Saving For a Space Ship

Anecdotally, I've noticed a lot more Eastern Europeans walking around the boot sales, here in Cheshire / Flintshire. Judging from the locals body language, they seem to resent their presence in what is a low income area in these parts of North Wales & North Cheshire. The East Europeans are easily distinguishable as they seem to talk quite loudly in their native language and buy quite a lot of cheap electrical goods at these markets.

It's happening !! Buy Nothing Day Blog - For Global Updates on Activites http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/blog.php#102 Inspiration from last year's BND http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/pastyears.php?o=2004 Buy Nothing Xmas http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/bnd_xmas/ Scotland: Free food and films in Glasgow Friday 25th November: 5.30pm - Critical Mass - meet at George Square 7.30pm - Free Food & Films - at the Saorsa Social Centre Saturday 26th November: 11.00am - Info Stall & Swap Shop - at St Enoch's Square, bring things to swap and exchange for free All Day - Clowning & Games - meet at the Info Stall More Info: 0141 423 9055 Web Site: http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/ UK: Logo hunters loot London’s Oxford Street Fed up with branding and corporate control? Play for free and win points in the NEXUS challenge this weekend! In the spirit of BUY NOTHING DAY we invite you to collect as many logos as possible from the stores and establishments of Oxford Street; of course, without spending any of your hard-earned cash. Sound like fun? Here's how we play: 1. Subtly meet in a nearby pub (to be announced). 2. Head to Oxford St. and await the GO! signal. 3. Grab as many logos as possible within a time limit. 4. Retire to the pub for scoring and celebratory beverages. Saturday 26th November (Buy Nothing Day) Meet from 12:00 for a 1:00pm start. Meeting place to be announced on the Space Hijackers website: www.spacehijackers.org The logo may be on a carrier bag, poster, swing tag, name badge... get creative! You MUST NOT BUY ANYTHING! resist all temptations. Relocation of valued items is definitely not encouraged. Scores will be totalled by our independent judges and their decision is final. The organisers accept no responsibility for births, deaths, injuries (including papercuts), and the small print is here [ ]. UK: London Radical Cheerleaders The London Radical Cheerleaders would like to invite you to participate in two actions we have planned for next weekend. We will be meeting at 5pm sharp Soho Sq on Friday 25th November to run through a couple of performances we're planning for Reclaim the Night march. Come in pink and black if possible, all welcome to join in! The following day is Buy Nothing Day a global day against rampant consumerism and everyone is invited to join in the disobediance. We will be paying a visit to Selfridges, House of Fraser and John Lewis for three performances and to evaluate their cheerleader merchandise as we fear it may not meet LRC standards. We will be meeting at 11am outside Oxford St station infront of H&M retailers (Sat 26th) for preparation. For more info email londonradicalcheerleaders@yahoogroups.co.uk Ireland : Street theatre, bartering and film fest to flood Galway Buy Nothing Day 2005 to be celebrated in Galway on Saturday with street theatre, a mini film fest, art installations, and a barter fair. With the seasonal shopping frenzy now upon us, Galwegians are being asked to resist for one day the pressure to shop, and join in the international celebration of Buy Nothing Day on Saturday 26th November. Buy Nothing Day was founded in 1993 and is celebrated in over 55 countries worldwide today, and its message is more relevant than ever in Celtic Tiger Ireland. “Buy Nothing Day is a simple idea – it’s a 24-hour consumer fast that allows us step back and look at the role consumerism and materialism play in our lives,” says Kerry E’lyn Larkin, one of the organisers of the Galway events. “Why do we buy what we buy, and how much control do advertisers have over us? Where does what we buy come from and where does it go when we’re finished with it? Who profits from our consumption? What do we really value in our lives anymore? In other words, what impact does our consumption have on other people, the planet, and ourselves? BND is a chance to focus on these really important questions.” A variety of events are planned to mark the day in Galway. Street theatre will be staged on (where else?) Shop Street at 2 pm; a Barter Fair will take place in the Galway One World Centre (beside Fat Freddy’s) from 2-6 pm, to which people should bring items to swap such as clothes, CDs, books, etc.; an art installation will be exhibited in the Fishery Tower all day; and films focusing on advertising, corporate control, and consumerism will be shown at NUI, Galway, during the afternoon. All events will be free and open to the public. For more information, ring 087 911 16 24 or email activationkerry@hotmail.com

This smacks of desperation. Dixons, alias Currys/ PC world /Link are like the mafia, they represent a failure of the monopolies & mergers commission to legislate properly in that industry. I heard they had around 50% of market share a few years ago, shame on the Guardian for printing such a rubbish V.I .article. PC World are particlarly highly over priced with an infamous customer service, closely followed by Dixons. I look forward to seeing more of these big out of town 'dead sheds' after xmas.

