General Election: Who the hell am I going to vote for???

No it wouldn't, I seem to remember back in the 80s Maggie said that the money was not to be used to build new houses, I must admit I never understood that bit.

What they are saying now is that housing association houses could be sold to the tenants, the government would not see the cash presumably.

 

Just as an add on, you can still buy council houses, as I understand it,even after 2 labour governments, they have had ample chance to alter that.

 

Seriously though, doesn't anyone else worry about where they are going to do all this building?

 

Why worry? The houses need to be built. Don't get me wrong, the countryside needs to be protected, so I suppose it's all about building where the impact will be at its least.

 

It would be nice if brown field sites could be used and the government made someway of making these cheaper to build on and therefore more attractive to develop. Dont know how they would do that to get building companies to build there but it would be nice

 

@ARMANDII i did think something was already in place as an insentive but couldnt remember if that memory in my head was a real one or one i made up lol

 

Correct.
However, they did reduce the maximum discount and also added a first refusal clause meaning that the house must be offered back to the landlord first (at a stipulated discount) if it went back on the market.
Then the tories tinkered. They raised the maximum discount back up to 60%. They also said that for every house sold another must be built to replace it and made available to rent at up to 80% of the areas market rent! So how are you to replace a house when you've just received 40% of its value?

 

Brilliant post, really liked it. I felt sorry for Gordon Brown he was left with the dregs after Tony Blair had his fun and got all the stick. He was great when the crap hit the fan but was criticized for spending the money bailing out the banks, He stopped life being so much worse if he had not intervened. He tried his best and seamed a fair and honest man with tied hands by the time he was in power. People skills may have been useful but in the end he cared and left gracefully.

 

I cannot believe how narrow minded and short sighted this naff government are. The Gurka's have been loyal and useful men for many years. They are really nice guys too. I got to spend a little time with them in Capel Curig a military base. It used to be amazing to watch a couple of them run up and down Snowdon with a full tree trunk they are so fit and always have a smile.

How can we cut our forces when the threats are more worrying now than in the cold war. Russia is being challenging it is regularly testing our readiness by trying out our response time to breaches in our airspace.

The Falklands is being bitterly contested and with the oil exploration being positive it is only a matter of time that this will be attacked again.

South Korea has now got the nuclear capability and is ready to test this. They have always been unpredictable and always considered a threat.

We need our forces to respond to anything that our country needs action. It may be war or an infringement but it could also be and environmental disaster such as floods where the military has been called up. Or strikes that need the military to step in to fuel supply, food runs, riot control, Fire fighting, there are so many scenarios both here and overseas such as humanitarian cover or rescue of British civilians when trouble strikes overseas. They may think the TA can pick up the slack but non of the TA and reservist regiments have anywhere near the capacity required. The kit is very poor so what personnel are likely to be poorly supplied with inefficient and damaged kit that will put them under unnecessary pressure we should be ashamed as a country that we do not have enough appropriate kit. I cannot believe we have no carriers and we sold off our Typhoons to the Americans so short sighted.

The Nuclear deterrent is important to not replace it gives me nightmares. We need investment in the arms services before it is too late and they need to stop binning good men and women who serve their country and then just abandon them when they cannot find work or homes and / or have issues due to the sights they have witnessed