for granted and have no one to report them missing.

After Grenfell Tower, all of us who believe in it must work together and work harder to put the idea of social security back at the heart of our political culture. Social security means just that: a secure society - where no one has to fall through the cracks, because the system provides them with a safety net, and where local and national governments strive to bring people in from the margins. A place where, as the great Scottish poet and songwriter Hamish Henderson put it, “a’ the bairns o Adam will find breid, barley bree and painted room.”

In Glasgow, over the next five years, the council will work with housing associations and builders to invest more than £400 million provided by the Scottish Government to build new affordable homes, the majority of them for social rent. It is your City Government’s pledge that these homes will be of the highest possible standards, not just of safety but also of energy efficiency and design, and they will be part of well-connected neighbourhoods that provide local amenities and employment.

It doesn’t matter whether the people who will live in those homes are owners or renters, whether they receive welfare benefits, whether they are lifelong Glaswegians or have come here from other countries: all of them, and everyone in our city, are equally entitled to live somewhere that is safe and warm and to know that the politicians they elect will defend and support that right. I, for one, fully intend to.

****************************************************************

On a happier subject, I really enjoyed taking part last week - along with Sport Minister Aileen Campbell, young athletes and schoolchildren from across the city – in a brilliant ticket sale launch for the first ever multisport European Championships, which Glasgow will host jointly with Berlin next summer.

With attendances of around 250,000 expected across six sports, it will be eleven days of top-quality competition. Some of the tickets cost as little as £10 for adults and £5 for concessions – and there will be free events and plenty of cultural activities too. As with the Commonwealth Games, the real stars will be the volunteers: thousands of you have already applied, and there are plenty of opportunities to play your part.

If you want an example of the kind of difference these sort of events can make, you only need to look at Glasgow 2018 Ambassador Ross Murdoch, who also took part in the ticket launch and will play a big role over the next year.

Ross won his first major gold medal with an amazing performance in the men’s 200m breaststroke at Tollcross during the Commonwealth Games and has gone on to compete in the Olympics and collect a host of national and European titles.

Just as importantly, he is a great role model for young athletes in Glasgow and across Scotland – whether they want to compete at the top level, or simply take part for fitness and fun.

The 2018 Championships will be another chance for us to show the world that, if you want to experience a show with an atmosphere like no other, Glasgow is where you need to be. I’ll certainly never forget the summer of 2014: walking with hundreds of other spectators to see athletics at Hampden, rhythmic gymnastics at the Hydro and music on Glasgow Green, the shared feeling of goodwill and sheer fun was palpable. Glasgow does that better than anywhere and I’m sure the 2018 Championships will be no exception (though we should all keep our fingers crossed that the weather behaves itself!)