Cheers for the ZZg news update, it would be good to see him back on here around xmas.

So that why Zzg113 is not about anymore. Even Hpc Gurus' are not exempt

The 3.5 x income guide is still seen as a sensible measure of affordability by many, but should it not be lowered in relation to how less secure your job has become? So for example, if you are 30 % more likely to lose your job, compared to 10-20 years ago, your mortgage should be reduced to x 2.33 your income. Its occured to me that given the serious decline in manufacturing and great increase in insecure short term 'Mc Jobs' etc. This has made the 3.5 times income guide for a mortgage, irrelevant and much too high, as it was based on much stronger economic times. One problem I see, is how to work out how less secure the average job is now, compared to then. Maybe these sums are too simplistic, but if this should be considered, are houses not even more unaffordable than already thought ?

I spoke to a successful experienced landlord, with several properties he bought over 10 year ago in the Merseyside area. Despite historically disgreeing with my increasingly bearish views, a month ago he told me that he was going to sell all his properties due to the increase in energy costs. He thought some small interest rises could be weathered, but rising energy costs were the final straw. I sensed the air of panic in him. He was in his late 40's, so maybe he remembered the 70's .

In Chester there's a big shop opening up and filling full of stock. Hang on, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It's a pound shop !

The drops a suprise to me, I thought it would have been increasing with the Xmas build up from ebay sales & the like. Anecdotally, from my nearly daily visits to the post office, I'm told by P.O. staff that ebay & online sales have baled out Royal Mail to a major extent. Many sellers are too small to use other mail carriers. I use 2nd class or Parcel where possible as it seem to be little different from 1st & cheaper for buyers. I seem to remember hearing that Royal Mail were losing their monopoly in some areas in the new year ? Vat's was being added sometime soon as well, because they were given a Vat holiday to kick start the business.

As if the price was not bad enough, Gun Wharf is built on a reject shop & factory store complex masquerading as something else. I've been in that area a couple of times this year (my folks live 8 miles way) & noticed the area opposite Gun Wharf looking more delapedated. I've always liked Albert Rd in Southsea, but that was looking a lot worse than last year. More shops had closed down IMO -shame. Don't get me started on that Tower!! - it tied Portsmouth to the mast of the ship of fools. :angry: Tall view over a shit city - 5 years late http://www.hago.org.uk/2000/popup/forget-2.html http://www.hago.org.uk/spinnaker-tower/index.html

I've listed below what I think are some of the major good reasons for not buying a house at present. I've tried to keep it non-technical and welcome your comments & additions of ones I've missed. 1. House Price Inflation (HPI) Dropping By not buying now you may save a lot of money as house price inflation has dropped from around 20% to around 2% in the last 18 months, and HPI appears to be continuing down based on previous house price cycles history. 2. Potential Negative Equity You may end up with negative equity due to having bought a house at a higher price now, it may well drop to a lower price, leaving negative equity as an extra cost in having a house worth less than the mortgage payable on it. 3. Massive income Multiples on Mortgage Payments. Traditionally, borrowing up to 3.5 times your annual income as a mortgage amount has been seen as responsible borrowing. High house prices now demand borrowing of 6 to 8 times annual income, so this makes mortgages unaffordable to many now & high risk regarding affordability to others. 4. Risk of Debt Slavery for Longer With Low Inflation Rates Currently low interest rates (IR) will not allow inflation to erode the debt over 25 years as has historically happened with higher IR. So many people will be paying off larger debts for longer. Historically inflation rates have a 7-8% average and may well return to this level. 5. Increased Risk of Bankruptcy For reason given above, many buyers are stretching themselves beyond reasonable limits of affordability. A rise in interest rates or a loss of job or increased difficulty in finding tenants make the risks of bankruptcy higher. Usually, this means losing your house, and an increase in lenders seeking charging orders on houses in court, mean that debts cannot be escaped so easily. 6. Finding Tenants Is Not An Easy Option Anymore Renting rooms is often used to pay towards a large mortgage. This is not easy to do any more. Partly due to the increase in Buy to Let properties for reasons like replacing pensions etc. Rents have remained low (sometimes the same as 7 years ago) and many properties are empty due to increased competition. 7. Its Often Cheaper to Rent than Buy It is often cheaper to rent a property at present, than to pay large mortgage instalments, especially on 'interest only' mortgages. 8. Danger of Increased Stress & Damage to Health The stress and possible damage to a persons health, can be greatly increased in an environment of large debt. Struggling to repay enormous sums in uncertain economic times with an insecure job market makes this worse.

