Who would you vote for at this present time?

[Gnasher]

Who cares about South East England and London? If house prices are out of their reach they shouldn't have voted to let a load of rich investors push house prices up, tough, fuck em.

[Rico1304]

Who cares about South East England and London? If house prices are out of their reach they shouldn't have voted to let a load of rich investors push house prices up, tough, fuck em.

Mmmm, interesting policy, are you saying people who can't afford to live in London should move somewhere affordable?

[Moctezuma]

Who cares about South East England and London? If house prices are out of their reach they shouldn't have voted to let a load of rich investors push house prices up, tough, fuck em.

 

My girlfriend gets seriously irritated by this kind of sentiment, she is London born and bred she votes Labour (as does our entire area, from memory there is only one green councillor in a sea of red in the borough). For her and her family they have been completely left behind by the spiralling house prices. Good chunks of London is of a more left of centre bent, it's the surrounding areas that receive the capitals largesse without having to put up with as much of the problems (the sort of place where Clarkson and Farage are seen as "decent blokes I'd like to have a pint with").

 

 

I myself have saved up a decent deposit but I'm completely fucked because the house prices here will virtually never allow me to get onto the property ladder, unless I bite down on my values and go for a shared ownership which I'm incredibly vexed to do. I've paid rent for years on end to fucking rentier parasites who don't contribute to the economy, rich inherited twats with names like Gemima and Hugo who have been my landlords in the past. At least at the moment we're in housing association accommodation so I don't feel quite as pick pocketed.

 

What is particularly galling is that the current governments imbecilic Help to Buy scheme has kept up the price of houses at the bottom end of the market and is using state funds to fuel the housing bubble. So government funds are being used to pay private landlords rent via housing benefit and they are propping up the property market, why not get someone to don a reverse Robin Hood outfit and sing 'Rob from the poor to give to the rich' (I'm sure in part this is to make their "growth" figures look better, this is something governments of all stripes have been involved in).

 

So at the next election I'll either go Green or an Independent fighting for a specific local issue. I realise this may help the Conservativesor Neo-liberal behemoth of privatisation destruction as they should now be called, (long are the days of Noblesse oblige eh?) but the only alternative is a tepid Labour government who won't reverse any of the decisions that have been made or privatisation to services that has occurred.

[KopOut]

Changing the Government means fuck all if the banks are continually given free reign to expand the money supply with a bigger housing bubble, at the expense of the productive economy.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Who cares about South East England and London?

The people who were born in love be there.

[stringvest]

The reason councils won't embark on a programme of financing a massive council house build is purely ideological.  The will isn't there.  Money can be borrowed to do it, but councils won't.  This would save a fortune and ensure that private landlords couldn't fleece the public purse, as well as those individuals who are paying massively over the odds for substandard accommodation.  

[stringvest]

Who cares about South East England and London? If house prices are out of their reach they shouldn't have voted to let a load of rich investors push house prices up, tough, fuck em.

 

I do, you git.  

[Rico1304]

The reason councils won't embark on a programme of financing a massive council house build is purely ideological.  The will isn't there.  Money can be borrowed to do it, but councils won't.  This would save a fortune and ensure that private landlords couldn't fleece the public purse, as well as those individuals who are paying massively over the odds for substandard accommodation.

 

I didn't know that, I thought they were limited to half a million.

 

Problem is NIMBYism would stop most building large council estates - that and supposed lack of space

[VladimirIlyich]

My girlfriend gets seriously irritated by this kind of sentiment, she is London born and bred she votes Labour (as does our entire area, from memory there is only one green councillor in a sea of red in the borough). For her and her family they have been completely left behind by the spiralling house prices. Good chunks of London is of a more left of centre bent, it's the surrounding areas that receive the capitals largesse without having to put up with as much of the problems (the sort of place where Clarkson and Farage are seen as "decent blokes I'd like to have a pint with").

 

 

I myself have saved up a decent deposit but I'm completely fucked because the house prices here will virtually never allow me to get onto the property ladder, unless I bite down on my values and go for a shared ownership which I'm incredibly vexed to do. I've paid rent for years on end to fucking rentier parasites who don't contribute to the economy, rich inherited twats with names like Gemima and Hugo who have been my landlords in the past. At least at the moment we're in housing association accommodation so I don't feel quite as pick pocketed.

