Cameron approval rating now at 48%

Clegg 33%

Ed M 32%

Source: The Guardian

save the pound

you certainly live up to your name as it must be 'Paradise' where you are ! You must be at an age where choices are available and job-hopping is a possibility - I am currently on a two-day week shortly to e reduced to one-day week for a few months tlll orders hopefully pick up - with my 58 th birthday approaching what choices do I have ? who wants a 58 year old ?
You're right,life isn't fair but you just have to get on with it but how can your average young couple get on that first rung when the banks will only lend the money if a big enough lump sum can be found which is just a distant dream for many kids today.The 'credit crunch' has a lot to answer for so why should banks be allowed to just give money away ? that's what contributed to our current problems a few years ago ! Money was too easily available and look at where we are now ? Just getting on to the first rung of the job 'merry go round' is becoming more difficult for the record levels of unemployment in the under 25s - Employers want 'experience' if you can't even get a job how can you get an income to pay off a mortgage ? or ever hope to put down any kind of deposit ? How many banks will give you a 100% mortgage nowadays to those lucky enough to have work ? You can't expect banks to give away money to no-hopers ? the latest scheme to use the parents or grandparents as guarantors sounds a disaster waiting to happen.
I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel and I don't have a problem with directors payoffs or 'fat cat' bosses - that's only jealousy by the masses who wouldn't give a toss about the rest if they received the same amounts,good luck to them...

There is already a scheme in place to underwrite 95% first time buyers mortgages, it follows the successful Homebuyer scheme which the current Government stopped and has now done a rebadge on (absolutely not a u-turn though) rlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15817982rl

Problem is that within four weeks of that announcement the FSA announced this rlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16246210rl which completely contradicts the message given out by Government that buying not renting is good.

It would be awfully nice if some leadership could be brought to bear and we all started p[iissin[/ig in the same pot.

Yes, but balance sheet valuations do fall - as evidenced by major property companies getting into difficulty by breaching covenants - so companies that are not just massaging their positions by voluntary, timely revaluations, actually do book downward revaluations ('losses' if you like) to revaluation reserve.

The only property that tends to have inherent long-term value is the land a building sits on. Then, the land value depends on realistc usage - and in many areas (eg upland areas) it's on little value and has probably not appreciated in real terms in centuries.

rlIt's going to be okay. The Olympics and the jubilee will, err, get us back on track.rl

Strange innit?

A couple of million public sector workers go on strike and it costs the country a fortune. Yet when the vast majority of the country are enjoying an extra day's holiday, that's seen as a benefit.

Strange indeed, now you mention it.

Will this be the most expensive advertising campaign in history? The PM seems to be suggesting that if these two events go well, something else will follow. A sort of 'if you do it well, they will come'.

Will businesses suddenly look at the UK in a different light and decide to set up here? Will millions more tourists suddenly make this their chosen destination?

At the prices they are likely to be charged in London, from hotel rooms down to a can of fizzy pop from a street vendor, I doubt it somehow.

I'm going to ask my contact in the Thomsons Holiday Shop to keep an eye on the slashed prices for holidays abroad during the Olympic three weeks this summer, if he can find a bargain like he found for us this (last) year then I'll have his arm off again.

Looking at the dates, I suspect we'll be out of the country too. Fortunately, it actually coincides with when we want to be in France this year for a specific festival.

It's going to an absolute nightmare otherwise. We're in the 'Olympic borough'. Traffic is bad enough at the best of times, but with all the bus/taxi lanes to be given over to Games traffic alone, it would be chaos getting to and from work for starters.

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How very succinct