Hegseth's new title role is Secretary of War, shouldn't it be Secretary for War?
SoW he is and SoW he shall remain. Hegseth was a grunt after all.
SFW = So fucking what...
I see the point you are making.
This administration is building nicely to a crescendo of awfulness. The jobs numbers yesterday were about 50k below expectations, with previous months also further reduced by another 22k - so it's now the worst period for US jobs since the Pandemic.
Haven’t you heard, Ambassador Mandelson thinks fellow Epstein pal Trump is a maverick risk taker doing the things that other democratic leaders aren’t brave enough to do.
Ironically in the face of those job figures, the ambo will apparently say in a speech:
"I credit President Trump's political instincts in identifying the anxieties gripping not only millions of Americans, but also far more pervasive Western trends: economic stagnation for many, a sense of irreversible decline, the lost promise of meaningful work…
"These American concerns find their mirror image in British society, where Keir Starmer won an electoral mandate for national renewal which is similar to Donald Trump's."
Move over sycophant Lammy, make room for an expert.
Pass me the sick bag ! What nauseating claptrap .
Didn't Mandelson praise brexit recently
Yesterday's reshuffle moved towards a Blairite government with a Blairlite leader
A man who has spent his miserable life being wrong claims a Brexit benefit and eulogises Trump.
It must hurt to see labour grandees championing brexit
It just shows why Labour polling is cratering. They haven't got a clue.
What the Rayner saga shows above all else is that our system of property sale, conveyancing and taxation is an outdated shambles that needs wholesale reform, as I am sure every single person who has tried to buy or sell a house in the last 20 years will attest.
If Starmer were to grasp the nettle of fundamental reform there it would make dramatic changes to the lives of millions of people. Far more useful than pandering to the weird obsessions of drunken lunatics about small boats that seems to stem from muddled memories of Dunkirk.
But he won’t, because he’s actually rather too like the Tories in not trying to sort out the boring stuff that makes a difference to people’s lives* rather than hollow rhetoric about grand visions that will never happen.
*An interesting example of this from Johnson was the capped bus fares.
Perhaps every intending seller could be obliged to assemble a Home Information Pack bulging with professionally attested, relevant information about the property...
I never had an issue with the idea of this. Why have multiple surveys done by interested buyers? Why not have every house with a register of energy efficiency? As ever delivery is everything.
Because HIPs weren’t proper surveys, and banks didn’t trust them.
Well - I assumed that the original idea was that they would be. Everything ready, done and dusted.
And if they had been, they would have been brilliant.
A bit like the Govester's ideas on education though, much of the theory was sound but the practical implementation was absolutely shocking and disastrous.
Edit - something like the Scottish system outlined by @Carnyx
Hegseth's new title role is Secretary of War, shouldn't it be Secretary for War?
SoW he is and SoW he shall remain. Hegseth was a grunt after all.
SFW = So fucking what...
I see the point you are making.
This administration is building nicely to a crescendo of awfulness. The jobs numbers yesterday were about 50k below expectations, with previous months also further reduced by another 22k - so it's now the worst period for US jobs since the Pandemic.
Haven’t you heard, Ambassador Mandelson thinks fellow Epstein pal Trump is a maverick risk taker doing the things that other democratic leaders aren’t brave enough to do.
Ironically in the face of those job figures, the ambo will apparently say in a speech:
"I credit President Trump's political instincts in identifying the anxieties gripping not only millions of Americans, but also far more pervasive Western trends: economic stagnation for many, a sense of irreversible decline, the lost promise of meaningful work…
"These American concerns find their mirror image in British society, where Keir Starmer won an electoral mandate for national renewal which is similar to Donald Trump's."
Move over sycophant Lammy, make room for an expert.
Pass me the sick bag ! What nauseating claptrap .
Didn't Mandelson praise brexit recently
Yesterday's reshuffle moved towards a Blairite government with a Blairlite leader
Except Cooper was a Brownite and Brown also backed Starmer to be Labour leader before Blair.
Streeting and Lammy are Blairites not Starmer so much and remember Starmer opposed the Iraq War
Bilge, Roger. You can't build a career calling out the Tories for venal, tax dodging behaviour and then fall into the trap yourself...
Have no fear. Like Mandelson she will resurrect like Deadpool back into the cabinet. I predict it will be May 2026 after disastrous locals when Starmer needs to reconnect with the huddled masses...
Most right wing politicians have stayed the right side of legality with their and their friends (Dirty Desmond springs to mind) tax avoiding behaviour. In some respects the morality is more egregious, but they invested in top lawyers and tax accountants to remain in the clear and Rayner didn't.
Rayner had to go because she breached the Ministerial Code. How the f*** Jenrick's advice to Desmond didn't breach anything is beyond me.
Yes, it's very sad. If anything the poor naive wee mite is the victim in all this.
Hegseth's new title role is Secretary of War, shouldn't it be Secretary for War?
SoW he is and SoW he shall remain. Hegseth was a grunt after all.
SFW = So fucking what...
I see the point you are making.
This administration is building nicely to a crescendo of awfulness. The jobs numbers yesterday were about 50k below expectations, with previous months also further reduced by another 22k - so it's now the worst period for US jobs since the Pandemic.
