Tuesday, June 08, 2010

It's business as usual and full steam ahead




I got excited for a minute there and thought that the new government was going to give everyone a house.

Unfortunately, the State's definition of home-ownership is a little different from mine and involves a huge fucking mortgage, tailored to meet the full extent of what you can afford; provided you don't get sick, lose your job, have a kid, get married, get divorced...

There again, 'Renting directly from a bank - not renting indirectly from a bank via a landlord - at heart of government housing strategy!!' doesn't have quite the same ring to it

-

edit: some of the commenting underneath that Grauniad article is awesome. I particularly enjoyed

"Brilliant, we could do part-time ownership as well.
For example people who do a night shift could share with people on the dayshift.
This way we can double the returns on housing.
Another way to sort out the house market could be renting out shops
on a part-time shop/ part time accommodation basis.
Workers could live in the factories where they work and cab drivers could
live in their cars.

This way we can assure that there will be enough space for some more
Russian billionaires in London."


It warms the cockles of my heart it does
.

3 comments:

Anon said...

Housing\land is a big issue, that's for sure.

I think occupational licensing is another. Just to prove how silly this is getting, see here: http://www.bics.org.uk/

gyg3s said...

"Housing\land is a big issue, ... I think occupational licensing is another."

So do I. Also, what I find worrying is the apartheid system within employment that is based upon whether or not you have a degree.

If you have a degree you're considered eligible for employment, irrespective of whether or not the doing of the job necessitates a degree.

Curiously, check out page 10 of Jeff Schmidt's, Disciplined Minds,

"Evidence that professionals are not independent thinkers has been around for a long time but has generally been ignored, ..."

read the rest of the passage, it's quite instructive.

Anon said...

Yes, it isn't unusual to see one being requested for basic administration jobs in London...

I loath the ridiculous surfing-type degrees that have popped up in the last decade or so, it's an insult to those who did something sensible like engineering.