Is the Government rattled?

[amateur51]

Nicely put, Am. Sadly, as a consenting adult I have not seen anything to boggle at for ages.

Did you not catch any of the Olympics, Angle - mucho bogglerama thereabouts, I'd say

[johnb]

By the way, it's a bit rich of IDS to complain about the BBC "peeing all over British industry" when the Tories did just that over the British economy when they came to power, saying that the UK was in the same situation as Greece (which was always utter nonsense). They deliberately "peed" on the UK economy in order to set the narrative for the new government and to justify their own policies (which were principally based on (a) the Tories ideology, (b) political strategy and, running a distant third, economics). As a result they created a severe lack of confidence, even before any cuts were delivered.

[ahinton]

All the research that has been done about 'social housing' over the last 30 years has recommended the development of mixed housing solutions, being private ownership, shared ownership, and social renting so that there is a mix of income types, thus avoiding ghettoisation.

I sincerely hope that there will always be 'social housing' - for those who cannot or don't want to afford home ownership or the private rented sector. Some of us want to pay a fair (controlled) rent to a fair landlord(local authority, housing association, co-operative or private landlord) and not to accumulate wealth through property value, thank you.

But the owners of that property, be it those who live in it, those who rent it privately or those who rent it on a "social" basis either accumulate wealth on that very basis or, in a bad property market, lose it, at least for the time being; the market will always be there, as will its constant vagaries, and those who own the properties within it cannot ever escape the consequences of that.

Those who pay rent to anyone assist in their landlodrs' acquisition of wealth or their failure to do so, depending on the prevailing market conditions at any given time; those who personally own the properties in which they live cannot avoid being enmeshed in precisely the same market conditions, for better and/or for worse at any given moment in time. Is it any wonder, then, that I still see the need - which undoubtedly there remains - for "social housing" as an indictment? I'd love to see there being almost no need for "social housing" - provided that the escape from this net was to be and to remain a fair one for all concerned; whatever happens, someone owns the property and someone therefore is thereby inescapably enmeshed in a speculative capitalist market, even when this kind of thing happens in what purports to be a "non-capitalist" régime.

[amateur51]

But the owners of that property, be it those who live in it, those who rent it privately or those who rent it on a "social" basis either accumulate wealth on that very basis or, in a bad property market, lose it, at least for the time being; the market will always be there, as will its constant vagaries, and those who own the properties within it cannot ever escape the consequences of that.

Those who pay rent to anyone assist in their landlodrs' acquisition of wealth or their failure to do so, depending on the prevailing market conditions at any given time; those who personally own the properties in which they live cannot avoid being enmeshed in precisely the same market conditions, for better and/or for worse at any given moment in time. Is it any wonder, then, that I still see the need - which undoubtedly there remains - for "social housing" as an indictment? I'd love to see there being almost no need for "social housing" - provided that the escape from this net was to be and to remain a fair one for all concerned; whatever happens, someone owns the property and someone therefore is thereby inescapably enmeshed in a speculative capitalist market, even when this kind of thing happens in what purports to be a "non-capitalist" régime.

Well I think that while it may be politically desirable, it is neither socially desirable nor practically achievable - the housing markets in several other European and Scandinavian societies are far balanced better than in UK. We saw what happens when unscrupulous lenders tempt people who cannot afford to own into that ownership nonetheless in UK, in USA and in other countries

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

...ahem, one wonders at quite how much peeing has been going on in other directions ..... the banks, the utilities, the railways, pharma, supermarkets, finance and insurance are all large bladdered and play with their willies all over the place ... even more than the Tories [real penis envy by IDS eh?] [powerful woman must be evil, or having her period, piss = blood] [oh spare me that kind of male psyche]