Re: British Passport Renewal ?

[bigbadwolf]

Neither can I. I've been out for 18 years. My sister-in-law recently bought a terraced house in West London for 450,000 pounds. It's exorbitant. Outside the Southeast you can buy houses somewhat cheaper -- but still in the stratosphere. And Britain outside London and the home counties is mired in depression.

 

[Juanito]

Bigbadwolf - I hear you Back in about 2000 I got myself a job north of the border and was working in Aberdeen for a while... My local bedsit THEN was costing me more than 400 quid a month - the average salary at the time there (NOT talking the oil and gas crowd but the locals) was about 17,000 pounds... I could see the writing on the wall back then...

I mean seriously - WHERE is someone (normal working class chap) going to come up with 450,000 quid ???

 

[glasgowjohn]

Rob a bank?

Join the Kampora?

 

[Juanito]

Just about lol 450,000 quid? After two divorces and lawyers fees I think it would take me at least 100 years to pay off a mortgage THAT big... lol

 

[bigbadwolf]

I mean seriously - WHERE is someone (normal working class chap) going to come up with 450,000 quid ???

A mortgage at five times a working couple's joint income -- though this probably won't cover it either. Good article by Meek in the LRB:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n01/james-meek/where-will-we-live

Working class is buggered. Correction -- was buggered decades ago. Now the (so-called) middle class is getting buggered as well.

This is worth the ten minutes needed to watch it:

http://globalsociology.com/2011/02/28/the-precariat/

But I'm not talking about British passports any more. Mea culpa.