Zephro posted:

Remember, houses are assets, so the higher the prices and rents go the richer we all become!

HortonNash posted:

Isn't that lady's problem that she has only separated and not divorced? Wouldn't she be entitled to a share of the family home after a divorce?

That's not to say her problem isn't widespread and terrible.

HortonNash posted:

Isn't that lady's problem that she has only separated and not divorced? Wouldn't she be entitled to a share of the family home after a divorce?

That's not to say her problem isn't widespread and terrible.

quote:

Middle-income couples, recently identified by the Conservatives as the "struggling middle", are increasingly unable to afford to separate when their relationships end, according to a new study.

Almost half the counsellors surveyed at Relate, the charity that specialises in relationship counselling, say an increasing proportion of the 150,000 clients they see each year are being forced to remain living together despite having decided to split up. Couples with children are more likely to find themselves trapped than those without, but both groups are increasingly finding it impossible to bear the cost of setting up different homes.

"When we talk about Relate's clients, we are not talking about people on low incomes. We're talking about people in employment, on average to above-average incomes," said Ruth Sutherland, the charity's chief executive.

Sutherland said the charity, which began life as the Marriage Guidance Council 75 years ago, had never seen this demographic of clients struggling with their finances to such an extent that moving into two homes and getting on with their lives was an impossibility.

"These are people who could previously afford to move away from each other when their relationship broke down," she added. "But now, they are stretched just to pay their mortgage on top of the rising cost of living. When their relationship breaks down, they find they can't afford two mortgages, on top of the cost of running two homes."

Sutherland said that for parents, the cost of childcare was another devastating factor. Parents in the UK spend an average of 27% of their salary on childcare, compared with a European average of 13%. Twenty-five hours of nursery care a week for a child aged two or under costs on average £5,000 in England, rising to between £6,000 and £15,000 in London.

"To pay for the increased childcare demands that come with being a single parent has become a pipe dream for many people, even those in well-paid jobs," said Sutherland.

[...]

"With wages stagnating, higher risk of redundancy, spiralling living costs, and many families without any savings to speak of, it can be simply unachievable for a separating couple to afford to run two homes rather than one. The only alternative for some families is to continue living in the same home but as separate households."

HortonNash posted:

Isn't the problem with the self build social housing schemes that they have a mandatory time commitment, which means it is almost impossible to hold down a job (or be available for work) for the several months it takes to build the houses. I remember a Kevin McCloud (is he a monster?) program where he followed a scheme and several of the builders struggled with the time commitment and holding down a job. There was also the financial commitment that was part of the scheme (but that might have been peculiar to that particular scheme). The end result was lovely, a ready built community where everyone knew everyone else and had helped to build their houses, it was a beautiful thing, and probably worth doing as part of a grand social housing scheme.

Raphus C posted:

I would concrete the greenbelt.

quote:

Six billionaires and 15 people with a personal wealth above £100m were present at the closed event at Old Billingsgate Market, including 73 financiers, 47 retail and property tycoons, 10 in oil, gas and mining and 19 working in public affairs and PR, documents seen by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian reveal.

Disclosure of last year’s guest list – which the party intended to remain private – comes just ahead of this year’s fundraiser, which will take place on Wednesday night at the Hurlingham private members’ club in west London.

quote:

Press were banned from the event and helpers were “absolutely forbidden” from leaking details to the media, the internal documents show.

quote:

Among the lobbyists – some of whom have represented clients as diverse as the wife of the Syrian president Asma al-Assad, the Philip Morris tobacco company and Yukos oil – was James Henderson, chief executive of public affairs firm Bell Pottinger, which represents fracking company Cuadrilla among others. He hosted a table for friends, while his colleague Patsy Baker joined a table with justice secretary Chris Grayling.

“We do not go there to lobby ministers in any form,” Henderson said. “We go there to support the party. Apart from shaking a hand, I don’t believe I have ever spoken to a minister at any of these events.”

Prince John posted:

Meh. Are we expecting them to invite poor people to their annual fundraising party instead?

Zephro posted:

The most enraging thing about all this is that the housing shortage is entirely artificial. It's an artefact of stupidly strict planning laws, the Green Belt and the unspoken realisation that cheap credit is the best way to engineer a boom and ensure your own re-election. Housing has swollen so big that it's now captured economic policy, with the Bank of England basically straight-up admitting that it daren't raise rates because any price falls would be ruinous to all the people using their house as a cash machine / pension.

It's all so incredibly depressing in terms of the human misery it causes for everyone who didn't get aboard ten years ago. Our kids are all so hosed.

LemonDrizzle posted:

Well, I'd be hesitant to assume that current conditions will persist until your kids are grown - it's virtually impossible to predict political/economic events more than a decade out. Twenty years ago we were pretty much at the bottom of the last housing crash...

On a related note, here's something interesting courtesy of IDS - changes in housing tenure over the last decade:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-resources-survey-2012-to-2013


Outright home ownership has gone up but mortgaged home ownership has gone down by almost a quarter. Private renting has increased by more than a factor of 1.5 overall, and more than doubled in frequency among those aged 25-34 while home ownership has fallen from 62% to 41% among that age group. However, outright home ownership has doubled among 16-24 year olds, so clearly at least some people are getting on and making a proper effort.

