IntenseDebate - caroljeffries

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Having seen off his cr... · 0 replies · +1 points

The problem is that when those estates are social housing they do not get replaced until they have sunk to the absolute pits or it is uneconomic to repair them.
AS for children playing in communal spaces I don't think so. Mine and their friends played in one another's gardens. A communal space needs constant supervision by adults.
There is an estate in my city-Bromford Bridge-mixed tenure-built around 1970 which is like a rabbit warren where back gardens converge on all sides. Some idiot architect got an award for that and children are not even safe in their own gardens because of all the gullies etc where anyone could get in unseen from your house.
Its quite simple. All architects should be made to live in the housing they design for less well off folk.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - There are signs of mod... · 0 replies · +1 points

Lots of grannies (and granddads) do downsize but of their own volition not by either State dictat or bribe. If someone has lived in their home for many years it is hard to give it up. I understand that there will be no more bungalows built after 2020 as they take up too much land. It can already cost more to buy a place suitable for your assumed needs than your house is worth.
It also overlooks that many older people make a vast contribution to Society in terms of unpaid work. Most are not a "burden" on anyone.
I agree that housing equity has to be released or borrowed against to pay for care.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - There are signs of mod... · 0 replies · +1 points

Exactly we are all crying ourselves to sleep about private sector landlords. The way I see it is if being a landlord is a business then it should operate without subsidy from the taxpayer. £23 billion for 2018/19 via Housing benefit is disgraceful. Even more so when you read about some of the horror stories.
Yes we all know there are many decent landlords the problem is the rogue ones are a rather large minority when they should be the exception.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - There are signs of mod... · 0 replies · +1 points

My point about social housing is that it has to be in a trust like Bournville Village Trust so that the trust determines the rules on sales and all of the money goes back into the trust.
While the Right To Buy exists you just encourage some of our citizens to lie and cheat their way into social housing and a few years later amazingly they can go from being homeless to house purchase. Excuse my cynicism but how else has the housing waiting list been reduced from 35,000 to 10,000 in 7 years with a further audit pending? Some have been found out- rather a lot I'd say.
Private sector landlords let out ex council houses at far more than the same house would cost if rented from the Council.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - There are signs of mod... · 1 reply · +1 points

100% agree with you. The last remaining piece of "green" land to be developed in our area was an old bowling green. It was amazing to see how many houses could be fitted on it. We are lucky as we have lots of communal green space along the river and the canal and most of us have gardens.
As an active member of my local wildlife trust I know people more knowledgeable than I will confirm that there is far more biodiversity in our own back gardens than there is on green belt land.
The answer to the NIMBYS is to remind them that when they get so frail they need help with the garden, housework etc there will be no-one there. I guess they also complain that the post office, banks and shops have closed.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Rebecca Lowe: We must ... · 1 reply · +1 points

Our lives are not affected. My works pension scheme has changed at least twice recently but those of us who escaped have kept our money. It is our children who will pay the price of reduced pensions. Indeed they are the very ones who were hit by the 2008 crash and a lack of graduate level jobs. It has served them well in that they both have CVs that would have taken many more years to acquire in the past.
The downside for employers is that it is harder for them to retain staff, especially in London where one is.
I'm putting together a paper on Social Care. That's the real challenge. It's a disaster area right now. As no-one will agree to any suggestions made it looks like we will just muddle along as we have done. Try and stay fit and fund ourselves.
I also wrote a paper on the abolition of Council Tax.It is a nonsense to talk in terms of democratic accountability when at least half the budget goes on statutory services. Following on from that I just do not see why we need 101 councillors. I'd cut that to 51.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Rebecca Lowe: We must ... · 3 replies · +1 points

I will agree that the SRP is a benefit. There is only ever 28 days money in The Treasury to fund all welfare benefits.
Beveridge, back in 1942, thought many would be dead by my age-64.
Where I take issue with you is that you are defining productivity by what we are paid money to do.I'm sure many on this site have spent untold hours and still do on a variety of community projects and campaigning. I worked half time when paid but some weeks I spend more hours volunteering than I did at work.
We are not yet grandparents. We all know folk who spend hours per week undertaking childcare.
If we all only ever did what we were paid to do it would be a sad day.
Please consult other sites that try and measure/cost "social" capital

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - James Frayne: Less aff... · 3 replies · +1 points

Agree with the thrust of your argument. I will disagree on Liberal elites being like jelly fish. I do not for one second underestimate Momentum in my City-Bham. They are highly organised, have a good stronghold on the City Council and I'm sure they are just positioning themselves to go for deselection of some good constituency MPs.
What we have noticed in the new ward structure that was used in May 2018 is that there was a sort of trade off with women Momentum candidates teamed with Pakistani heritage candidates in 2 seat wards. The latter are more concerned with power for its own sake and are mostly unprincipled. They stand for the party they think will win. They've been at it for years.
My motto is that of Lord John Bird's, founder of Big Issue. "A hand up not a handout". The Welfare State when you need it which we did when my dad left in 1959 but otherwise butt out.
Momentum have told me it is a libertarian viewpoint. No its the life my family lived before 1948, mostly broke as everyone was back then but with the back up of the State from 1948.
Corbyn wants control- to tell us all how to live, how to think when to do it= the opposite of aspiration.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Asia Bibi should be of... · 0 replies · +1 points

Friends and I have been banging on for years about how the Labour Party in our city is too dependant on the Pakistani vote. We even have one councillor who was in the press this year denying the existence of ISIS. All I can say is that the turnout was very low.
The Lib Dems made some inroads in the inner city but that has evaporated. I do not think that the Conservatives could break through in these areas. The only solution I can see is to halve the number of councillors and enlarge wards i.e. dilute the ethnic mix.
I thought Holland had offered her asylum.
No she would not be safe in the UK. Networks spread far and wide. I'd suggest Canada or the USA.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Chloe Westley: Jordan ... · 2 replies · +1 points

It would be a great shame if you feel forced to give up your course. I'm convinced the tide will turn and then you could resume.
I well remember what our History teacher Miss Maiden told us 50 years ago and we were only 13. She said the purpose of Education was to teach you to think and question. This at a Catholic Girls' Grammar school where our Headteacher and many other teachers were nuns.
As someone without a University education I am perplexed as to how we have a situation where university lecturers have such a set view of the World that I did not have at 13.
The Catholic Church more progressive in 1967 than the current Labour Party.?

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