Haven’t you heard, Ambassador Mandelson thinks fellow Epstein pal Trump is a maverick risk taker doing the things that other democratic leaders aren’t brave enough to do.
Ironically in the face of those job figures, the ambo will apparently say in a speech:
"I credit President Trump's political instincts in identifying the anxieties gripping not only millions of Americans, but also far more pervasive Western trends: economic stagnation for many, a sense of irreversible decline, the lost promise of meaningful work…
"These American concerns find their mirror image in British society, where Keir Starmer won an electoral mandate for national renewal which is similar to Donald Trump's."
Move over sycophant Lammy, make room for an expert.
What the Rayner saga shows above all else is that our system of property sale, conveyancing and taxation is an outdated shambles that needs wholesale reform, as I am sure every single person who has tried to buy or sell a house in the last 20 years will attest.
If Starmer were to grasp the nettle of fundamental reform there it would make dramatic changes to the lives of millions of people. Far more useful than pandering to the weird obsessions of drunken lunatics about small boats that seems to stem from muddled memories of Dunkirk.
But he won’t, because he’s actually rather too like the Tories in not trying to sort out the boring stuff that makes a difference to people’s lives* rather than hollow rhetoric about grand visions that will never happen.
*An interesting example of this from Johnson was the capped bus fares.
Perhaps every intending seller could be obliged to assemble a Home Information Pack bulging with professionally attested, relevant information about the property...
I never had an issue with the idea of this. Why have multiple surveys done by interested buyers? Why not have every house with a register of energy efficiency? As ever delivery is everything.
Every home placed on the market is mandated to produce an energy efficiency rating
The present system is archaic and needs fundamental change
I believe that before home can be put on the market a sale pack should be produced to include pre contract enquiry forms and fixture and fittings list, local searches, and of course the presently mandated EPC
Furthermore no sale should be agreed without full confirmation of the buyers purchasing position including the need to sell their own home and where their funds are being sourced
The Scottish system is still going, But it is different. It involves a Home Report available to all buyers. As well as an energy report and a valuation, it includes a systematic questionnaire answered by the seller - various things such as any knowledge of flood down to whether the light bulbs are included - and a professional survey by a surveyor.
When selling my late father's house (built 1900) this was enough to get it sold apart from a further look by a builder at the roof at the request of the prospective buyer (there is a flat bit not visible from the ground which needed a view through a hatch).
When we bought and sold our homes in Scotland the system was infinitely better than England and Wales
My friend had endless issues trying buy a flat in Glasgow because he didn't understand the differences to the English way. In the end he put himself in the hands of an estate agent to 'sort' it. Which worked. But wouldnt say it's better or worse.
What the Rayner saga shows above all else is that our system of property sale, conveyancing and taxation is an outdated shambles that needs wholesale reform, as I am sure every single person who has tried to buy or sell a house in the last 20 years will attest.
If Starmer were to grasp the nettle of fundamental reform there it would make dramatic changes to the lives of millions of people. Far more useful than pandering to the weird obsessions of drunken lunatics about small boats that seems to stem from muddled memories of Dunkirk.
But he won’t, because he’s actually rather too like the Tories in not trying to sort out the boring stuff that makes a difference to people’s lives* rather than hollow rhetoric about grand visions that will never happen.
*An interesting example of this from Johnson was the capped bus fares.
Perhaps every intending seller could be obliged to assemble a Home Information Pack bulging with professionally attested, relevant information about the property...
I never had an issue with the idea of this. Why have multiple surveys done by interested buyers? Why not have every house with a register of energy efficiency? As ever delivery is everything.
why not just copy Scottish system which does just that
What the Rayner saga shows above all else is that our system of property sale, conveyancing and taxation is an outdated shambles that needs wholesale reform, as I am sure every single person who has tried to buy or sell a house in the last 20 years will attest.
If Starmer were to grasp the nettle of fundamental reform there it would make dramatic changes to the lives of millions of people. Far more useful than pandering to the weird obsessions of drunken lunatics about small boats that seems to stem from muddled memories of Dunkirk.
But he won’t, because he’s actually rather too like the Tories in not trying to sort out the boring stuff that makes a difference to people’s lives* rather than hollow rhetoric about grand visions that will never happen.
*An interesting example of this from Johnson was the capped bus fares.
Perhaps every intending seller could be obliged to assemble a Home Information Pack bulging with professionally attested, relevant information about the property...
I never had an issue with the idea of this. Why have multiple surveys done by interested buyers? Why not have every house with a register of energy efficiency? As ever delivery is everything.
Because HIPs weren’t proper surveys, and banks didn’t trust them.
Well - I assumed that the original idea was that they would be. Everything ready, done and dusted.
That would have been sensible, but Mrs Balls managed to balls it up by not involving the banks in the process.
Bilge, Roger. You can't build a career calling out the Tories for venal, tax dodging behaviour and then fall into the trap yourself...
Have no fear. Like Mandelson she will resurrect like Deadpool back into the cabinet. I predict it will be May 2026 after disastrous locals when Starmer needs to reconnect with the huddled masses...