I have another relevant book on the subject, particularly the money & power historical side of property : 'The National Wealth: Who Gets What In Britain' by Dominic Hobson from 1999 Harper Collins - 1300 pages- See Part one of Synopsis re: property below. About £6 from Amazon or Book Finder.com 2nd Hand http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/0002559137/...Q8M5RCYT8DT1F02 http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st...92609284_1:3:15 "Synopsis A lucid, authoritative and comprehensive account of who owns the physical and financial wealth of the UK. How did the various people and institutions come to own the assets of the nation? What is their share of the assets worth? What are they doing with their share? What does it all mean for the liberty and prosperity of the country? The National Wealth is about money and power. A quick breakdown of the book's contents: * Part One: examines earlier forms of property ownership -- the monarchy, aristocracy, church, universities, the great public schools and the medieval corporations. Includes valuations of their wealth today, and scrutinises today's heritage industry. * Part Two: the State -- the assets of central and local government, from the gold in the vaults of the Bank of England to municipal parks. Analyses consequences of the post-war nationalizations and the privatizations of the 1980s and 90s. * Part Three: the People -- controllers of capital rather than the owners (the boardroom Fat Cats, accountants, lawyers and other professionals who form the richest groups in modern Britain: plus farmers, judges, dentists, teachers, etc.). * Part Four: the Corporate Economy (investment institutions, bankers, brokers, insurance companies, pension funds, charity industry, sporting bodies, etc.). "

At least there's some advantage to houses having got smaller over the years in that they are now cheaper & easier to heat. Years ago, I had an idea of reusing wood to to build a little temp. structure cabin for sleeping /living within a large living room for those on pensions /low incomes in the winter to reduce heating bills. I figured the liability / fire regs side would be a problem so did not do it .

"The Secretary of State in charge of benefits has moved next door to the state supported family home of radical cleric Abu Hamza. John Hutton, the Work and Pensions Secretary paid £730,000 for the end of terrace house in a smart London suburb. Hamza`s wife and eight children live next door in an almost identical council owned property worth around £550,000, supported by Mr Hutton`s own department. They receive around £1,000 a week in benefits. Mr Hutton has yet to encounter hook-handed Hamza over the garden fence, however." What a classic ! John Hutton can do some overtime by puttting a glass to the wall and keep an eye ear on him

There's other reasons why there are plenty of homeless. Such as Landlords who will not rent to people on benefits. I recieved no reply when I asked you before as a landlord if you rented to DHSS. If not why not ?

ITs been posted here before recently Peachy, but worth repeating

That tv doc on the Venezuela US backed Coup & amazing subsequent return of Chavez was one of the best I've ever seen. An incredible story that gave hope for some kind of recourse to western secret service resource junky subdefuge. I guess in most cases the people of the victim country lose. "Amnesty forced to Withdraw Chavez documentary from screening amid threats of violence." "Last year two Irish filmmakers were eye witnesses to one of the most extraordinary events in recent central America. Donnacha O?Brin and Kim Bartlet had travelled to Venezuela to film an intimate portrait of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and found themselves centre stage when coup was staged by the military and powerful forces in the privately owned oil companies " http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2003/11/102041.shtml While on the subject of some Americans http://www.office-humour.co.uk/download.cfm?id=3347

Thanks for the offer of support Alfie, I agree that the day would be a good hook for a publicity angle to create media interest, furthering the hpc cause and informing people generally of the good reasons for not buying at present. I will email Adbusters to see what they think, as they've been running BND for some years, so know whats involved in running a smaller but similar event to BND. Presumably 'why should we not buy a house at the moment' would be the 1st media question, to which the reasons could be reeled off to open viewers eyes to the possible frightening reality of such a purchase. After a brief search on Google, bringing up nothing else, it seems to be an original idea, If it was done as a web based thing it would not take too much to organise. I don't really have such organisation skills myself, but if webmaster or anyone else is interested, then after further investigation, it may be worth going for it as the idea seems nice & simple. What would be the best day for it though? can Erranta give a best date from a numerology perspective. Lets not forget my 20% of t-shirt fees and 50% for copyright of course, maybe the landlords trade association would be interested in sponsoring it. I would off course spend this % on superglue to be inserted into EA's door locks on the day after the distribution meeting down at the docks Edit & afterthought: After reading several responses on this thread, I'd also like to register 'Don't Buy a Virtual House Day' for future scheduling ;-) 2nd afterthought - Actually, why should it be a seperate day to Buy Nothing Day ? As its only 2 weeks away, how about Webmaster pinning a thread of support for BIN day & we compile a list of reasons as to why its not a good time to buy a house now.

Guess I asked for that, mentioning the Borg & the Animatrix in one post. From memory, the Wired magazine article theorised on the smart technology wanting to protect itself from the humans who were on a self-destructive suicide mission. Given the choice to team up with humans or the planet, the logical choice was nature/ the planet as it was not destined for extinction like humanity with its wasteful behaviour. The tech. did not want the power or planet for itself, just that given the virus like behaviour of humanity with resource over-use & war etc, it had no choice. I think that differed from the T3 movie, and anyway Judge Dredd's going to save us.