Also, with private renters accounting for only 18% of the population versus owner-occupiers at 64%, it's hard to see much political impetus for action that benefits the former if it's in any way detrimental to the latter.

me posted:

Took this walking my kids to school.



She literally swerved in, smacked it right up on the kerb, over a double yellow line, filling more than half the pavement as a bunch of kids were walking past, and dragged her kid across a busy road. When she returned to her car to see me and a bunch of other pissed off parents taking pictures, we got the finger while she peeled out. Badly.

Unfortunately for her, one of the pissed off parents was a local councillor who filmed the whole thing (parking/traffic around the school is terrible, she happened to be out filming it anyway) and is passing it on to the police.

Zephro posted:

The most enraging thing about all this is that the housing shortage is entirely artificial. It's an artefact of stupidly strict planning laws, the Green Belt and the unspoken realisation that cheap credit is the best way to engineer a boom and ensure your own re-election. Housing has swollen so big that it's now captured economic policy, with the Bank of England basically straight-up admitting that it daren't raise rates because any price falls would be ruinous to all the people using their house as a cash machine / pension.

LemonDrizzle posted:

However, outright home ownership has doubled among 16-24 year olds, so clearly at least some people are getting on and making a proper effort.

DesperateDan posted:

Crosspostin' from AI


This is why I liked the "spy cars".

KKKlean Energy posted:

The official line is "working hard and getting on" and I'm going to have to dock points for no use of the word "aspiration".

LemonDrizzle posted:

London prices are now up 27% year-on-year, so anyone who bought a £400k flat in London this time last year has been awarded £100k by The Market for the sterling economic contribution of sitting on their arse and making their mortgage payments.

Umiapik posted:

You're just envious of these savvy investors, who've taken hold of the balloon before they're priced out of the market


Who the gently caress can afford to pay £400k for a loving flat anyway. I'd like to see a news article on housing actually go into this for once. Who ARE these people? What the gently caress do they DO?

Umiapik posted:

Who the gently caress can afford to pay £400k for a loving flat anyway. I'd like to see a news article on housing actually go into this for once. Who ARE these people? What the gently caress do they DO?

Umiapik posted:

You're just envious of these savvy investors, who've taken hold of the balloon before they're priced out of the market


Who the gently caress can afford to pay £400k for a loving flat anyway. I'd like to see a news article on housing actually go into this for once. Who ARE these people? What the gently caress do they DO?

quote:

The Met Police told staff to delete records on sex and race discrimination against one of its employees, an employment tribunal has found.

Firearms officer Carol Howard, 35, was "singled out and targeted" for nearly a year, a panel ruled.

An officer looking at her complaints was asked to delete references in a report into discrimination related to race or sex, it said.

The Met said it was "disappointed" at the findings but would review the case.

Ms Howard, of Purley, south London, brought a claim of discrimination at the Central London Employment Tribunal earlier this year.

A judgement issued by the panel which heard the case said the Met "directly discriminated" against Ms Howard "on the grounds of sex and race" between 31 January and 29 October 2012.

A number of Ms Howard's complaints of "victimisation" were "well-founded", the tribunal added.

The force concluded there was no evidence "without having conducted a proper investigation", it said.

KazigluBey posted:

Darth Walrus posted:

Your regular reminder that ACAB:

Bozza posted:

Quite. When my ex and myself were looking at property, we could have afforded a place worth £250k maximum, after saving a hefty deposit.

We had a combined income that would have put in the top 10% of households in the country.

How the gently caress can people afford these places?

Darth Walrus posted:

Your regular reminder that ACAB:

Jedit posted:

Don't overextend. If all coppers are bastards then their victim here is also a bastard.

nuzak posted:

#notallcoppers?

Fans posted:

I'm the bastard of a copper. Does that cancel it out or something?

Bozza posted:

How the gently caress can people afford these places?

Looke posted:

I was just watching PMQ's and it really annoys me hearing them talk about the NHS, Cameron said that under his government there are something like 4000 new nurses, however it certainly doesn't feel like that, as someone who works on the front line, there is most definitely a lack of nurses... also I wonder if these figures are home-trained nurses, or ones brought in from abroad?

Phoon posted:

It 3.5 years that flat will be worth millions

Phoon posted:

It 3.5 years that flat will be worth millions

Umiapik posted:

Not quite!

Here is my back of an envelope calculation of future house prices in London, based on today's reported average price of £400,404 and annual inflation rate (in London) of 25.8%:

Date & Average house price

July 2015 - £503,708
July 2016 - £633,665
July 2017 - £797,150
July 2018 - £1,002,815
July 2019 - £1,261,542
July 2020 - £1,587,019

So, in six years time, the average house in London will be selling for a touch over £1.5m! Invest now, people!

(You might be able to get in and out with a profit before the inevitable bust occurs.)