kara gee

Absolutely, she's very passionate about how she sees society (and interesting enough for us to sit through a 50 min lecture). She's plausable and makes you feel a little more empowered in your own views. I'd vote for a UK carbon copy of her any day of the week. Unlike our lot of out bumbling disingenuous elected. I want to see more passion, anger and sincerity (like the Dan Hannan speech). But they don't and can't, for how can all the members of one single party all have the same views on policies? That's why there shouldn;t be one single party in power, just individuals acting in the best interest of the people. So either an individually elected multi-party government or no governing party at all, but for every decision that has to be made, goes to public vote with intelligent arguments put forward by all parties. So kind of like opinion polls (or the hpc polls ), but for real. All you'd need is your NI number and a password and having read or watched plausable and intelligent arguments for and against a certain decision, you could make your weekly votes by internet, phone, digital tv etc. Power to the people!

Don't understand what you mean by 'false' class consciousness. I'd say that class consciousness could be bad, as in: Seeing yourself as middleclass, therefor not mixing with the lower-classes who are below your station. As I see it, at least with 'false' class consciousness it gives people the freedom to move around the class system and to try and better themselves. Have I misunderstood what you meant?

Just a thought, if you're going to have a tiny garden, as long as it's fenced on all sides, you could chicken wire over the top, block any holes and hey presto, giant cat cage. (would stop bigger birds coming in too.) So what class do you think you belong to? I'm definately 'working'. Brought up in a pretty poor family, went to a half decent school, mediocre education, no degree.

You'll love this - the latest pro-cat argument is that they are actually 'helping' the bird population by and it's actually 'increasing' because the cats are removing the weak (and unsuspecting) birds from the bird gene pool. Actually I do love cats but vowed never to have another after the last one brought home 10 birds, several mice a rat and the neighbours koi carp in 1 week. Sorry totally off topic

Hmmm do quite like the plan except what about the women that are quite happy just being single. Maybe a better plan would be to severely restrict any type of lending to one salary (per couple) that way both can choose to work, but either have the option of not working if they so wish. That would save you having to go back to work too. BTW, ever thought about doing some volunteer work?

Looking at the people I know, I think that it's probably an age demographic thing. Most people I know in their 40's bought when they were in their 20's when things were affordable. Are pretty good with their finances and have no debt. People in their 30'S have pretty big mortgage debt but not too bad with other loans, people in their 20's don;t have a mortgage but have credit card debts student debts etc.

+1 I had a recent planning experience which proves the above. I was interested in a plot of land with a 1950s, leaky, un-insulated, rotten and ugly brick bungalow on it. The house was small but had been allowed permitted development which meant the downstairs could be extended by a third. I asked the planning dept if I could remove the old rubbish property and build an off-grid straw bale house in situ, guess what? Computer says NO!!!

As I see it then, our greedy neoliberal capitalistic model can't work unless we continue to consume, consume and consume more. We have finite resourses, so I just can't see how it could continue to sustain itself forever and ever. Every government wants year on year economic growth, but I can't see how that's possible. Anyone see a viable future for globalised capitalism?

I dodn't think Canadians and Austrailians could claim benefits here unless they had a british passport. Usually, if they can't get a job, they just go home. (Or get married).

Composting poo. Brilliant book called Humanure handbook. Sorts out the toilet issue. Speaking of toilets, Do you have one of those bottom-blasters attatched to your toilet? They're bloody brilliant. Wonder why they dont have them over here.

Actually I agree with everything you just said, (although it doesn't explain why so many people have bought Wimpy/Barratt type homes) but I should have been a bit clearer earlier. I think that if planning laws didn;t exist firstly I doubt many land owners would sell their land to the common folk to build on anyway (NIMBYism). But if they did, I'd image that the uber-rich would buy up vast swathes of the most beautiful spots, build more cr@p houses then sell on. The only way it's work is if no one could own more than one plot and building regulations on efficiency and sustainability were super-tight. Communities would have to look at ways into generating their own energy. Getting grid gas and electricity to houses all over the countryside would be an engineering nightmare and an ecological disaster.

Not if you include a mortgage into the debt. Anyone that has a mortgage of more that 3x salary I would very much consider indebted-up-to-the-eyeballs I'm not planning on buying a house based on financial stresses of middle income earners. Mearly pointing out that relying on dual wages to pay your outgoings is not a healthy economic model. (That is not to say that both in the couple working is wrong, it's the standard of living that these couples engineer for themselves is what could be dangerous). Unless - You are never ill, have very secure jobs and if you have children, don't mind putting them into childcare. If you as a parent wanted to take 4 years off to raise your child before they start school, the dual income model wouldn;t allow it. However if you both worked but only relied on one income, time out for either would be a viable option. Dual income households is also a relitively recent thing (30 years). Historically, we seemed to do just fine relying on one income.