 

What is particularly galling is that the current governments imbecilic Help to Buy scheme has kept up the price of houses at the bottom end of the market and is using state funds to fuel the housing bubble. So government funds are being used to pay private landlords rent via housing benefit and they are propping up the property market, why not get someone to don a reverse Robin Hood outfit and sing 'Rob from the poor to give to the rich' (I'm sure in part this is to make their "growth" figures look better, this is something governments of all stripes have been involved in).

 

So at the next election I'll either go Green or an Independent fighting for a specific local issue. I realise this may help the Conservativesor Neo-liberal behemoth of privatisation destruction as they should now be called, (long are the days of Noblesse oblige eh?) but the only alternative is a tepid Labour government who won't reverse any of the decisions that have been made or privatisation to services that has occurred.

I agree and this is the truer face of London and big parts of the South East.

Vast swathes of Urban London dont vote Tory as they have suffered as badly as anybody else over the past 30 years but they feel completely let down and I am sure some of the same apathy has set in similar to large parts of the rest of the UK as they dont have much of a choice when voting.

[mattyq]

The current government took charge in a recession. Now there is no recession. It takes a spectacular amount of imagination to interpret that as a situation getting worse.

 

You talk about debating the point honestly, but are misusing statistics yourself.

 

https://fullfact.org/economy/have_wages_fallen_by_more_than_any_time_since_1874-35248

 

 

No, mate, this is wrong

The current government took charge when the economy was growing. The recession of 2008 had finished. Think the economy was growing at 1.3% if i remember correctly

Of course, with the Tory austerity measures they very handily returned the economy back to recession

[mattyq]

The reason councils won't embark on a programme of financing a massive council house build is purely ideological.  The will isn't there.  Money can be borrowed to do it, but councils won't.  This would save a fortune and ensure that private landlords couldn't fleece the public purse, as well as those individuals who are paying massively over the odds for substandard accommodation.  

The problem, Stringy, is that the Treasury tightly caps Council borrowing as it counts towards National Debt 

It's a Central Government issue rather than a Local Government one as far as i can make it

If they called it Investment rather than Debt we could go forward but, in their wisdom, they don't

[stringvest]

The problem, Stringy, is that the Treasury tightly caps Council borrowing as it counts towards National Debt 

It's a Central Government issue rather than a Local Government one as far as i can make it

If they called it Investment rather than Debt we could go forward but, in their wisdom, they don't

 

The Tory Government will of course have a seizure if any council dared suggest it.  My issue is that councils of every hue won't even challenge that.  They're too happy to leave it to private landlords and housing associations.  If Labour had any sort of gumption - or principles -  they would make it a core policy.  Investment in housing - rather than receiving huge bungs from private developers to eat up Green Belt for 'executive' homes.  I'm very actively campaigning in my area about the local Tory council doing precisely this.  It's a filthy business, and the head of planning - the person dealing directly with property developers - has just been found guilty of fraud, including some financial fraud.  While she's awaiting her conviction, she has been stood down from her role, but is still a Councillor.  A bit of digging showed that she has set up a 'consultancy' business with the head of the Council who it is alleged is poking her as well.  The head of the Council changed the format of the council decision making board so it is now an 'executive' - he has effectively introduced a whole team of 'yes' people (including this woman) to essentially vote through every corrupt policy he can dream up.  We're campaigning to get the council changed back to a voted-in committee, as it's clear he is taking the piss with regards to governance and democracy in general.  

We need affordable housing in this area for people who are working in this area and are contributing to the community - teachers, health workers, emergency services etc., but of course there isn't enough profit in that for these developers, and for the council that serves them rather than it's people.  Absolute cunts.  

