Clarky Cat

It has the NHS, but you're still going to need to pay privately if you want anything doing in a timely manner. Some sample waits for a first appointment pre-pandemic in Belfast: Routine neurology: 5 years Routine dermatology: 2 years Urgent ophthalmology (i.e something sight threatening): 2 years Suspected cancer urology - 2 months Data If you need a joint replacement you'll be waiting 5-10 years from referral. Over half of patients on waiting lists for a first appointment have been waiting for over a year.

Plenty of potentially nasty Influenza strains around Eg H7N9 - doesn't cause visible illness in birds, but 40% case fatality rate Only a matter of time until we get another flu pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H7N9

Interesting. Second home owners and landlords are definitely not popular in Wales so it's quite easy for the government to tax/restrict them. Off the top of my head we have increased land transaction tax, increased council tax, national landlord register, increase to 6 months notice period etc.

I can't read the full article but I thought it was already a land transaction tax in Wales, with higher rates for second home owners. If you plug the numbers in to the Welsh Gov LTT calculator the tax due on a £600k second home would be nearly £50k, but £25k for a primary residence. The fact that these estate agents are saying it's busier than 2006 is interesting, as this was the peak last time. Edit - just looked at some local prices and things are being listed at DOUBLE the 2006 price. wow.

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Hmm. Highest since 1988. What happened in 1989 I wonder..

A couple of anecdotes that I've had are that people who have a vague idea of wanting to move are putting their house on the market at a kite-flying price to gauge interest and selling within days. However the houses they're interested in are also going as quickly, and moving out of reach.

No good is going to come from this. Seems crazier than the mid-late 2000s. What was 1988 like?

It's already here. We'll find out over the next few months.

Well SARS-CoV-2 doesn't spread by bite so you can rule that out. The original SARS (SARS-CoV-1) passed through an intermediate host, possibly a civet cat. The virus adapted enough to spread well in humans in the intermediate host. These animals were then sold at markets Humans living close to caves where bats are, and catching wild animals for food or fur.

You can search the land registry price paid data back to 1995 https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd/

Their current covid death rate is likely many times more than that reported (FT article with cremations due to covid running between 3 and 100 times reported covid deaths in various areas) We also have much closer historic links with India, a large British Indian population, so the news is more relevant to us

I posted about that elsewhere. This is somewhere with high levels of unemployment and deprivation, ex-industrial. the surrounding countryside is beautiful but the area never recovered after the coal mines closed. The fact that people are queueing to pay £180k for a house when you could pick up a terrace for £60k a couple of years ago is ridiculous. Here's another peach. I'm going to be unemployed so should I sink my life savings into a BTL. Answer.. sounds great! no discussion about why she has £120k in a 0.5% savings account, and no discussion that you can get a similar yield from divi

As Gruffydd has pointed out, these are ex-industrial, deprived areas, amongst the poorest in Europe (plenty of EU Objective 1 funding). People are queueing to spend £180k on a house. A couple of years ago you could be picking up terraces for £60k. As regards Neath, well the whole area is reliant on a single employer (the steelworks in Port Talbot). God knows what the area would be like if that closed down, as is often threatened.

Aberdare: People queue overnight for new homes Thirteen houses have sold in less than three hours after dozens of people slept outside an estate agent to bid for new homes in Aberdare. Up to 30 people arrived at Bidmead Cook on Thursday with chairs, blankets and prosecco, preparing for a long wait. Estate agent Gavin Williams said he had never seen buyers queuing overnight in his professional life. The scenes - more than 18 hours before the 14 homes went on sale - were described as "completely bonkers." The site called Cw