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  • EADD Moderators: Shambles

Pledges, promises & other bullshit from the Parties...

Yeh I didn't notice you saying that all politics is bs, but that's the way these things tend to go.

I disagree that subscribing to an ethical framework is bollocks, though, because, in the absence of some sort of coherent agenda, nothing happens.
 
We need more housing, and we need tighter rent controls -- it should be illegal to charge more in rent than 75% of the interest on an equivalent mortgage on the property at its assessed market value, and rents should be subject to an annual review. Nobody should be making a profit by renting out a house that they haven't finished paying for, for more than the total of the interest and repayment on the mortgage, to housing benefit claimants, at the ultimate expense of the taxpayer. And it should be an offence intentionally to make a person homeless without an exceptionally good reason.

New housing also needs to be built with energy saving measures from the outset; improved insulation, air source heat pumps, solar panels, sustainable (natural, or recyclable artificial) materials, combined heating and power, biomass heating, ventilation systems with heat recovery, best use made of natural light &c. Greater adoption of energy-saving and renewable-energy devices should mean that prices should decrease. And fossil fuels are not going to get any cheaper.

But most of all, we really need to get rid of the terrible idea that houses must always increase in value, forever. Between me buying Montoya Mansions in 1996 (when houses were cheap and mortgages were expensive) and making the final payment in 2010, the value of the building had quadrupled -- but my wages had barely doubled, and that had involved a change of job. And even if I had sold my own place, I would still only have been able to afford another two-up, two-down terraced house like it, or maybe a three-bedroom semi in one of the less-desirable areas of Town, with the money I got from it.

A major contributor to the financial crash of 2007 was the deliberate lending of money to people who they knew could not afford to pay it back, knowing that the house would have increased in value by more than the costs incurred in terminating the agreement and evicting the unfortunate buyers.
 
My parents' original mortgage was 9 grand. They had to re-mortgage to pay for a business n it's all paid off now but nonetheless it was a low price compared for 100 grand which my bruv paid for 3 bedroom n goodness know how much my other bruv paid for his 3 bedroom (yeah I'm the black sheep. Hah).

But I tend to agree with you on most of your post in the i dont believe that private rent should be any where near mortagage payment prices. My ex' two-bedroom flat was £450 a month. Ridiculous when someone can be paying a mortgage at £5-550 per month.

Why can't we be like America n build huge apartments blocks (flats)? Wouldn't this be less land n yet produce more homes? In American the seem to house a family of 5 in an aparment. OK there's the disadvantage with no garden.

How do we solve the problem of producing more homes without further destroying our environment n our greenery?

Evey
 
Eco friendly homes built into hillsides or even completely underground - like the Teletubbies :) Less energy is used for heating as the earth layer provides natural insulation. Whole communities can be built in this manner with very little evidence of their presence. I'd fuckin love to live in a hobbit house :D
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Eco friendly homes built into hillsides or even completely underground - like the Teletubbies :) Less energy is used for heating as the earth layer provides natural insulation. Whole communities can be built in this manner with very little evidence of their presence. I'd fuckin love to live in a hobbit house :D
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Funny boy ain't ye?! :D lol

Evey
 
I'm actually being deadly serious (for a change). There have been homes like this in the UK since the 60s/70s - though you'd rarely see them from the road. I do believe the future of housing is in building down, not up.
 
shm I'm with you I've turned anarchist and my trip last week convinced me more that there need be no leaders. Vurtual very well put stuff. yes, cave dwelling underground I've been to skara brae. Politicians have to invent problems and create them to keep their power. can't stand listening to daily mail readers at work who think ukip is the way forward. specially where I work and most of the clientele are immigrants.
It just does my head in. By the way, major didn't go to uni I don't think, he joined the circus at 16 if I remember correctly but of course that could be lies.

Ha, this morning I was reminiscing on my days with the militant labour. whatever they are now has a very long name. they are all the same. The labour party began the academisation of schools and the tories have continued it. It is quite sinister.
 
Eveyvibe said:
How do we solve the problem of producing more homes without further destroying our environment n our greenery?
Click to expand...
The environmental impact of building a few more houses will be frankly minimal. And there are simple steps that can be taken to minimise the damage anyway -- like just getting all the necessary infrastructure in place first. Properly-designed service ducts under the pavements would obviate much of the need ever to dig up the roads. (Maybe we could even have compressed air laid on as a utility in its own right? That would be seriously wicked. It's a viable replacement for electric motors in all sorts of appliances, and air is easier to store temporarily than electricity; you just need a simple high-pressure tank. And you can have compressors powered by a diverse collection of fuels.)

Whenever concerned people express concerns about the loss of greenery due to house building, it's usually a pretty safe bet that the greenery they're most concerned about is the pound notes in their bank account, because the value of their houses is not going to be increasing so fast if there are more affordable homes available.
 
They were talking on telly about the snp wanting to put the top rate of tax at 50p. The way they talk about things like this are really misleading - the prominence it's given in the media you'd be forgiven for idly thinking that this tax rate must affect loads of people - actually only 300,000 people (1% ) earn enough to pay the top rate. They're massively overrepresented in the media though (cos people like them own and run it).

I read some research on the tuc website saying that people who earn over 150,000 (1% ) get away with not paying on average £15,000 in tax a year - so they get away with more than 8 million people (30% ) earn in total.

https://www.tuc.org.uk/economic-iss...-economic-reports/people-earning-over-£150000
 
The good ol' unbiased BBC also had the dorkiest picture they could find of Nicola Sturgeon looking like, well, a sturgeon, to illustrate their piece on the SNP manifesto launch on the front page of their website this morning.

The picture has now been removed but that was no accident.
 
StoneHappyMonday said:
The good ol' unbiased BBC also had the dorkiest picture they could find of Nicola Sturgeon looking like, well, a sturgeon, to illustrate their piece on the SNP manifesto launch on the front page of their website this morning.

The picture has now been removed but that was no accident.
Click to expand...

I'm going to stop paying my BBC license - £12.12 a month fucker with their cunting biased broadcasting, bastards. :!




It's a shame I like Radio 6 and the odd programme....whoremasters :|
 
Oh my fucking god. Oh no wait, I registered ages ago, when it was cool. Which was never.

Just picking up on a point I don't know if its mandatory now or not, but I'm in a new build house (social housing) and it's been graded as A by some surveyor's report on it's energy efficiency. Solar panels, fully insulated, gas/air heat pump mitsubishi thing, all electric in house, rain water collected for watering grass.

Every device we have including kitchen stuff is A or A+ energy rating, including all the bulbs in lights...bar one TV which isn't LED backlit, and any mobile phone charging. No tumble dryer, or dishwasher. I try and do all the crap you are meant to do, like defrost freezer stuff by putting in fridge overnight. Turn all lights off, don't leave things charging or switched on at mains, recycle, eco mode on shower etc.

I'll be interested to know what savings I've made, but paying a standard monthly fee to energy company and not giving them meter readings is hindering that! No car and pets help too. Also being a vegan.

in fact vote for me because I'm the greatest. Greatest at saving energy?
 
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