Save me from the madness!

Well under 18s will account for a chunk, and the rest if the gap can only be the millions of non UK citizens living in the country.

I know you are all appalled by that link so you will be pleased to know that I reported it to the police as a plus size-phobic discrimination hate crime. How dare nature take factors like health into account when deciding fertility! I thought society had moved beyond such disgusting discrimination!!!!! #FightVeganPrivledge On a serious note, managed population reduction can only be a good thing. It is a topic that needs discussing at the UN on how to reduce future population growth for those countries where it is still high, particularly where they have famines and food supply issues.

I like homeworking. All the negatives expressed above I can see, but it depends on if you want to be negative or positive. Positives would include: 1) No commuting - we're a 1 car family now saving about £1.5K plus fuel so call it £3K post tax income a year, so call it say £5K gross income. 2) Flexibility to go to the gym very easily - good for my mental health 3) Flexibility to assist with family life - today I held our newborn who was upset whilst my wife ate, a small thing, but you can bet my wife's stress level would have been high without this little contribution. So many little examples of this, sports day, harvest assembly, nativity, I've been to them all this year. 3pm parents evening (Yes, incredible that such a non-inclusive slot would be offered), I can make it. 4) Improved home security - harder to burgle With regards to the invasion of the home though I think that has happened anyway with mobile phones. There is a space aspect which is negative, but then I remember my Dad having a chunk of his bedroom for his structural engineering drawings etc decades ago and he was an office worker (just didn't want to commute in for overtime at the weekend when he occasionally had to work).

Yet it would seem one has far higher standards for the type of lecturer it employees than the other! £1.2 million home as a university lecturer... what did her husband work as? The world has gone mad, I hope they throw the book at them, strip them of assets and jail them.

To add, as for the North South divide... I often think it is families fleeing the south east that are supporting high prices in the north. I know BoMoD is a factor, but there are so many houses over £250,000 that that sell there has to be more in my mind. I've seen some great old houses, lots of space, lovely garden, but in need of completely gutting inside sell for £350,000+ and there's probably another £50,000 needed on top when you include fees and even modest renovation, bigger like loft conversion and extention lets guess at £80,000

Out of interest have you ever worked in a call centre? Not having a go, the theory of what you say works and should be how things go ideally. Sadly where I feel it fails is the reality of call centres workers being micro managed to within an inch of their life, and the constant stream of little team meetings, ad-hoc direction from supervisors and the mini sales celebration culture to incentivise employees cheaply that comes from being co-located. There is also the issue of data protection which can be controlled in a call centre building, but at home their really is nothing to stop rogue employees photographing personal information as it flashes up on their screen. In short, I think our luddite management culture will prevent home working call centre agents on a large scale taking off for professional outfits.

There was me thinking Brexit was going to get rid of these economic migrants!

wow, just 1 year to conclude a new trade deal, makes you wonder....

Given that a lot of people who are looking to buy already own, does it really make any difference whether it's a buyer or sellers market given that most people end up being both in any transaction?

What I find fascinating about the article is: Why can't she be named? There are so many cases of people accused of sexual assault who are named before they are convicted, why is there extra protection for people accused of financial crimes? Personally I agree people shouldn't be named until found guilty, but that should be for all accusations.

Obviously anecdotal, but there's a surprising number of 30 year olds owning a second property. In my sons class at Primary school there are 2, and another class has 1 and this is just from the Mum's talking generally so who knows how many more there could be. I live in a nothing special wealth area (not poor, not wealthy, think mix of most professions and house prices for family homes in the range of £150K to £390K and social housing). Mind you, at least 2 of these parents also get cars on PCPs so perhaps it's all borrowed.

As a bloke, I'd say the ability to get someone pregnant when your mid 40s onwards might be re-assuring, but having highly energetic primary school kids when your in your 50s is something to think carefully about. Obviously, there are many times where life just doesn't go the way you would like it too and it is far better to wait then have a child with someone you're not suitable with. I guess my note of caution is if you want a child put the effort in to find the right person, don't ease off thinking you've got time on your hands and you'll pick it up later. I have many friends who say they'd like to be in a relationship but put no effort into finding a girl and the years are turning into decades now they have been in this situation.

Well we're in off-topic, but really I think this is on-topic. Could house prices be the biggest reason? Hard to think of having kids living in a room in a shared house, or a small 2 bedroom place. Like others have mentioned, the benefit changes have removed a prop from families 3 or more children meaning the full financial impact is felt. Child Benefit is also being withdrawn from higher earners, and yes, it does make a difference when you're only just over the threshold. University debt has trebled recently, that's another section of society who you'd ideally want to be having kids who will find it harder (not impossible) to afford. There's lots of wealth to be passed down through inheritance of course, but many people in their late 30's have parents still going strong, receiving a windfall (and it may not happen) in your 50s is too late for that to help population wise.

Video adverts are very intrusive and use up data. This is bad when your mobile, and also at work where large bandwidth hungry websites tend to get monitored. I'm happy with the static ads, but the video ones really reduce my usage of this site sadly.

The BOMAD is all important in house moves these days (or inherited wealth). I had an interesting conversation this weekend with a friend. They knew someone who was moving close by to where they currently live as they needed more space. The house they had is already bigger than average and must have been a BOMAD supported buy originally for their first house, but apparently they have a lot of things and have outgrown it and so buying an even bigger place. For most people the prospect of £30K plus moving costs and an extra £100K plus on the mortgage for a bit of extra space is just not an option, there's no way their jobs are supporting this second step so it's another BoMAD job. I reckon even at say a maxed out mortgage of £200,000 and say £30K equity they've paid (and that is generous) I think BoMAD has shelled out over £350,000 on their housing... very lucky individuals indeed. The crazy thing is that there must be no shortage as the local primary schools are full to capacity to plenty of other millennials buying £350K+ houses. As the great Admiral Ackbar said, "I can't compete with that sort of firepower!"