Is anybody actually watching?

[ahinton]

Naturally you will take the cheaper mortgage. But the real question is 'Can you afford it' and the answer for many in the sub-prime market in the US that kicked this all off is 'No'. QED.

So what's the alternative, especially bearing in mind that increases in property values usually signal rent rises?

[P. G. Tipps]

Some natives are clearly getting restless over what they perceive as an apparent influx of undesirable forum immigrants, it seems ...

[teamsaint]

Naturally you will take the cheaper mortgage. But the real question is 'Can you afford it' and the answer for many in the sub-prime market in the US that kicked this all off is 'No'. QED.

The responsibility lies with the party that holds the position of power in the relationship.

Sub primes were offered to people, for example , on welfare. Quite how anybody can blame those people for taking mortgages , ( presumably in the hope of getting a decent home, )on overvalued property, when encouraged to by enormously rich and powerful banks, is hard to fathom.

" can you afford it" is one question.
Another is, "would you rather commit to this mortgage/ huge rent for tiny flat, or find yourself homeless?"

[P. G. Tipps]

The responsibility lies with the party that holds the position of power in the relationship.

Sub primes were offered to people, for example , on welfare. Quite how anybody can blame those people for taking mortgages , ( presumably in the hope of getting a decent home, )on overvalued property, when encouraged to by enormously rich and powerful banks, is hard to fathom.

An official loan/mortgage is a contract between a lender and borrower following a signed agreement by both.

Neither party is forced to enter into such an agreement. There are risks to both (as well as possible huge advantages) as the crash demonstrated all too well. I wonder how many of us complained about the 'enormously rich and powerful banks' when they lent us the money to buy our first house and which eventually gave us something of significant value to pass onto our kids or donate to charities, something we could never have even dreamt of, otherwise ? Nobody, as far as I'm aware.

It's really that simple.

[Anastasius]

So what's the alternative, especially bearing in mind that increases in property values usually signal rent rises?

I have no idea but I do know that this thread has gone way off the original topic!

[Anastasius]

Some natives are clearly getting restless over what they perceive as an apparent influx of undesirable forum immigrants, it seems ...

Where's Nigel when you need him ?

And quietly wondering what rabbit hole he has wandered down..

[teamsaint]

An official loan/mortgage is a contract between a lender and borrower following a signed agreement by both.

Neither party is forced to enter into such an agreement. There are risks to both (as well as possible huge advantages) as the crash demonstrated all too well. I wonder how many of us complained about the 'enormously rich and powerful banks' when they lent us the money to buy our first house and which eventually gave us something of significant value to pass onto our kids or donate to charities, something we could never have even dreamt of, otherwise ? Nobody, as far as I'm aware.

It's really that simple.

You know that people in difficult economic situations often do things that are ill advised?
You know that banks have all the legal , and accounting advice anybody could ever want?
You know that getting decent housing is often very difficult?
You know that buying a house and passing it down to their children is just a dream for increasing numbers of people?
You know that an agreement between a bank and a person on welfare isn't an agreement between anything like equals.


Yes,I thought you did.


Edit: getting back to political silliness, Nicola Sturgeon may be scary, but not half as scary as this kind of nonsense that mail readers will be reading over their granola tomorrow morning.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3025028/Nicola-Sturgeon-woman-holds-aces-General-Election-writes-CHRIS-DEERIN.html

[Serial_Apologist]

You know that people in difficult economic situations often do things that are ill advised?
You know that banks have all the legal , and accounting advice anybody could ever want?
You know that getting decent housing is often very difficult?
You know that buying a house and passing it down to their children is just a dream for increasing numbers of people?
You know that an agreement between a bank and a person on welfare isn't an agreement between anything like equals.


Yes,I thought you did.

As I wrote earlier in so many words, making hay while the sun shines is one way to counteract ingrained insecurity for working people, because they are generally not in the Tippster's enviable position of being able to refuse offers which could be be seen to be detrimental to longer term economic aims.

The truth is that different interest groups (i.e. social classes) have different economic aims and those who lay down the rules aren't really interested in reconciling them, short termism and self- or group interest constituting an intrinsic contradiction of the capitalist system.

[LeMartinPecheur]

One thing's for sure. Trident will never be based on the Thames. It's interesting to note that those in Government who "called the shots" on the siting of the installations at Faslane, the Holy Loch, Dounreay, and Windscale took great pains to ensure they were a long way from London.

I lived in sight of the Holy Loch for seven years, and with Faslane just round the corner, the only saving grace was that if nuclear war had broken out, I wouldn't have known a thing about it.

AW(R)E Aldermaston is rather close to London. I lived on its doorstep for a good few years, with Greenham Common just up the road And there are tactical reasons to site nuclear subs well away from the Thames estuary!

