Going well…

[man in the corner shop]

Plenty of room in Buck House
Swap a load of freeloaders for people who need a roof over their head.

[baggy1]

Wasting your time Squid. Dekka has adopted the Proth approach of not admitting he is wrong on anything. He also wants someone to tell him about sunlit uplands because he refuses to believe we’re fucked.

[Tom Joad]

DH certainly doesn't need my support on anything but I fully understand his point about the disenfranchised looking for easy answers to complicated problems. The issue of making family homes into HMOs is (and I have worked on maintenance of many of them) massively unpopular among the neighbours. Whether used for asylum seekers or not. Apart from normally being unsuitable, there are often issues of overloaded drains, excess rubbish, anti social behaviour and numerous other things. A good landlord can ease these problems but in my experience, they are all about keeping the money. Then there is the argument I hear all the time, 'our xxxx can't afford to buy, can't afford to rent privately and has been on the waiting list 5 years'.
Of course, the actual answers require a long term joined up plan which will take a long time, meanwhile as Derek says, just throw people some hope that things will be moving in the right direction. Otherwise, Reform will go on giving out easy answers.

[Squid]

DH certainly doesn't need my support on anything but I fully understand his point about the disenfranchised looking for easy answers to complicated problems. The issue of making family homes into HMOs is (and I have worked on maintenance of many of them) massively unpopular among the neighbours. Whether used for asylum seekers or not. Apart from normally being unsuitable, there are often issues of overloaded drains, excess rubbish, anti social behaviour and numerous other things. A good landlord can ease these problems but in my experience, they are all about keeping the money. Then there is the argument I hear all the time, 'our xxxx can't afford to buy, can't afford to rent privately and has been on the waiting list 5 years'.
Of course, the actual answers require a long term joined up plan which will take a long time, meanwhile as Derek says, just throw people some hope that things will be moving in the right direction. Otherwise, Reform will go on giving out easy answers.

The main solution to that is building more houses/flats for everyone. The lack of affordable housing is a massive societal ill in this country. It doesn't all need to be greenbelt land either; plenty of brownfield land is available to consider, particularly with the decline of the retail sector.

Also, the only solution councils seem to have to regulating landlords is licensing schemes, which are little more than toothless money grabs with no power to enforce minimum standards. That needs to change.

[Protheroe]

Wasting your time Squid. Dekka has adopted the Proth approach of not admitting he is wrong on anything. He also wants someone to tell him about sunlit uplands because he refuses to believe we’re fucked.

I have changed my mind on plenty of things over the years, thanks. And I wasn't wrong when I said Labour would be the most unpopular government in history within 18 months of the election. Trouble is, they haven't actually made any of the really unpopular decisions they need to make yet.

They're the Chicago Bears of UK Politics - spent 4 years on a rebuild only to make themselves even worse.

[baggy1]

Nothing of note - Brexit being the elephant in the room. You’ll have to remind me of which Damascan moments that occurred around the EU, Austerity or the unsuitability of Priti Patel for procreation of any sort.

[Protheroe]

Mmmm. Pritii…

Giggity

[baggy1]

Arf and goodnight

[man in the corner shop]

Wasting your time Squid. Dekka has adopted the Proth approach of not admitting he is wrong on anything. He also wants someone to tell him about sunlit uplands because he refuses to believe we’re fucked.

I have changed my mind on plenty of things over the years, thanks. And I wasn't wrong when I said Labour would be the most unpopular government in history within 18 months of the election. Trouble is, they haven't actually made any of the really unpopular decisions they need to make yet.

They're the Chicago Bears of UK Politics - spent 4 years on a rebuild only to make themselves even worse.

Go on, say it, " I was wrong"
It isn't that hard. Most people learn this in childhood. Might be quite cathartic for you.

[Shabby Russian]

DH certainly doesn't need my support on anything but I fully understand his point about the disenfranchised looking for easy answers to complicated problems. The issue of making family homes into HMOs is (and I have worked on maintenance of many of them) massively unpopular among the neighbours. Whether used for asylum seekers or not. Apart from normally being unsuitable,  there are often issues of overloaded drains, excess rubbish, anti social behaviour and numerous other things. A good landlord can ease these problems but in my experience,  they are all about keeping the money. Then there is the argument I hear all the time, 'our xxxx can't afford to buy, can't afford to rent privately and has been on the waiting list 5 years'.
Of course, the actual answers require a long term joined up plan which will take a long time, meanwhile as Derek says, just throw people some hope that things will be moving in the right direction. Otherwise,  Reform will go on giving out easy answers.

But they are not disenfranchised. They have a vote like everyone else.

That they may not use it or vote for people who do not have their best interests at heart, does not mean they are disenfranchised.

They may be disengaged, but not disenfranchised.