andyhinch
Well-Known Member
Change their food from fresh fruit to rotting vegetables ?
Barcon
Well-Known Member
A few blankets with a bit of plague on them should do it.
The storm clouds grow darker by the day. No party, in the major fuck-up that is the fptp self-perpetuating disaster will risk a halt to the "property for profit" reality that is endemic to the UK. Affordable housing? To everyone? Go straight to jail. Do not pass go. Negative equity for all. Aint. Gonna. Happen. Not on purpose, anyway, too many rich and powerful people have an incentive to prevent the kind of property crash needed to
make significant change. However, if/when it all goes tits-up following breaksit then who knows? The divergence of wages and house prices cannot be sustained, the proliferation of zero hours non-jobs which make getting a mortgage impossible, the demise of manufacturing jobs, the relentless automation of tasks that were once done by humans, they all point to melt-down. The recovery post WW2 showed what can be achieved with a united country. Today the country has never been more fractured. Pre-fabricated houses, cheap to make, energy efficient are available now, it's land to put it on that is the problem, millions of acres owned by a few hundred families thanks to the Norman conquest, a significant amount owned by the church of england and the vast acreage of the ministry of defence, the privatised water monopoly and the privatised railways. What used to be called farming land (and still is for subsidy reasons) is "set aside" and ringfenced, to keep the shires happy , the major builders have untold acres of landbanks that get more valuable as pressure on property increases. They have a vested interest in keeping the pot boiling merrily and a powerful cadre of MPs to see it continues. We, as in "the people, the man in the street, the disaffected and subjugated common herd" are reaping what was sown by years of short-term get-rich quick spivs posing as politicians and backed to the hilt by major parts of the media. On a lighter note........ fuck, there isn't one
make significant change. However, if/when it all goes tits-up following breaksit then who knows? The divergence of wages and house prices cannot be sustained, the proliferation of zero hours non-jobs which make getting a mortgage impossible, the demise of manufacturing jobs, the relentless automation of tasks that were once done by humans, they all point to melt-down. The recovery post WW2 showed what can be achieved with a united country. Today the country has never been more fractured. Pre-fabricated houses, cheap to make, energy efficient are available now, it's land to put it on that is the problem, millions of acres owned by a few hundred families thanks to the Norman conquest, a significant amount owned by the church of england and the vast acreage of the ministry of defence, the privatised water monopoly and the privatised railways. What used to be called farming land (and still is for subsidy reasons) is "set aside" and ringfenced, to keep the shires happy , the major builders have untold acres of landbanks that get more valuable as pressure on property increases. They have a vested interest in keeping the pot boiling merrily and a powerful cadre of MPs to see it continues. We, as in "the people, the man in the street, the disaffected and subjugated common herd" are reaping what was sown by years of short-term get-rich quick spivs posing as politicians and backed to the hilt by major parts of the media. On a lighter note........ fuck, there isn't one
Hoghead
Well-Known Member
Well @bellbuzzer lets concrete over everything and by the way as as a starter the the railroads are nationalised anyway, so they belong to you.
only losses are nationalised, the profits go to shareholders on the way to a "tax efficient" portfolio.
East Level 2
Well-Known Member
So we each get 0.168 cubic metres? Not much wriggle room.It could be solved by making better use of the available volume.
Chippy_boy
Well-Known Member
A couple of thoughts, if I may.
First, the cost of a house is hugely influenced by the cost of the land it sits upon. You could think that your average £300,000 house on a new housing estate costs perhaps £150,000 or less to build, and the rest is the cost of the land. (Made up figures, but the principle holds.) Farm land, without planning permission for houses, is about £10,000 / acre. With current densities, you get about 10 houses (on average) in an acre of land. i.e. £1,000 per house if built on farm land.
It is entirely within local authorities control, to buy up farm land at £10,000 / acre, grant itself planning permission on that land. And sell it to builders at £1,000 / house, with a contractual agreement on the retail prices the builder can charge. At a stroke, this could halve the cost of new builds across the country.
My second point relates to young people's (in)abiltity to buy houses. When my mum and dad were young, you had to save with a building society for years, in order to earn the privilege to meet the building society manager, and beg for a mortgage. Only to be told "come back next year and we'll see". This was the norm. People got married and lived in the spare room upstairs at their mums and dads, or their aunties or whatever. When they finally did manage to buy a house, they had no car, no TV, no fridge, no furniture. I was born in 1961 and we didn't have carpet until I was about 10. When I bought my first house in 1988, we sat on deck chairs in the lounge for 2 years watching TV on a 19" portable borrowed off my father-in-law, since we could not afford a TV or any furniture.
Kids today expect (or want) everything on day one. Now I do not resent them doing that, but I do think this idea that it is terrible on young kids today, is overplayed. Times were hard in the past too. These things go in cycles. At the moment house buying is out of the reach of many young people. A few years of house price stagnation (or even another crash) and a few years of wages growth, and they will be more affordable again. I am not saying there is no problem, merely wishing to put this into context. Life, and making ends meet, is a struggle for most young people, but it always has been.
First, the cost of a house is hugely influenced by the cost of the land it sits upon. You could think that your average £300,000 house on a new housing estate costs perhaps £150,000 or less to build, and the rest is the cost of the land. (Made up figures, but the principle holds.) Farm land, without planning permission for houses, is about £10,000 / acre. With current densities, you get about 10 houses (on average) in an acre of land. i.e. £1,000 per house if built on farm land.
It is entirely within local authorities control, to buy up farm land at £10,000 / acre, grant itself planning permission on that land. And sell it to builders at £1,000 / house, with a contractual agreement on the retail prices the builder can charge. At a stroke, this could halve the cost of new builds across the country.
My second point relates to young people's (in)abiltity to buy houses. When my mum and dad were young, you had to save with a building society for years, in order to earn the privilege to meet the building society manager, and beg for a mortgage. Only to be told "come back next year and we'll see". This was the norm. People got married and lived in the spare room upstairs at their mums and dads, or their aunties or whatever. When they finally did manage to buy a house, they had no car, no TV, no fridge, no furniture. I was born in 1961 and we didn't have carpet until I was about 10. When I bought my first house in 1988, we sat on deck chairs in the lounge for 2 years watching TV on a 19" portable borrowed off my father-in-law, since we could not afford a TV or any furniture.
Kids today expect (or want) everything on day one. Now I do not resent them doing that, but I do think this idea that it is terrible on young kids today, is overplayed. Times were hard in the past too. These things go in cycles. At the moment house buying is out of the reach of many young people. A few years of house price stagnation (or even another crash) and a few years of wages growth, and they will be more affordable again. I am not saying there is no problem, merely wishing to put this into context. Life, and making ends meet, is a struggle for most young people, but it always has been.