dougless

It’s like the UK has almost no fuel left in the tank and all the Government want to do is recalibrate the fuel gauge to show there is still plenty left. When we finally grind to a halt its going to be very interesting.

That will be interesting because non payment of council tax is already the main reason for court orders etc. Council funding has been hammered by the Tories and most councils are desperate for money but suddenly these same councils will end up driving many of their residents into bankruptcy.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

???

Depression.

Know your enemy.....

The myth of the Public Sector being the home of the feckless and workshy is really tired and worn out but you believe it if you want to.

Heat Pumps are a great way to heat buildings BUT as Hector pointed out they require a fair bit of internal infrastructure (storage tanks and complex control/pump systems). They don’t have to be noisy but are best placed some distance away from the house. The up side is they do work well; my sister’s house has them and it is never cold and their energy bills are really low. Our rather odious building companies are really going to have to up their game to accommodate this technology in the crap they currently call houses. On the other hand stuffing a shoddy gas boiler the size of a suitcase in a cupboard in the kitchen is a thing of the past, thank goodness.

The UK has been on the slide for a long time but as always, the Tories are the party for the few, not the many.

Its geography and history. If you draw an imaginary line from the Wash to the Isle of Wight you are defining what we loosely call South East England. Compared to the rest of what we now call the UK you are looking at the most productive and easily accessed agricultural land. Farming was the first major industry we had and its importance should not be underestimated – think of the wool trade and the wealth it brought to England. Add that to the Thames and its orientation towards the European mainland and you start to see why London became so important as its right in the middle of all that wealth production. Industrialisation came later and for a short while favoured the North but that has passed for now. The fact that we are now so London centric as a country, which in my opinion is constantly dragging the rest of the UK down, is a more recent story.

They have caught Trollvid.

Spot-On.

Mullet phobia?

Agreed, although living in a semi rural area at present, I have always rated the suburbs as the palce to be.

Nicely put Count.

The word SMUG comes to mind.

Why not, they throw tenants out if they don’t pay their rent? Land tax would be an excellent idea especially if it really hammered the big land owners.

This should help to push house prices down in West London.

+1

A higher state pension would reduce other benefit costs for those pensioners who are not well off. The balance could come from a decent system of land tax which taxes the owners of land, not the users.

Agreed, our state pension is a joke and needs to increase at a much faster rate than it is at present.

I always vote but you have my sympathy, it’s a rotten system which benefits the few at the expense of the many. However I do think it’s worth voting even if only to embarrass them when they see millions voting and having no representation.

Agreed, the BBC is anything but left wing but, back on topic, this is very good news. I am a little more hopeful that the short term blip up that Nationwide were crowing about is just that and we are getting ready for a long, slow fall.

Just spoted this in the Guardian; a sad tale but one of many to come I suspect: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/aug/19/my-world-came-crashing-down-how-2020-took-me-from-a-six-figure-salary-to-universal-credit?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

So can I and its hard not to smile, despite the real misery it will cause those concerned. However I have rarely had any sympathy for all the rent I have paid over the years. Sad to say I am beyond caring about the dilemmas of those that have continued to play the game of ‘Over Priced Property’ – twist or bust anyone?