The great British property-owning tradition is alive and well under the new Tory housing proposals announced

One of the major planks of Margaret Thatcher’s deregulation initiatives, during the 80s, was to allow council house tenants to buy their own homes and become part of the ‘great British property-owning society’.  A purchase then for circa £60,000, is today worth circa £6-700,000.  One of the fortunate former tenants now has a nest egg, invariably free of debt, which when sold could buy a smaller property for themselves and release a handsome amount of cash that could provide a quasi-pension for their old age and possibly, in addition, give their offspring a ‘leg up’ by way of a deposit on their homes.

Continue reading

The Queen goes platinum

Every so often the anti-monarchy brigade and other unwashed rabble raise a squeak about abolishing the Royal Family and electing a Head State. Luckily for the rest of us, this remains an unpleasant, almost sacrilegious fantasy. Just imagine standing outside Buck House to see King Rishi of the Holy Tax Rise on the balcony, waving to an adoring crowd (of one). Continue reading