[P. G. Tipps]

As I wrote earlier in so many words, making hay while the sun shines is one way to counteract ingrained insecurity for working people, because they are generally not in the Tippster's enviable position of being able to refuse offers which could be be seen to be detrimental to longer term economic aims.

The truth is that different interest groups (i.e. social classes) have different economic aims and those who lay down the rules aren't really interested in reconciling them, short termism and self- or group interest constituting an intrinsic contradiction of the capitalist system.

Serial_Apologist, I willingly doff my tattered old, can't-afford-a-new working-class cap to you! You are a man (or woman) of deep conviction and solid consistency, which is a rare commodity these days.

However, in my not inconsiderable experience of happily mixing with my fellow-underlings, I cannot help but note that it is not they who constantly bang on about the wretchedness of their existence but mostly millionaire socialists living in Hampstead, sometimes in houses with two kitchens.

The underlings I know don't seem at all convinced about calls for social revolution, they are generally happy with a pint or two in Wetherspoons, the odd flutter in Ladbrokes, and going for a daily stroll with their even happier-looking dogs, They are not in the slightest interested in politics.

I think you should be aware of such mundane realities before pleading for the overthrow of the current order on their behalf!

[Richard Tarleton]

One thing's for sure. Trident will never be based on the Thames.

This is true, for the simple reason the Thames, Channel, North Sea etc. aren't deep enough besides being (even then) a bit busy. Milford Haven possibly the only non-Scottish option. Different sets of considerations doubtless applied in the cases of the terrestrial installations, as you suggest.

But I wasn't meaning to get into a discussion of Trident, rather I was reflecting on the possible decision-making process, were a minority government to rely on the support of SNP for whom this issue is non-negotiable, apparently. There was an interesting article in yesterday's Times by Philip Collins, reflecting on politics being about negotiation and compromise, and how we were witnessing a clash between politics (Cameron, Clegg, Miliband) and anti-politics (the rest). He quotes from Bernard Crick's 1964 In Defence of Politics. As Collins puts it,

Last night's debate made the case for a contemporary Crick to take up his or her pen, because four of the seven leaders on the platform had a singular take on the plural trade of politics.

Nicola Sturgeon will brook no compromise with private companies in the NHS. Nigel Farage will not seek to conciliate over immigration. Leanne Wood is a stranger to uncertainty when describing the freed Welsh nation. Natalie Bennett is not interested in having an argument about the environment.

That's probably as much of a long and thoughtful article as I can quote. We see more of Ms Wood on local TV, and the economic illiteracy she displays is, well, scary. In a walking interview with a BBC Wales reporter she said that now was a good time for the government to borrow because interest rates were so low, and that it should be redistributing wealth from SE England to, er, Wales.

[MrGongGong]

You know that people in difficult economic situations often do things that are ill advised?
You know that banks have all the legal , and accounting advice anybody could ever want?
You know that getting decent housing is often very difficult?
You know that buying a house and passing it down to their children is just a dream for increasing numbers of people?
You know that an agreement between a bank and a person on welfare isn't an agreement between anything like equals.


Yes,I thought you did.

Well put

It is extraordinary how some folks in powerful positions have absolutely no idea whatsoever how others live and what other peoples aspirations and dreams are.
And Cameroon did the hideous thing of bringing his tragically dead son into it again to try and justify his lack of compassion and ethics

So much for an expensive education :sad face:

(nice to see your chums going for him ScottyTipps http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/comm...-christianity/ some rabid comments underneath )

Given that we always do have decisions made by small groups of folks who have little or no concern for most of the population the possibility of getting rid of Trident is a good reason to vote SNP (if you can) as it really does seem possible.

[jean]

...There was an interesting article in yesterday's Times by Philip Collins, reflecting on politics being about negotiation and compromise, and how we were witnessing a clash between politics (Cameron, Clegg, Miliband) and anti-politics (the rest). He quotes from Bernard Crick's 1964 In Defence of Politics...

I don't think Crick can have had any opinion at all about Wood, Sturgeon or Bennett, or even Farage.

What you appear to mean is that Collins wrenches Crick's opinions expressed in 1964 into the service of what he, Collins, regards as proper politics today.

[Dave2002]

I don't think Crick can have had any opinion at all about Wood, Sturgeon or Bennett, or even Farage.

What you appear to mean is that Collins wrenches Crick's opinions expressed in 1964 into the service of what he, Collins, regards as proper politics today.

It now seems to be lies, lies, lies and untruths all the way. Plus of course misinformation - as in some claims from the Torygraph - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32177315

It's in the papers, so it must be true.

[MrGongGong]

PM yesterday was interesting

So many of the so called "statistics" quoted in the debate (HIV etc) are simply made up nonsense.