As its the annual Buy Nothing Day on NOV 25 2005 run by the excellent Adbusters http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/ I thought maybe it would be a good idea if HPC and/or its international friends like bullimobilleire could organise a similar event with houses. Just a thought - as there's plenty of good reasons not to buy a house at the moment. Of course, when and if the crash has bottomed out in a few years, at a point judged by the Hpc econo-boffins, it can change to 'Quick, buy a house now day'

Banning consumers buying goods rarely happens IMO, as its political suicide, the uk business retail lobby is so strong they would destroy any political party that tried it. Businesses fear legislation, as it forces them to change & usually costs them some profit. Obviously, there can be too much red tape in some cases. Only the EU seem to have the guts / size to take on the corporate lobby in the environmental areas, hence the recent Waste Electronic & Electrical Directive - WEEE & End of Life Vehicle -ELV Directive (mixed success). The corps own the US Gov's ars. hence their appalling eco-record. Often , it actually suits the corporations to have stuff recycled, as it is smashed up and cannot be reused or repaired, forcing someone to buy a new one from them. That is why some manufacturers do a 'bring in your old oven /hoover when you buy a new one & get a small discount' . I've known of manufacturers who will not give these old appliances to reuse charities, rather having their function destroyed in recycling than training some long term jobless folks a repair trade. I think it was wired magazine where I read an interesting theory a few years ago, along the lines of technology advancing & becoming intelligent enough to realise that it was collective humanity that was destroying the earth. The technology would therefore team up with nature against the human race to preserve itself. Given the recent eco-nightmare of the Chinese starting to drive cars on-mass bringing on an enviro crisis in enormous resource use expansion and scarcity - eg oil, it would be a rather ironic seeing them create the tech than will eventually destroy them if the above theory becomes true; as they make much of it. When in the recycling/reuse game I saw scrap metal go from £5 a tonne to £50 a tonne in 9-12 months as the Chinese bought almost everything metal they could. It was like the Borg out of Star Trek, landing on the planet & hoovering up the metal resources. Sometimes I see parallels between the Chinese as the robots in the Animatrix short film, who in the film were given their own state as they ruined the economy as no one could compete with them. Who can compete with the Chinese overlords & their billions of slaves in manufacturing? Eventually, only the incresingly, smarter cheaper robots/ tech/ AI. I guess, unless we have increasingtrade barriers & protectionism.

I reckon there's a business in recycling your humour Fred. Admirably, relying on your creative powers, you don't do it yourself

I'm a semi-oldie( 40yrs old), but not in Charlies league , who may correct me on the following: Good on your gran, There used to be more of a culture of reuse, encouraged by the 30's depression & scarcity of 2 world wars. I beleive there was a problem (environmentally speaking) where a lot of people who lived through the wars who did not want to buy or use 2nd hand as it reminded them of the traumas of the war. Tins like you mention were better made then , so lasted longer & maybe there was no so much of a 'keeping up with the jones' 'must have new' element to society as generally items were more expensive & debt was often frowned upon socially, compared to today. Arguably, houses are smaller these days so folks have less space to sore items for reuse, the minimalist anti-clutter movement (often evil & anti-eco IMO) had a big effect too. The science of 'light weighting' which is design & manufacturing tins etc to be thinner / lighter but of adequate /similar short term strength has made these items a lot cheaper to make, along with the obvious increase in production efficiency, so more likely to be thrown away.

Fred, by coincidence I was dismayed when walking past (never in) McDonalds & seeing the amount of unecessary packaging on the tables. Of course, it was simply a waste of resources for branding /brainwashing as usual. I agree that 'civilised society ' has had it, in the long term IMO and we are heading for a great cull, simply because the resources are running out, & now faster than thought previously, despite the lies we are told to the contrary, hence the current wars on oil/ water and 'technology will save us' fantasies. However, I disagree that some recycling is a waste of time. If it does not involve excess energy use, we can extend the length of civilisation by cutting down of the use of new resources. The problem with the recycling industy is the the biz side is like the mafia & the charity side are like a cartel of box ticking, funding junkies in many cases, who will spout any rubbish to continue getting their income stream whatever the envirionmental benefit, whether it be tonnes or £'s, I experienced this when working in this industry. What capitalist society tries to hide & legislate against (because it is anti-consumerist) is that THE most important things are reduction & re-use, recycling is the least important. Firstly do not buy anything new wherever possible & secondly, buy secondhand or repair items. Sadly as other posters mention, repairs are uneconomic, due to the use of slave labour in China under globalisation with criminally cheap transport fuel to make items. Hopefully, the increase in fuel prices will change this equation a bit as oil becomes scarcer.