The Atomic Bull

IEA: U.S. Set to Become World’s Biggest Oil Producer The United States is poised to become the biggest oil producer in the world within the next decade. The Paris-based International Energy Agency says the United States will surpass Saudi Arabia’s oil production by around 2020 with the aid of controversial extraction techniques such as "fracking" and horizontal drilling.

BBC How many new houses were built from 2001 to 2011?

Appreciate your support. from £269,999 update to follow 2014/15

no point, I have been a follower of HPC for some time and thought I would share. Maybe you're right. I know it's a gamble.

I graduated in 2001 and moved from Cheshire to Essex and then to Kent for work. I decided to rent because I thought the housing market was over-heating and I appreciated the flexibly of renting. Being able to relocate quickly was a key factor in getting my first job. For eight years I shared a flat / house or rented a room. Although I had a few bad experiences with landlords the low cost of rent allowed me to save a substantial amount of money for a deposit. In 2009 I married, we moved in together and rented for a year. The rental property was quite expensive compared to my house share (marital home and all that). My wife had also been saving hard. So in 2010, with house price slightly lower than peak, we found our ideal home which offered excellent value for money – a 3 bedroom period property with a large garden 50 minute commute to London. An old couple had lived there for 30 years and the property needed updating but it was mostly cosmetic (my level of DIY). We knocked them down to £249,995 to save paying stamp duty as first-time buyers. With a 40% deposit First Direct gave us a mortgage which tracks the base rate plus 1.69% - so 2.19% over 15 years. The premise of the decision was – money in bank earning no interest and wanting the freedom to make our home our own (without landlord hassle). We could cope with 15% interest rates and if interest rates remain low, worst case scenario re: house prices, the property will not deprecate quicker than we pay off the mortgage. Fortunately, as we speak, the property is worth a little more than we paid for it.

What should I do with £1,000 savings I have with Santander? Over the past five years I have bought gold coins and invested in a couple of funds.

I opened a student account with Barclays in 1998 and have been with them ever since. I currently have an additions plus account which, for a monthly fee, has benifits. When I opened the account, I remember being very impressed with Barclays. Everyone in the branch knew my name and if I had a problem the branch manager would either call me or meet with me. Wow! haven't times changed! I have a First Direct account for my mortgage - they are slightly better than Barclays. I also have a savings account with Santander who are dreadful. My wife has an account with national wide and they are even worse. Can anyone recommend a good bank for current accounts? Handelsbanken trupet themselves for customer service. Appreciate your comments.

Great video. Thanks for the link.

Labour blamed as home ownership falls to lowest level in nearly 20 years while rental sector booms Home ownership has plunged to its lowest level for nearly two decades, official figures revealed yesterday. The research highlights the nightmare of millions of Britons, particularly the young, who may never be able to afford to buy their own home. Just 67.9 per cent of English households own their home, the lowest percentage since 1991, according to the Government's English Housing Survey. Buyers are being crippled by the combination of soaring house prices, modest salaries and a mortgage drought which many fear is going to get worse. Experts warned yesterday that many people should accept that home ownership was a dream which will never become a reality. Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps said: 'Home ownership is falling under Labour, with the lowest number of first-time buyers since 1974 and fewer homes being built than at any time since 1946. 'The Government's housing policy has been exposed as a failure.' Couple worrying about buying The new figures show the lowest number of first-time buyers since 1974. (Posed by model) As the level of ownership has plunged, the number of people forced to rent has soared. Since 2001, an extra one million households in England are privately renting, taking the number to three million, according to the authoritative survey. Nearly 60 per cent of those renting privately said they hoped to be able to buy in the future. But Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, warned millions of Britons must accept that they may be 'permanent renters'. She said: 'It is sad to say that while we would all like a Porsche and a month in Rio each year, some of us have to make do with a Toyota and a week in Majorca. 'Similarly, for many, home ownership will remain an aspiration.' Yesterday's research comes after housing minister John Healey was criticised for saying he was 'not sure' that a fall in home ownership was 'such a bad thing'. Mr Healey added: ' Fundamentally, we need more affordable homes.' He said Labour would invest more than £7.5billion over the next two years to build more affordable homes to buy or rent, and to help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder. Read more: click here

buy RATM

.... a complete embarrassment to our country!

good post

gold will peak at $1400/oz and then crash massively.

my Conservative council is superb.... .... if Carlsberg did councils

this isn't a Tory Bill - the Bill is edited by the public. it just happens to be instigated by a Conservative MP.

I was hoping to stimulate debate on how land ownership might be reformed.