+1 My friends bought 30 acres for £25k on an island called Ometepe in Nicaragua. Might seem like nothing to us but the average Ometepian labourer earns £1 a day. There 30 acres (fiertile volcanic) of land they can do with what they wish. There are no planning restrictions. Built a 4 bed house with verandah for about $12k US. and have built other smaller houses for renting out to tourists. So it's all reletive really, you have to be a westerner to be a new land owner over there and build an amazing home, just as you have to be super rich to live in an amazing house in the country here. Can you imagine what the UK would look like if there was no planning laws here. We'd absolutely obliterate the place with cr@p houses.

Lovely link, right up my street. I'll have a good read of that later.

Good question, but I've not come across any examples of this. Researching outcomes of uplift clauses was an impossible task in itself and in doing so haven't come across anything like the example you mention. That is not so say it hasn;t happened. I'm no expert, I am just a stay at home mum whos very odd hobby is to research all aspects of affordable and sustainable housing. It's funny what you come across. I suppose the question would be though would you be prepared to spend £20k on a bit of land with the knowledge that there is a 99% chance of planning refusal? Next question, could you get prospective planning permission on land that you've not yet bought? Yes you can, but the vendor will find out, in which case they would apply for the PP themselves then sell the land for 20x the initial £20k therefor negating the need to hang on for a few dacades for any return. I imagine if the land owner was incentivised by making a small fortune, they would probably want to do it in their lifetime.

Does anyone remember seeing the Grand Designs episode with Ben Law, who built the Woodsmans cottage. For him to get planning for that, he had lived in a caravan for about 10 years, made charcoal which meant the fire had to burn overnight so needed to be attended and had to have a clause attached which meant the house had to be removed if he stopped making charcoal. Personally, I think we'd all be better off de-centralising and making smaller communities. Farms would be able to be more productive as they could sell directly to their closest communities rather than having to transport their milk to the otherside of the uk to sell to tesco at a loss in order to recieve their grants. We could build smaller schools etc. It's proven that living in the country leads to a happier and healthier life and who wouldn;t want that for their kids.

Sorry to be so rude, but surely if you're looking at this type of land you've done some reading up on planning regulation and land law? Agricultural or greenbelt land DOES NOT Ever get granted planning for residential status unless: - You are a longstanding agricultural worker who can prove they need to live on the land ie. for lambing season - It's affordable housing being developed for farmworkers (usually proof of work status for minimum of 2 years) this needs to be agreed bu the local community. - There is a dereilict dwelling already on site - If you can build and keep secret your house for 5 years in which you can then apply for respective PP (also may not be granted) Etc There is a very concise document called Chapter 7 which is the most detailed document I have come across on this subject. If you are serious about building in the countryside, you have to jump through some serious hoops. http://www.tlio.org.uk/chapter7/index.html The sorts of plots you are looking at are being sold on by faemers hopefully to someone who may buy it for recreational purposes like equestrian use. This sort of land is nearly always sold with an 'uplift clause' attatched. (if PP was to EVER be granted, then vendor would be entitled to x% [about 50%] of new value of development). In the past residential houses have been built, but loopholes have been closed to make it near on impossible for the likes of us to build in the countryside.

More specifically though, the reliance on dual incomes will become a nightmare as unemployment soars. Especially as so many of the younger middle classes have hawked themselves to the eyeballs with a vast mortgage based on 4+x dual incomes to afford 'the best' house in 'the best' catchment area to send little darlings to 'best school'. So in one of them loses their job, or is ill and can't work, what happens? At least if a mortgage was based on a single income, if said person lost their job at least their would be earning poternial from other half. I'm not against both partners working, but to become reliant on 2 wages is a dangerous thing.

It;s such an interesting but little discussed and understood subject. This daily mail article doesn't really get into the meat of it though. A little while back someone (can't remember who) posted this: It's a lecture on the coming collapse of the middle classes. It's American, but still very relevent to us here too. It's a brilliant study. Well worth a watch if you're interested in this sort of thing. It's quite lengthy though.

You probably mean agricultural building rather than farmhouse (unless you're in a 3rd world country) Simple answer - Not in a million years. Sorry to be a bit harsh, but to even ask such a question leads me to think that you have no experience in agriculture, planning systems and home building. Planning departments will laugh in your face. Sorry. If it was that easy to build on green, don't you think we'd all be living in our beautiful country pile romantically tilling the land instead of our crappy little city rat-boxes? FYI - you really need to look at the district councils planning documentation, should clear it up for you

Probably the period buildings are more dersirable. Why ? Are you thinking of buying to sell on at a profit??

Nice idea. Offers, mean nothing until you get to completed stage. I would make it clear that you like both houses equally, you should soon find out if either seller is serious about selling. If it's a family house you're after to live in for some time withough expecting to make money off it.

Nice one, They wouldn't print mine. They still haven't removed the article though even though their figures are B-Sh1t

I haven't noticed any difference. I can still scroll through threads. Are you using Internet exp or firefox? Try using tho otherone see if it makes a difference

I'm gonna have to watch it, but fear I'll be shouting at the TV or else cringing at the rampin and lack of facts.