Gentrification, good or bad?

[blandy]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

Can I ask what coupon clipping means?

Googled it, didn’t get a relevant answer.

I take it to be people who (have the mentality of those who) clip out coupons for money off "15p off Heinz Beans" small items of shopping - the mentality that the national finances are like those of a not-wealthy household - that every penny matters and debt is bad and spending on "luxuries" is lavish...

edit - see HV's post below - I took it wrongly.

[HanoiVillan]

To clarify what I was referring to, once upon a time bonds looked like this:

The bits on the right were called 'coupons', and you could redeem them for cash at specific dates. People used to cut them out, which was called 'clipping coupons', and to this day the interest rate on bonds is still sometimes called the coupon rate.

What I was referring to in a much broader sense is the tendency for British people/companies/investment managers/governments to prefer living off interest and rents, rather than pursuing company or economic growth. You can see this very clearly by comparing the British corporate landscape to that of America; British companies *love* 'returning cash to shareholders', even if doing so reduces their chances of growth. I get annoying 'news' alerts from Google to my phone, and it's always interesting to compare the standard puff about investments in US companies ('this company has been called 'THE NEXT AMAZON' and is a potential ten-bagger!') to ones about British companies ('8.5% dividend yield!'). But this tendency is not just about financial markets, it's much wider than that, and on the personal level you can see it in the way Britain has so enthusiastically bought in to the dream of becoming a buy-to-let landlord, and on the governmental level you can see it in the way the government is highly-attuned to complaints about housebuilding or immigrants, and spends its time attacking industries in which we have a comparative advantage like higher education or media.

And fundamentally this is what you would expect - or what I would expect, anyway - from a conservative government. Conservatism is always more about ensuring the people who get the most cake today still get the most cake tomorrow, not about baking more cakes or sharing them more widely or more equally.

[Seat68]

Your man has made the news. 

Quote

BBC News - Holiday homes: Love Island's Dr Alex George faces online abuse

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60996671

Man who buys 4 cottages scratching his head why people would angry. 

[chrisp65]

He’s in panic response mode.

He’s stated they aren’t suitable for long term living (whatever that means), and he also says he’s now agreed to keep on the long term leader of one of the properties.

Just your typical greedy unthinking prick then.

[MakemineVanilla]

It doesn't seem very long ago that the established orthodoxy was that it was inhumane to house people in high-rise blocks and the sociologists declared that Le Corbusier's vision was dead.

In London they are building high-rise blocks in the suburbs, and they have recently converted an old office block in Erdington into flats.

The last tower block on Castle Vale was only demolished in 2004.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_blocks_in_Great_Britain

I'm not sure the problems associated with tower blocks have disappeared.

 

[chrisp65]

There is nothing wrong with high rise.

Lots of the people that live around Canary Wharf love it.

What’s wrong is when they are stacked up cheaply with poor lifts, pitiful maintenance and a lack of amenities. Like the ones they build for poor people.

[bannedfromHandV]

5 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

There is nothing wrong with high rise.

Lots of the people that live around Canary Wharf love it.

What’s wrong is when they are stacked up cheaply with poor lifts, pitiful maintenance and a lack of amenities. Like the ones they build for poor people.

Or worse, when they’re clad in flammable shit.

[VILLAMARV]

On 10/04/2022 at 16:52, bannedfromHandV said:

Or worse, when they’re clad in flammable shit.

Or even worse when they’re still clad in flammable shit.

[PussEKatt]

12 hours ago, VILLAMARV said:

Or even worse when they’re still clad in flammable shit.

Or,worse still.When the flammable shit catches on fire.