Ah-so

Good point - Czech republic - GDP growth averages about 6%, compared to our 2.5%, as does Slovakia. Poland is growing at about 5%. Romanian growth was 8% in 2004 and 4.1% in 2005. Eastern European countries are doing well, but they are playing catch up. It is hardly their fault that they were cursed with socialism for 45 years.

And in 1975 inflation was running at nearly 30% and nearly everyone was receiving pay rises in excess of 12%, so affording interest rate payments of 12% was not really that tough. Today, with interest rates higher than inflation you cannot rely on inflation to pay off your mortgage for you - mortgage repayments are very real and do not lose much value. Baby boomers had it easy. Based on the low interest rate argument, does David Smith also believe that Ferraris are under-valued?

I recommend that we all train as lawyers and buy shares in banks.

But it will still be standing in 20 years unlike the new build! What about this one: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-524...=5&tr_t=buy However, I see you do pay a big prumium to be close to the station: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-853...=5&tr_t=buy so you probably paid a fair market price. However, I would go for the longer walk and an extra bedroom.

I object to Richmond's petty tax scheme. 4x4 vehicals do cause more pollution, but not everyone will be able to afford the tax - they may have a big old car because it is cheap and they have 5 children. White vans are often owned by those without a lot of money, and yet are relatively polluting. However, my main concern is that it is really the central government's job to decide environmental policy, not never-weres in the town hall. They should concern themselves with the important tasks of local govt, such collecting rubbish twice a month, employing outreach workers on £35,000 and on information gathering trips to the tropics.

£385,000 for 2 bedrooms in Surbiton, and you are worried you paid too much? You should be because you did! Surbiton house for sale

"And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."

I disagree, you have to sit around waiting for everyone else to finish their drinks 'cos none of them drink fast enough! Perhaps if they ban alcopops or whatever, kids will just go back to drinking sweet cider like they did in my day. I hardly think that they will say "Ah fack, WKD's gone ahpa quid. Fink aile stay a 'ome an read a book". Medical evidence suggests that we are drinking more, but the media often seem to present previous eras as examples of Mediterranean abstemiousness. The British were alway p!ssheads, as the Romans noted, as are all Northern countries, from Ireland to Japan (any exceptions?). Behaviour under influence does seem to have got worse, but I think that is a different matter and has different causes.

No, they are still are pretty thick jobs, just ones that didn't require manual labour. Low and lower skill jobs can be exported if they do not require face-to-face contact with the client and the skills are available overseas.

What I really don't understand is how I post the same article 5 minutes before you and not a single person replies! I must have very negative charisma!!

Good article on Bloomberg - there is a lack of supply of new property and none of us can afford to sell. The Bank of England daren't raise rates too much for frear of a crash. No suggestion of how it will end though. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=new...id=a0YjZrU.EvNM

It has been empiracally proven beyond any doubt that market trends always continue in the same direction at the same rate forever. Using this knowledge, the housing associations have come up with this astounding piece of research. Why did they not continue in the same vein and claim that by 2020 the average London house price will be £1m?

The bulls will all instantly forget their bull position and say things like "well we all knew property was overvalued and that a correction was likely, but I have always thought about the long term".

The free market system is unemotionally and rigorously fair. That is what people do not like about it.

We (i.e. the West) do - the Chinese love conspicuous consumption and the West, Europe in particular, is the home of luxury goods. Admittedly, one Burberry raincoat does not make up for a thousand DVD players.

She is probably more into the management consultant/ change consultant end of the business, with probably little IT knowledge herself. The funny-looking men with rucksacks and Starwars posters get on with the actual hard work while the pretty young woman with a smart briefcase shows the client how it will work with a Powerpoint flow chart.

That's right - part buy part rent.

The plump northern girl (whose hair colour may have been blonde, although this is neither here nor there), said that she "didn't have time" to save for a deposit. She's 21 FFS!

Only turned on for the last couple of minutes. Was that the fat blonde girl?

Quick calculations: if your hotel is let at £120 p/n, which is £60 to owner. Assume 60% occupancy (no idea really, but a reasonable guess), gives total income of £60 x 365 x 60% = £13,140 p/a. £13,140/£240,000 = 5.475%. Probably will not cover the mortgage. Also, you are buying a depreciating asset with no guarantees of the long-term viability of the business. I bet that refurbishment costs are shared too. This seems far worse than a normal btl. Think about, they are valuing a basic hotel room at £480,000.

Have a look at this thread for a few laughs. http://www.rte.ie/comments/propertycrash.html

I don't want to doubt you, but you do need to sign something before you will get any credit. While use of the credit card could be deemed acceptance of their terms and conditions in a legal sense, I do not think that any can give consumer loans in this way. On the main point, the banks may look on people a bit suspiciously if they are grown adults and have not credit history at all. It is pretty unusual in this day and age, especially as most people use credit cards for sensible cash management reasons (why pay this month when you can pay next month and get added consumer protection for free). If I meet someone with no credit cards it suggests to me that they may have had a problem with debt at some point or its for religious reasons. A bit like teetotallers.

It may only be 25bp, Bu-chan, but that is on top of the 25bp rise in July and then there is another forecase for Spring.

Ireland's receipts of EU aid have dropped dramatically in recent years, now that Ireland has one of the highest GDPs per head in Europe. From the 1990's onwards it was getting about 7% of GDP from the EU - approximately equal to the rampant "growth" the celtic tiger was experiencing . Ireland's growth was funded by the EU, but the government was wise enough to put the money to good use for years. It is a pity that the money has been squandered on a property bubble. When it implodes, the Irish will realise that they have covered the countryside with ugly boxes that they cannot fill and no one can afford.

It does seem like a awful lot of "Crash" votes. If that reflected the thoughts of the British public, the housing market would be in a crash already. I wonder how Crash got so many votes. I only voted twice.