What just happened in Newington Green?

http://www.lookatthisoldfuckinghipster.com

Note to Shelter, who need a grasp of basic economics: if everything had risen at the same rate as housing so would wages. It's called inflation. Therefore it would not be untenable. It would actually be better as relative to income and retail prices housing would be far far cheaper. Housing prices are only untenable because they have risen independently of inflation.

eh? Isn't that exactly what Shelter is saying? That house prices have risen independently of inflation; unlike bananas and so on? Which they mention as a handy way of illustrating just how much higher house prices have risen? Their point is that housing is as much a need as schooling and health care - or roads, public transport or the police force - but it has been left almost solely to the private sector ever since Thatcher with the result that far too many people do not have, and likely will never have, adequate housing. And, something Tories curiously never point out, others have made small fortunes simply by living in a house for a few years; isn't this the sort of un-earned money, and the sense of entitlement to money, that you normally deprecate?

But it will trickle down!

eh? Isn't that exactly what Shelter is saying? That house prices have risen independently of inflation; unlike bananas and so on? Which they mention as a handy way of illustrating just how much higher house prices have risen? Their point is that housing is as much a need as schooling and health care - or roads, public transport or the police force - but it has been left almost solely to the private sector ever since Thatcher with the result that far too many people do not have, and likely will never have, adequate housing. And, something Tories curiously never point out, others have made small fortunes simply by living in a house for a few years; isn't this the sort of un-earned money, and the sense of entitlement to money, that you normally deprecate?

No, they specifically claim that "If everything had risen at the same rate as housing our lives would be untenable." which is nonsense.

Making a fortune from living in a house is silly, but does anyone really get to enjoy that money? You would have to sell your home to realise the profit, and you will then have to buy another home to live in. When you retire and downsize maybe you can, but is that any different from any other type of long-term investment, such as a pension?

I don't think the lack of adequate housing is a problem caused by Thatcher introducing right-to-buy. There were (and are) whole estates of inadequate council housing too, and before the war, all those inadequate slums. Far too many people have always been denied access to decent housing - it's the one bit of the stats I had no argument with.

In my line of sight, I now get a clear view of a huge glass-walled upper floor where the new inhabitants enjoy putting on a brightly lit bourgeois show for us at every opportunity.

When I lived in Germany, I once looked out of my lounge window and could see 4 naked people. Two of them were even leaning out of their windows in order to chat between floors.

The horror, the horror!

No, they specifically claim that "If everything had risen at the same rate as housing our lives would be untenable." which is nonsense.

You're being a bit pedantic you know what they mean. "If anything else had risen as much as housing" might have been a better way of putting it

I don't think the lack of adequate housing is a problem caused by Thatcher introducing right-to-buy. There were (and are) whole estates of inadequate council housing too, and before the war, all those inadequate slums. Far too many people have always been denied access to decent housing - it's the one bit of the stats I had no argument with.

That it was shit before thatcher doesn't mean she's not responsible for it remaining so.

When I lived in Germany, I once looked out of my lounge window and could see 4 naked people. Two of them were even leaning out of their windows in order to chat between floors.

The horror, the horror!

Anyone can be naked. You don't need to be rich to exhibit your nakedness

bloody kids
their parents need shooting ( probably a few have )

probably not the brightest kids either

i bet they are having more fun than being YOU!

Making a fortune from living in a house is silly, but does anyone really get to enjoy that money? You would have to sell your home to realise the profit, and you will then have to buy another home to live in. When you retire and downsize maybe you can, but is that any different from any other type of long-term investment, such as a pension?

In the housing boom very large profits could be made in a few years; or less. A long-term investement is one thing; what housing became was another. Plus there was the great buy-to-let market which led to all sorts of problems. And the fetish for owning a house, rather than renting, led to the absurdities of the mortgage market. I doubt that anyone other than idealogical politicians and so called property developers think that the last 25 years has been a success with regard to housing.
Why something as fundamental as housing is left entirely to the private sector is beyond me.

In periods of rampant general inflation, which is what we'd be talking about, wages rarely keep up, even remotely. E.g. Germany in the 1920s, Zimbabwe etc.
But yes it assumes that wages wouldn't rise in line. I think their point is more that this one area which is so incredibly important to our lives, which shapes the way we live, literally, has gone up so much and we should be more outraged. Which we should!

No, they specifically claim that "If everything had risen at the same rate as housing our lives would be untenable." which is nonsense.

Property developers, sharky buy to let landlords, they all did. Profiting from their own good fortune and the misfortune of others. Cnuts.

Making a fortune from living in a house is silly, but does anyone really get to enjoy that money? You would have to sell your home to realise the profit, and you will then have to buy another home to live in. When you retire and downsize maybe you can, but is that any different from any other type of long-term investment, such as a pension?

No, but selling off most of our social housing hardly helped the situation, especially for those most in need. What neu said basically, but she did worsen it, not fail to make it better.

I don't think the lack of adequate housing is a problem caused by Thatcher introducing right-to-buy. There were (and are) whole estates of inadequate council housing too, and before the war, all those inadequate slums. Far too many people have always been denied access to decent housing - it's the one bit of the stats I had no argument with.

Bloody Germans and their body confidence, why can't they be all repressed like us Brits?!

When I lived in Germany, I once looked out of my lounge window and could see 4 naked people. Two of them were even leaning out of their windows in order to chat between floors.

The horror, the horror!

But if you did, naked people would generally be thinner and better looking =)

Anyone can be naked. You don't need to be rich to exhibit your nakedness

Ouch!

i bet they are having more fun than being YOU!

found myself walking back along ferntower street last night, and some police were taking statements and photos. seems someone/a group has been out smashing side mirrors on cars with a baseball bat (and they smashed up a tv left in the street as well by the looks of things).

fun and games.