reading the torygraph money section ('it feels like a scam')

ok horsemouth got bored sunday afternoon and typed most of this in. 

(the circle) of compassion is the first single from surya botofasina’s second album
featuring vocalist midnightroba (roba el-essawy) of the legendary attica blues. it's a pleasantly noisy affair, no excess of good taste.

headline - landlords face wipeout under labour 

front page article. campaign. inside pages 6 and 7. 

yes. the featherbedding of landlords is ending even if buy-to-let mortgages aren't. people who are using it as a pension will be driven out of the market to be replaced by very much larger private equity firms. rents will rise. housing waiting lists will rise. the number of people in temporary accommodation will rise. hell the number of people homeless on the street will probably rise. 

the tax raids on small landlords began under the tories (and may continue under labour).  the courts system is fucked 

page 3. 'I have £140k in student debt - it feels like a scam.' (says young doctor)

well that's because it is. it is effectively a graduate tax (except that the government aren't getting the money).  more than 8000 graduates on plan 2 loans owe more than £100k. the largest debt owed by a graduate to the student loans company was £231k as of jan 31st this year (so, by the inevitable action of interest) it will be higher by now). the face value of outstanding loans was £236 billion in march. the bet is that enough graduates will earn enough to repay the cost and the interest and the planned level of bad debt. if not the government (i.e. the taxpayer) will have to pay. 

given the fucked status of the economy that may well be a bad bet. 

the debt is held by students from poorer backgrounds - students who are unlikely to have access to the bank of mum and dad and thus will be stuck renting (see above). 

back page. katie morley (your consumer champion) investigates a couple who were arrested by the police in front of their children because they hadn't been absolutely careful about dealing with inheritances. 

here's a story from an earlier point in the cycle.

'last month, we cheered when my daughter became eligible for 15 hours’ free childcare, and this week her nursery’s fees increased by almost the exact amount of money we would have saved...' - séamas o’reilly, the observer, 13th october 2024, the thing about parenting is that it is, basically, financially ruinous. 

can you see the pattern?

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it's a grey and rainy monday morning. horsemouth has just been out to feed the hens. he thinks he glimpsed a rat tail in the woodshed. last night some carrots and the last of the runner beans for dinner. there's some sprouts in the garden horsemouth is speculating if they will grow enough to be worth eating for christmas dinner. leeks also. 

next week horsemouth is due to be up in town.