Douglas Carswell MP has set up a wiki-Bill experiment. Douglas is using the the internet to allow everyone to help him draft a Great Repeal Bill. It has been a tremendous success so far. A real Bill has been drafted by hundreds of citizens on-line - and the wisdom of the crowd has exceeded that of Westminster. THE GREAT REPEAL BILL looks like a great idea to me. hopefully it will gain some good publicity. it just makes one realise how much gimmicky rubbish this Labour government introduced. Which Act of Parliament would you like to repeal and why?

Who Owns the World: The Hidden Facts Behind Landownership, by Kevin Cahill In all territories owned by the Crown, including Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the governments of those countries do not own the land of the country, but may and frequently do administer it on behalf of its owner, HM Elizabeth II. More significantly all forms of land possession in those territories are based, formally and in law, on the Crown's superior ownership. This is why the Land Registry in places like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia cannot register land ownership, only tenure. This is also why freehold and leasehold are defined in law as forms of tenure, not ownership. so technically nobody in the UK really owns anything - it's just a big con Allodial Titles Allodial title is a concept in some systems of property law. It describes a situation where real property (land, buildings and fixtures) is owned free and clear of any encumbrances, including liens, mortgages and tax obligations. Allodial title is inalienable, in that it cannot be taken by any operation of law for any reason whatsoever. In common legal use, allodial title is used to distinguish absolute ownership of land by individuals from feudal ownership, where property ownership is dependent on relationship to a lord or the sovereign. Webster's first dictionary (1825 ed) says allodium is "land which is absolute property of the owner, real estate held in absolute independence, without being subject to any rent, service, or acknowledgement to a superior. It is thus opposed to feud. Allodial titles are known as udal tenure in Orkney and Shetland, the only parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland where they exist. how good would it be to own a property without anyone being able to tax you or take it away from you would the UK function if every legally owned their land with Allodial Title OR would this destroy social mobility? i.e. no death duties for the rich securing a loan for home improvements would be difficult. perhaps we should become a republic and give every adult their fair share of land?

my sister has been renting for 3 years since her wedding expecting hpc (but keen to buy before staring a family). she saw a 6 bedroom town house advertised for 170k after 2 weeks reduced to 150k. phoned the estate agent who said that the couple are desperate to sell and may consider offers as low as 120k. she offered 110k. following negotiation 115k accept.

he'll just have to do another 500k after dinner speech. the rewards, in terms of directorships and shares, Blair will receive over the next 10 years will be vast. The Carlyle Group , among other rewarded John Major (+ James Baker et. al.) Peter Walker, now Lord Walker, became a non-executive director of deutsche bank. There are endless examples of rewards for Politicians that sold out.

Good point. My company only employs 220 people but the head of HR gets 120k + benifits.

I was surprised that some professions (starting out) earn far less than I had expected. My friend inherited 100k and used it to train as a pilot. He only passed 1 GCSE but apparently any healthy person with 100k can become a pilot. After he qualified no major airline would employ him until he had flown for a considerable number of hours. So he worked for a Turkish airline for nothing for 18 months. Then he got a job with Ryanair 30k p.a. starting salary. Another friend gets 30k p.a. starting salary as a Barrister. The medical profession are raking it in though. Maggie never sorted out the BMA - so they tightly control the number of qualifying medical consultants etc.

I know who I will be voting for next year. I can't believe that Vince Cable supports the idea!

Dan Hannan is right.

I dropped into my local Waitrose (Sevenoaks) to buy a few groceries at lunch time. All was well until I got to the check out. Checkout Lady: "Do you need a bag" Me: "Yes, please" Checkout Lady: *looks at me disapprovingly* 2mins later.... Checkout Lady: *looks at me... looks at the two bottles of beer I wish to purchase... looks at me again* Checkout Lady: "do you have a form of photo identification please?" Me: *standing there 6' 5'' 200lbs wearing my wedding ring smiling politely* Me: "I am 29" Checkout Lady: "please may I see your photo ID" Me: *I hand over my driving license DOB **/06/1980* Checkout Lady: "OK, thank you" 30 seconds later.... Checkout Lady: "that's £19.78" Me: *handed over a £50 note (left over from my holiday)* Checkout Lady: *looks pained and presses her buzzer* Checkout Lady: "Sorry, but all £50 notes much be checked by our supervisor" Me: *standing by the checkout waiting like an idiot with a queue of people behind me* Supervisor: *hurries over, doesn't say anything to me and spends literally 20 seconds examining my£50 with a queue of customers watching (whilst doing so muttered something under her breath - I think something about a £? note earlier in the day) As you can imagine I felt really valued as a customer. Incidentally, that is the 3rd time in a row that I have been asked for ID at Waitrose. It's not like I look particularly young or buy cheap booze. Usually I buy a decent bottle of wine or a couple of bottles of real Ale.