Fancypants

I ain't too snotty about it - I quite like aspects of the area. Certainly, for zone 3 London with such quick access to the City, West End, Canary Wharf, and Epping Forest you won't find anywhere so affordable. Anyway, each to their own, but so far as prices are going I guess it shouldn't be surprising to see two different outlooks from two people with seeming different VIs Having observed the area very closely for the best part of a year now, I'm pretty certain that prices aren't doing much either way - and there's very little activity. Obviously its horrendously over-priced but where isn't? My own view is that its good value *relative* to the other options.

can you really? I've been looking in Leyton, and 3beds with gardens in livable condition, not scummily located, are asking toward £300k. I suppose the issue here is really about finding that special seller who will take the bait at £250k. Patience is probably the key.

while this may not be as immense as it might seem - it certainly will *not* increase the likelihood of the Germans/ECB doing anything more to fund or underwrite a Eurozone bailout. It is - at least - a significant shot across the bows for them.

BBC website Anecdotally, seeing a bit of this myself, although that's mainly Aussies going back and seemingly not being replaced in the same numbers - which would make sense in the current situation. But the thing that caught my attention the most was the claim (in the side-quote, from the TNT journo) that some Australians were citing rising house prices in the UK as a reason for leaving (!). I'm sure most of you won't need it spelling out why that's such a laughable thing to say.

I asked him this question on Twitter. He hasn't replied.

It was a pretty game defence from Shapps, of a pretty feeble policy package. Overall, I've been pleased by the hostile reception the whole thing has received today, and Newsnight was no different (excepting the CBI guy - quelle surprise). I was particularly irked by Shapps' claim that folk like me watching at home (30 something would-be FTBs with deposits) would welcome the scheme and that we were at odds with his attackers on the panel. So, so wrong, and i don't just speak for myself here.

There is actually one sort of pub that is thriving - and that is the real ale specialist; particularly those that are out-and-out "beer palaces" selling a wide range of obscure local brews, or that operate as brewery taps (i.e. they make their own stuff). Done well, this can be perfectly viable for the operator, who is not shackled by the ties and has the minimum of rentiers (pubcos, private equity, moneylenders) creaming off the revenue generated by selling ale.

Well, one should never be panicked into buying when prices are rising from a point which is already too high. Just saddened by the continued resistance to sanity.

Succinctly put. Folk would do well to be more aware of this.

Certainly the ones I've been eyeing up - most of which had been sat doing nowt all summer - many went SSTC in the last few weeks.

no-one picking up on the obvious anti-boomer theme here? Under the terms of this offer (designed to divide & conquer) the older public sector workers get to keep what they have - the pain will be borne by the younger ones. Cheeky!

Agreed. Democracy in action. And now the referendum cat is out of the bag, it won't be easy to get it back in.

I think it invites the reader to draw their own conclusions. Which is what I like about it.

Well, to a limited extent, yes. But the real problem is - I think - that so much wealth is now in the form of profits rather than salaries. Capital utterly rules labour, and the rentier class grow fat off the efforts of others.

This one really pushed my buttons, perhaps due to my own particular personal circumstances. Guardian I think Mr Shapps should take a long look at these numbers - his avowed policy of righting the imbalances by having wages outstrip prices is all well and good, but where is the upward pressure on wages? And this is very much at odds with the approach at the BoE and the Treasury - i.e. that inflation is ok so long as we can continue to suppress wage inflation. How much longer do they think this situation can be sustained? The riots were only the first wave of (admittedly inarticulate, confused, and self-serving) dissent. As more and more people grow up being locked out of the "property-owning democracy", I suspect that the social strains will grow greater and greater. I suspect something fairly nasty will have to happen to really wake the government up to the severity of this crisis. Simply placing the market into suspended animation and hoping the "growth fairy" miraculously turns up will not be enough.

I can confirm this.

here

Chesterfield is a veritable real ale hotspot though isn't it? Up the other end of town you've got the Darby Tup, Beer Parlour & Red Lion. Loads of good micros in Chesterfield & Staveley etc - and a very active CAMRA branch. Yet, in other parts of the north (eg Blackburn & MIddlesbrough) its a real ale desert. I've often wondered why it varies in this way.

these riots are part of a wider, burgeoning, process of de-gentrification. Until quite recently, some quixotic folk were talking as if Tottenham was the next logical step, after Stoke Newington, Dalston, Clapton etc all succumbed. I think we're now beginning to see how the tide has not just turned, but is gathering momentum to sweep back to the shore with some vigour.

Blockbuster shop employees on £25k a year? I think you may need to revise that downwards substantially.

this is true

Owen Hatherley - who is primarily an architectural critic, Writes for the Guardian, big fan of modernism and trad-Socialism. Probably his first big appearance on TV, so maybe folk should go easy, although I was hoping he'd be as militant on screen as he is in print, then we would have seen Krusty eviscerated. Mind you, I don't think HPC is his agenda per se. It was a bit of a false contrast to put the two up against one another I guess.

for what its worth Bruce, almost all of the rental contracts I've had were 12-month rolling. And I never got turfed, presumably because I tend to pay on time and not trash places.

The excellent (if sometimes a tad overwrought) Owen Hatherley in today's Guardian:

To the first point: I don't agree. This only works if you get wage inflation, which we conspicuously don't have at the moment. And its been made abundantly clear by the BoE that that is the one thing that might actually get them to increase rates. With respect to rising rates, I think that the pressure this would apply to the large numbers of over-extended who are currently on financial life-support would see price falls increase at such a rate that whether or not we call it a "crash" it would only be good news for those currently excluded.