BoredTrainBuilder

Yes but a couple of years ago the same journey would have involved half fares for the children - now free - plus with an Oyster card your £2 fare would be half or zero on a travelcard.

Having cash on buses is madness. It - encourages crime and endangers drivers - slows down traffic in general and the bus journey in particular - materially increases the bus company's (and therefore the tax and fare paying public's) costs by necessitating expensive cash handling machinery and systems. A few years ago London Transport used to have to hire 10 securicor lorries a day just to remove and bank cash. It's the 21st century, but as I said in my earlier post if you don't like London there are plenty people queuing to take your place.

You can buy them from many newsagents as well. I'd suggest it's not the system that's f**cked but some of the ignorant users (many others bother to understand what by necessity is an extremely complex system - the TfL website for example is excellent) and under the circumstances the city will be better of without you. Bye.

The most amazing thing about these scroungers/scumbags/parasites/drain on the tax payer appears to be that they are the wrong colour/from the wrong country.

I should have realised, it's all statistical sleight of hand, the HPCer's stock response to statistics that do not demonstrate decay and collapse. Perhaps you could state whether you agree with the original poster's contention, viz: "GDP per person - the only measure that matters - is declining" The pound has varied in strength throughout the relevant period. Your point is a red herring. HDI? Is that something the Guardian does?

One's personal details do not need to be provided for Oyster cards. Only if you want to claim a refund if it's lost or stolen. Conspiracy theories even around tube tickets. Do you guys really believe this stuff?

Low investment? For many years the UK has been first or second in the world for foreign direct investment. Services by their nature are less able to move than fickle manufacturing. You Jeremiahs will really have to do better. Meanwhile I get the keys to my new house in Hampton Hill later this week and my remaining capital, invested in UK, European and Asian companies and Gold appreciated by about 1-1.5% today.

No, the UK has an unusually mixed economy and unusually broad range of trading partners. It is less in danger of serious trouble in the event of a global downturn than other typical big countries.

Car commuters in West London will find an even more substantial increase in their tolls come 17 Feb. Ha.

Count yourself lucky you don't live in Paris where this happens nearly every day.

No, this is perfectly consistent with his usual outpourings. No change.

You are uniquely and comprehensively wrong nearly everytime you post. UK GDP growth per capita was and is strong: Gross Domestic Product Per Capita, Annual, Current Prices and Current PPPs (in USD) 1998, 23 275.12; 1999, 23 989.46; 2000, 25 587.79; 2001, 27 092.49; 2002, 28 977.92; 2003, 29 873.37; 2004, 31 780.16; 2005, 32 859.88. http://stats.oecd.org English does not have strong Latin roots and it is not half Latin. It is definitively a Germanic language which has taken in many words from Latin languages, French in particular.

Uncompetitive? UK GDP has risen faster on average than any of the other big countries in the EU for more than a decade and continues to do so. Who'd have believed that could be possible fifteen or twenty years ago? Your central premise is simply not true. It undermines everything you obsessively post.

You're right.

I'm a mere 10st. The equity cushion came from STR in the first place, me having been fortuante enough to buy my first London property in July 1996 (sold in early 2003). Otherwise as many of the other posters point out it would not be possible. One of the the relatively few compensations of great age.

For those of you following this I am going ahead with my purchase of a 4-bed in Hampton Hill for £490,000. On a First Direct 3-year offset fix this will cost about £1400/month (having put up £200k myself) compared to about £1900/month to rent my current somewhat tatty but and slightly smaller place in Twickenham. Admittedly I am now exposed to maintenance costs and lose investment income on the £200k, and there are transaction costs of about £16k. All-in-all its a comparable financial situation except that I am now exposed to London property instead oof Japanese stocks or oil company shares. And our living conditions will be better (wife and children off my back). Furthermore I am realising that whatever happens next I am in a better situation. If property plunges it will be easier, in a few years, to move a bit closer to Richmond or more realistically somewhere a bit bigger. If however London prices continue skywards, as they may well, then at least I have hedged the situation. Comments (and not vitriol) please.

Quite the reverse: this dynamic has been in place for much of the last 300 years and looks set to continue and accelerate.

Ideally offshored to India or some other low cost area like Birmingham?

"Bull, Troll, Muppet." Lazy.

Right, so your definition of a bull/troll is someone who buys a house? How thoughtful. You're not why I log on, that's clear.

Was on at 530 for three or four months. Reduced to 500 by vendor. Got a further 10k off, not very good probably but it was markedly better value than anything else I've seen in the area. Victorian terraced and on a busy (but not main) road but with 4 large bedrooms (it's four storied), a couple of nice bathrooms, an excellent basement kitchen with aga, games room, very pleasant private backgarden with a small summer house, pretty good condition, wooden floors, two minutes walk from Bushy Park. They don't ask you about any savings you may have. I suppose I'm lucky because I'm not borrowing 3.5 times my salary and I've been with FD for many years. So they'll lend you based on therir lending citeria and don't assume you have further savings. I guess they think you'd put that into the house in the first place. My capital is in shares so invisible to FD. What FD don't know is that my job is not 100% secure but then whose is?

I thought the first phrase of your sentence was a wonderful quip until I read the rest of it and realised you were being earnest. Shame on you for spoiling a great one-liner.

My work will not be particularly affected by a US-led downturn. It involves capital works which have committed spend well into the future.

I have not encountered many flats in London able to accomodate a wife, pool table and four children. Where do you get that from? It's much less than that. No, it's the globalisation curve that's turning London into the world's most important city. There's something in this, I agree. I don't much like the area (although it's certainly better than Lewisham, say). But an equivalent priced house up the road in Richmond or even Teddington would be 50% smaller.

But First Direct are offering a 10-year fix at 5.29%. So if I were concenred about hyperinflation, which I'm not, I could protect against it. http://www.firstdirect.com/mortgages/rates.shtml You're always rude so nothing new there. I can support the mortgage on my salary alone. My work can be intermittent so I'll keep some capital from my 2003 STR back just in case.