[Section_31]

The problem, Stringy, is that the Treasury tightly caps Council borrowing as it counts towards National Debt

It's a Central Government issue rather than a Local Government one as far as i can make it

If they called it Investment rather than Debt we could go forward but, in their wisdom, they don't

Yep, councils can only spend what they're given in their general grant. They can earmark cash for homes but it's not usually much, maybe a million a year in partnership with a housing association, certainly nothing approaching mass building programmes, the will is deffo there with Labour councils on the ground though, with some anyway.

[stringvest]

Yep, councils can only spend what they're given in their general grant. They can earmark cash for homes but it's not usually much, maybe a million a year in partnership with a housing association, certainly nothing approaching mass building programmes, the will is deffo there with Labour councils on the ground though, with some anyway.

 

I'm not sure it is there Mark.  I'd love to see it.  

[VladimirIlyich]

I'm not sure it is there Mark. I'd love to see it.

I think there is up here in parts of the North West Stringy as they realise how desperately it is needed.

Are you in the South mate as I'd imagine there is some added political pressure for councils not to from a Tory central government?

[stringvest]

I think there is up here in parts of the North West Stringy as they realise how desperately it is needed.

Are you in the South mate as I'd imagine there is some added political pressure for councils not to from a Tory central government?

 

I am.  And it's wall to wall Tory Councils here.  Allegedly, they're all in the pay of the developers and they're ideologically opposed to building council houses.  Actually doing anything which could be mistaken for a socially responsible act is like kryptonite to them.  Their dry, withered, fucked up souls would self combust.  

[Strontium]

Yep, councils can only spend what they're given in their general grant. They can earmark cash for homes but it's not usually much, maybe a million a year in partnership with a housing association, certainly nothing approaching mass building programmes, the will is deffo there with Labour councils on the ground though, with some anyway.

 

The will needs to be there at national level too, though. And the fact is that under Brown & Blair, not only did social housing pass into private hands at a faster rate than it did under Thatcher, Major or the coalition, the percentage of new builds that were social housing was much lower too.

[VladimirIlyich]

The will needs to be there at national level too, though. And the fact is that under Brown & Blair, not only did social housing pass into private hands at a faster rate than it did under Thatcher, Major or the coalition, the percentage of new builds that were social housing was much lower too.

This was because they wouldnt raise taxes to cover the costs and tried to find a way round it.

 

In my neck of the woods there was loads of Housing Association new builds which have now turned into a trickle in the last few years.

I dont know which part of the spectrum you consider Housing Associations but they are the people who run big chunks of the country's housing stock and councils run fewer and fewer.

It seems to skew any figures on public/private housebuilding projects.

 

I still snigger when you keep citing Blair and Brown as if they were the side of us lefties, I dont consider them anything other than a watered down version of your current policies.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Another Angry Voice, hitting the nail on the head. Again.

 

[Jairzinho]

Rolf Harris is less discredited.

[Strontium]

Yawn. Change the record.

 

If you think the Lib Dems could have blocked every bit of harsh Tory legislation in this parliament, you are insane. They are going to get their way in government more often than not, because there are six times as many of them.

 

Lib Dems have every right to announce what they think of Tory policy, and what they would do if unhindered by fascists of the left or right. You might as well criticise Usain Bolt for not being able to run a sub 10 second 100m with his shoelaces tied together.

[VladimirIlyich]

Maybe the LibDems couldnt have blocked all of the Tory policies but they could have blocked some of the worst ones at least.

They could also have told the Tories to fuck off and voted independently of both major parties and kept some credibility in the political world,instead they will be,maybe a bit unfairly, held to account by the british electorate at the next election.

I think most grassroots liberals realise this too.

[Strontium]

Maybe the LibDems couldnt have blocked all of the Tory policies but they could have blocked some of the worst ones at least.

 

We did. You only need to check the stuff the Tories have been announcing at conference to know that.

 

They could also have told the Tories to fuck off and voted independently of both major parties and kept some credibility in the political world

Some credibility? Refusing a once in a generation chance to partake in government when the country desperately needed a strong government to tackle the deficit would have shot our credibility to pieces. It would have marked us out as a party of protest and not a serious party with serious political ambition.

[Coro]

A 'strong government' that punishes the poor for the wrongdoings of the City.

 

What a joke.

[Strontium]

Yeah, you still sound like a caricature.