BoJo’s proposed Stamp Duty reforms

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 18/08/2018 - 11:45
May be we should do something Mark. I know its a massive tanker that can only turn slowly as it takes a long time to change the mindset of a generation (& in particular the mindset of politicians who sadly lack balls as they're all too scared of losing votes) and may be we're too late with this generation, but it shouldn't stop us from trying so that eventually parents stop spoiling their kids and stop trying to be their friend vs tough love parenting. The same with government and this Nanny State we find ourselves in, so that future generations' expectations/habits change which can only happen if the "hand out" system system changes & those that get off their ar*es and do something with their lives are rewarded not punished. We should change what / how kids learn in school so they understand better how & why they should want to succeed and stand on their own 2 feet vs becoming the perceived victim. (we mustn't forget the period from 1997 when youth work practice was re-shaped and redirected if not actually redefined by neo-liberal welfare principles of the New Labour governments led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown).
May be if we better influence the minds of the young, future generations will stand a chance of becoming great & in turn make this country great again.
In the whole of history, success has only come about through hardship not spoilship (no such word I know but heh - let's create it). I doubt anyone can show me an era where success has come from a spoiled populace.
We are wrecking our own society if we allow it to continue. We used to be world leaders, manufacturers, inventors, scientists, innovators, trend setters. We were the envy of the world. What are we now? Where are we headed? How does the world platform perceive us?
Evil or bad only prevails whilst good men (& women) stand back & do nothing.
I'm open to being educated to better understand the world we live in today in order I can serve it better but we meanwhile need disruptive change to help turn this sad baby back in to a great one of which we can all be proud of again.

Reply to the comment left by Lisa S at 13/08/2018 - 16:59
IMHO Boris Johnson is nothing more than a self interested trouble maker. What a disingenuous statement, "our ownership levels are now lower than France or Germany" together with, "if young people can't own capital assets, what faith will they have in capitalism".

While I don't deny the latter might make some sense, have young French and Germans lost their faith in capitalism, as they can't buy a property? Have young Americans, who are also renting more than previous generations? Many young Germans, especially living in what was once the GDR, will know from their parents what life is like in a communist country.

By making his recent bigoted remarks about Muslim women in his column (and gotten himself investigated by the Conservative party), how is he helping the country, the government and certainly his party? And how is he helping himself, unless, as another MP suggested, he wants to be a Pound Shop Trump?

The kind of comments Johnson made about the burkha and niqab are no different to the anti semitism that is currently rife in the Labour party.

Is Johnson secretly working with Jeremy Corbyn and Momentum?? 🙂

Reply to the comment left by Will stillman at 18/08/2018 - 11:52
Boris Johnson crossed the line when he made his burkha comment. I now put him in the same category as Jeremy Corbyn (with his anti semitism, among other admirable policies); i.e. nothing they say should be taken seriously and they have no place within British politics.

Getting back to the SDLT topic away from the "we used to eat broken glass" themes**. Parts of my company's business was to do up fairly grotty properties. We found that when we'd improved a couple in a street many of the others followed suit and the street came up.
The advent of the 3% really hurt that. Say it's a £80K property, then to get back the £2,400 we had to sell the property, almost invariably to a FTB, for £2,400 more. Result: FTB is effectively paying SDLT. And of course there's VAT on most of the improvement costs, but not on new builds.
Of course Johnson wants to cut SDLT as it's quite high on the sort of properties he and his mates live in.
** I moved to Edinburgh in 1971 and bought a 3 bed flat for £4,750. My salary was £1,767 p.a. and my wife's a bit more. A similar flat is at "offers over £415,000 today". I doubt the current starting salary for a university lecturer is the pro rata amount of £154,000. And I wasn't £40/50K in debt. We baby boomers have really shafted the following generations and we should acknowledge that rather than moan about nanny states (didn't Rees Mogg get his nanny to campaign for him!)

In answer to Mandy's final question I would say Boris Johnson is working with and for Boris Johnson.
The number of likes for Laura Delow's post of her personal experience shows it has certainly struck a chord with many on here. Having been born in the darkest days of the war, I could certainly top her story but the thread would sound like the Monty Python sketch - "cardboard box? that were looxury!". The current generation of young adults are quite entitled to their different mindset and YOLO approach to life. That's their choice and they must live with the consequences. They are not, however, entitled to blame previous generations for their circumstances. Every generation has to make the best of the world they find themselves in. We had it tough but rather than blame our parents we admired them for the way they had lived through two world wars and the depression between yet still queued patiently for what few necessities were available. They knew real poverty, being raised in families of ten and more, where all the children had to pull their weight. I remember my father's horror when the school leaving age was raised to 15, meaning parents would have to support big lads like our neighbour's boy for another year before they could earn their keep. It's certainly a different world from the one I grew up in but it still doesn't owe any able bodied person a living.

Reply to the comment left by Mandy Thomson at 18/08/2018 - 13:32
Sorry Mandy & Will, can't agree with you. Boris might have chosen his actual words a little more carefully but his burka comments were spot on. Why are we so frightened of "offending" people - burka wearers presumably - that we expect politicians to keep shtum all the time?
Like I posted awhile back Churchill was ridiculed and castigated in the 1930's for rubbishing appeasing Nazi Germnany yet he was ultimately proved 100% right.

Reply to the comment left by Luk Udav at 18/08/2018 - 13:56
"Of course Johnson wants to cut SDLT as it's quite high on the sort of properties he and his mates live in." Yup, in a nutshell.

Reply to the comment left by Richard Adams at 18/08/2018 - 14:03
Sorry I see no analogy between criticising someone for speaking out against appeasement of Nazi Germany and criticism against another individual on his comments about a minority of harmless religious followers who choose to dress to express their personal religious beliefs which they do not proselytise. No one is expecting you or anyone else to convert to Islam or adopt Islamic dress.

Reply to the comment left by Richard Adams at 18/08/2018 - 14:03
We should have freedom of speech, BUT......people in the forefront of politics have to be very careful what they say.......if I said what Boris Johnson said, it would be ignored. But because he said it there have already been instances of ‘bullying/racism’ where women and their children have been subjected to attacks where ‘louts’ have tried to ‘post letters’ into their faces. I am not entirely sure that I agree with complete facial covering, but this is not the way to go about dealing with it. And more to the point....do I want Boris Johnson as a leading Tory? As a life long Tory....no...never. After the Section 24/Stamp Duty etc debacle I said I wouldn’t voteTory again.....that kind of comment just makes me more sure of my decision.