Earl Aelfheah

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I personally prefer Tesco to Sainsburys because they > don't pretend to be anything other than a big > supermarket. What / how does Sainsburys pretend not to be a supermarket?

Henry_17 - what I meant was that it's not as simple as implied, when someone says - 'build more houses, it's just supply and demand'. That implies that the only solutions are supply side ones and also that there is an easily reached point of finite demand (there is at some point, but we're not dealing simply with a domestic 'homes' market). The fact is that the huge increases in property prices are not only the result of increased population. Policies have been implemented which have been aimed at increasing prices by encouraging speculation. I don't think it's at all likely (or necessarily desirable) that we will be able to build the number of properties necessary to satisfy the latent demand in the international, property speculation market - certainly not to the extent where it would make a significant impact on affordability for the average low paid worker in London. It is also true that there are different models of supply. There is a big difference between the building of 1 bedroom luxury flats and the creation of good quality, socially rented properties, or secure, long term rental contracts in the private sector. So I would invest in the 'right kind' of supply, and pursue policies which target the 'wrong kind' of demand. Use the taxation system to discourage people building up huge property portfolios and restrict the number of overseas speculators. So yes, I guess I misspoke, but what I was getting at is building 'luxury flats' everywhere, whilst selling off social housing, ignoring 'affordable housing' quotas and marketing new builds in Singapore and Malaysia is unlikely to help the barista who was mentioned.

I can't believe how much people spend on cufflinks. I loose mine too regularly to want to spend that much. Agree with what's been said though. Keep them fairly simply.

I think it's fair enough using a forum like this to recruit participants. How's it lazy? Also, DaveR 's question is a fair one. It is just a question after all. This is a forum - people converse innit.

... the pooled tears of hundreds of late commuters perhaps?

Do you remember 'The Word' had a section called "I'll do anything to get on TV"? That.

Quids, you're being a bit patronising to be honest. The fact is that there are a lot of reasons why property prices have soared over the last few decades and they're far more complicated than just supply and demand. Of course, the population of London has increased and supply has not kept pace - but that is not the whole story.

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > NIMBY city - we've got a fooking housin shortage > in case people hadn't noticed We have a housing affordability problem.

Commercial property is constantly being labelled as 'no longer viable' and then converted to flats. The thing about the viability of a business is that it is highly dependent on the rent being asked for the property it leases. If there wasn't any prospect of change of use being granted, then the market would find the right price for a commercial unit, the point at which the business would be viable. The truth is that there is significantly more money in residential property. During a recession say, many businesses may find that they are 'no longer viable'... but that's not to say that 5 years on a similar one may well be. But once a commercial property has passed over into 'private residential' it is rarely going to travel back the other way again. What this means in practice, is that over time, we get lower and lower amenity to housing ratios. Amenity ends up reflecting demand as it was during it's lowest level in any given area. The reduction in the number of cheap commercial properties is a barrier to entrepreneurism. It's leads to clone high streets, lack of creativity, lack of dynamism and an unbalanced economy. Councils can't bear for there to be boarded up shops or offices (and property speculators play on this), but sometimes leaving a property empty can be preferable than loosing it's commercial potential for ever.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > McDonalds is what it is. Processed food. But I'd > rather eat this stuff which confirms to all sorts > of regulations than something processed from a > back street take away that has a food hygiene > rating of 0. > > Louisa. Yep, exactly this. With the ubiquity of somewhere like MacDonalds comes a high level of scrutiny. They probably have higher standards than a lot of places. Still processed junk though.

Yes, it's being turned into flat unfortunately. It's a shame.

I was surprised that all their meat comes from Britain and conforms to the 'Freedom Food' standards.

My daughter's reception class has a different topic which they focus on each term. The current one is 'superheroes'. I asked her what she had learnt and she said - "superheroes run around the streets in their underwear". :-)

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Do people find their kids are obsessed with the > actual film, or more just the songs or the > characters? > > My two have seen the film a fair few times, but > they seem to have totally lost interest in > watching it now. The songs on the other hand are > still on ALL THE TIME. And they often play at > being Elsa & Anna (and fighting over who's who). > But we don't really see the film anymore. Yep, exactly this. My two have no interest in actually watching the film anymore, but still love the songs and the characters.

Ha.. surprised no one has pounced on that yet. Will watch with interest.

... I also think it's a bit weird BTW.

Let's not all fall out. Time to 'let it go'.

...and 'Katy Hopkins exactly as you thought she would be' isn't very entertaining / headline grabbing.

I haven't watched Big Brother for many years, but bear in mind that they edit a programme down from many, many hours of footage, in order to create a narrative. Given the amount of footage the producers have, they can basically put it together to create any story they wish. They could almost script the thing in advance and then edit the footage to fit it afterwards (probably not far from what they do do). It isn't actually 'reality'.

Yep - our daughter had her party there and it was great. Definitely recommend it.

It would make an ideal place for an M&S simply food (much better location than the Iceland store infact).

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why is awful? Sweeping generalisation about a > totally honest individual. > > Louisa. Saying whatever you want, to someone's face, is careless and selfish. It's maybe what a spoilt child would do, most grown ups learn to think about their impact on others, to temper what they say to spare offence. Many of Hopkins views are nasty. The fact that she airs them freely hardly redeems her.

Good post BNG and of course there is some truth to this. There is a degree of necessary compromise and Real Politik, but we are talking about trade with the Saudis, not charity from them.. Both parties get something from these contracts, we don't need to fawn, as if we owe them something. World 'leaders' could actually come together and demand change far more forcefully. The behaviour this week has been cowardly and shameful.

'A few whipped asses'... Really?

It makes absolutely sick to see our representatives cuddling up to Saudi Arabia in this way.