and think. Today, which is for many the most holy of holy days – celebrating the resurrection of Jesus who gave his life for us – a parable may be drawn with life in general. Whilst millions the world over celebrate the very essence of their faith, that of God sending a saviour to redeem mankind from Satan’s grip, many others see Easter merely as an extra few days off work; a pagan orgy of chocolate consumption and getting a great deal at the local DIY store before making a complete balls up of relaying the patio/refitting the downstairs loo/painting the garden furniture. Trust me; been there, done that, got the t-shirt, the bollocking from my wife and the exorbitant bill from the workman who came to salvage my DIY disaster.
This week rather fittingly gave two examples of mankind’s need to procreate. Firstly, the young lady who was actively encouraged by her mother to be with child in order to get a council flat and secondly the even younger, young lady (actually, make that child), who gave birth at the age of fourteen thereby making her twenty nine year old father the proud holder of the title, “UK’s youngest grandparent”. Ye Gods – and any other deities that may be twiddling their thumbs today – what in the name of… is happening? Just to add further fuel to my ire, the Jeremy Kyle’s sofa-destined family come from Wales. Terrific. How proud as a nation we all should be and a massive well done to the Welsh Assembly as their education system is obviously working to such great effect.
Speaking of cause and effect, this week saw two of Britain’s listed builders reporting huge increases in demand for new homes. The FTSE 100 behemoth, Persimmon, the UK’s biggest housebuilder reported that sales per site in the first fifteen weeks of the year were up 25% from the same period in 2013. A number of sales have resulted from the Coalition’s Help To Buy scheme. That’s right, the same scheme that was being condemned last week for aiding and abetting the “housing bubble”. Chief Executive Jeff Fairburn welcomed the Government’s decision to extend the scheme to 2020. “The lenders are supportive of it and it really does deliver affordability to the buyer” [sic] Daily Mail Thursday April 17, 2014 This was echoed by his counterpart at Telford Homes, Jon Di-Stefano who expects his company’s profits to double again by 2018. “Telford Homes is operating where customers both want to live and can afford to live”. ibid There we have it folks; the most pertinent part of his comment is the last part about people living where they can actually afford to buy a property. Many of us aspire to the Pimms and croquet abode or crenelated stately pile as pursued with a vengeance by Team Middleton, but ultimately we live where we can afford to keep the roof over our heads.
