Idiotic headlines make me wonder who’s entitled to what

And then worse, senior people (largely females) are occupying (their own) large properties with more room than they need. In between the lines is that they should free them up (move out of) and let the young have them.

Two things: twenty-somethings haven’t worked much, so how can they afford to buy?

Senior people have worked and can afford to have whatever size property they want.

And now there are reports that the government is going to help the young buy. Isn’t that how we got into financial trouble in the first place (well, by America doing it and dragging us with them into the mire)?

So now we think it’s OK to do it again. Lend to people who haven’t the means to repay and then let the steady, reliable (older) population bail them out. Again.

Let the young rent for heaven’s sake. But that’s unthinkable: it’s all about ownership.

They’ll argue that it’s throwing money away. No. It’s paying for a roof over your head.

Sometimes I reminisce about how easy renting was. Landlord tended the garden. Landlord organised (and paid for) repairs, decorating, new appliances… It might even be an option for later years. Who wants the continuous headache of maintenance?

One of my uncles lived in a small close years ago. He said that all the residents agreed to own different tools and share them with eachother when anyone needed them. So there was a communal lawnmower, shears, car wash machine and so on.

My first thoughts are how much more storage space that would leave everyone and how much more money!

So should we all own our own things? Is personal property all that matters? And why?

A twenty-something, remember, is probably just out of Uni. Are these the people who are so unfortunate as to not be able to start the scramble up the property ladder? And what’s at the top anyway? We’re never told.

Values change. It’s unrealistic to think we can change the way people think: the young do now feel entitled to own property.

As long as we’re aware that it will be disastrous when they can’t pay their mortgages.

This isn’t just an attack on the young. More mature people also lose their homes because banks have lent to them with severe myopia.

There’s a feeling that people who rent are somehow deprived, wronged. They’re not!

Our ideas about poverty and what’s rightfully ours are always changing. But in this case I blame banks and the press. Pushing the idea that we’re unfortunate if we can’t buy our own property seeps into our consciousness: we end up believing it.

And the government in their optimism wants to create a big society where we have communities and pleasantness and lots of help for one another. We’re getting mixed messages.

Worse than this is the Vacancies section in the local press. It’s lacking in opportunities for paid work.

What there is, are dozens of opportunities to work for free, volunteer, do charitable work… It seems to be the new employment.

So a very crude depiction of modern British society is: thousands of people working for no money but buying property… It’ll end in tears.

And related to this is the fact that offices are being built in Amersham by the station. If you walk along the main roads, there are probably a dozen signs for offices to let. Why?

I wonder whether these offices will be converted into housing because no one occupies them as offices… Is there a legal loophole where building offices and all it entails is cheaper than building flats?? Or is that just me being cynical? Must be.