If I was the suspicious type I might have thought Starmer himself was the lawyer who gave Ange the advice! This has worked out perfectly for him. He's got a shiny new team none of whom eat peas with their knife. From a government POV this couldn't have worked out better. Angie was never up to the job and despite protestations Starmer's much more comfortable without that particular loose cannon swinging around Downing Street.....
No the story is about Ange herself and the snobbery that brought her down. The telegraph and Mail have been campaigning against her for months. Pure snobbery. Someone on here yesterday called her 'Gobby'. I'm afraid that's what females from her background who are climbing the ladder in politics have to put up with.....
We still don't know which man and woman were arrested.
Last week it was the 12 year old arrested, and true we don't know who arrested now but given a man and woman were involved it would point in their direction, mystery continues.
We commented on the man and woman a couple of days ago - or at least I did, but no one reads me !
What the Rayner saga shows above all else is that our system of property sale, conveyancing and taxation is an outdated shambles that needs wholesale reform, as I am sure every single person who has tried to buy or sell a house in the last 20 years will attest.
If Starmer were to grasp the nettle of fundamental reform there it would make dramatic changes to the lives of millions of people. Far more useful than pandering to the weird obsessions of drunken lunatics about small boats that seems to stem from muddled memories of Dunkirk.
But he won’t, because he’s actually rather too like the Tories in not trying to sort out the boring stuff that makes a difference to people’s lives* rather than hollow rhetoric about grand visions that will never happen.
*An interesting example of this from Johnson was the capped bus fares.
Perhaps every intending seller could be obliged to assemble a Home Information Pack bulging with professionally attested, relevant information about the property...
I never had an issue with the idea of this. Why have multiple surveys done by interested buyers? Why not have every house with a register of energy efficiency? As ever delivery is everything.
The issue is (a) trust and (b) professional indemnity
(A) the seller is incentivised to have a cheap survey that perhaps doesn’t uncover all the problems. But they are the buyer’s liability.
(B) at the moment the surveyor has liability to their client for their work but they are protected by professional liability. One option might be to allow that survey to be handed over to the client next buyer (how do you do that in practice - not sure I would trust the seller or the estate agent to do that, especially if it’s a negative survey) but that will push up the cost of professional indemnity insurance and therefore of surveys
What the Rayner saga shows above all else is that our system of property sale, conveyancing and taxation is an outdated shambles that needs wholesale reform, as I am sure every single person who has tried to buy or sell a house in the last 20 years will attest.
If Starmer were to grasp the nettle of fundamental reform there it would make dramatic changes to the lives of millions of people. Far more useful than pandering to the weird obsessions of drunken lunatics about small boats that seems to stem from muddled memories of Dunkirk.
But he won’t, because he’s actually rather too like the Tories in not trying to sort out the boring stuff that makes a difference to people’s lives* rather than hollow rhetoric about grand visions that will never happen.
*An interesting example of this from Johnson was the capped bus fares.
Couldn’t agree more . The whole buying selling process could learn from the French system both at the start in terms of offers etc and in terms of the role of the notaire .
Notaries are an absolute paid who add zero value. I have to use them whenever I do stuff in Italy and they all they do is stick a seal on my signature. I can get that done by an independent witness if needed
It depends what you’re actually doing . I’ve dealt with them in France regarding property . The whole experience both in terms of the conveyancing was excellent . As for selling none of the problems of buyers running around making multiple offers , no gazumping and a lot less stress if you’re buying aswell as selling .
I agree. French property purchases are very smooth processes.
Notaries can be annoying in other ways: ours is slow to respond to emails (we have needed her for various ownership related issues recently), and has that rather magisterial, tut tutting attitude that suggests she’s our superior and we’re naughty kids, but she knows her stuff.
Meanwhile, last time I was sorting a house purchase the solicitors for the other side (Davisons) suggested a completion date of the 22nd June (this was on about the 30th May).
I replied with I think pardonable sarcasm that if this idiot had consulted these things we have called 'calendars' she would have noted the 22nd was a Sunday.
That’s not “pardonable sarcasm”. That’s just rude. She made a mistake on the date. It happens. Why be a jerk about it?
How about “Friday 20 would be more convenient for me so I can move in over the weekend. Would that work for your client?”
Bilge, Roger. You can't build a career calling out the Tories for venal, tax dodging behaviour and then fall into the trap yourself...
Have no fear. Like Mandelson she will resurrect like Deadpool back into the cabinet. I predict it will be May 2026 after disastrous locals when Starmer needs to reconnect with the huddled masses...
If I was the suspicious type I might have thought Starmer himself was the lawyer who gave Ange the advice! This has worked out perfectly for him. He's got a shiny new team none of whom eat peas with their knife. From a government POV this couldn't have worked out better. Angie was never up to the job and despite protestations Starmer's much more comfortable without that particular loose cannon swinging around Downing Street.....
No the story is about Ange herself and the snobbery that brought her down. The telegraph and Mail have been campaigning against her for months. Pure snobbery. Someone on here yesterday called her 'Gobby'. I'm afraid that's what females from her background who are climbing the ladder in politics have to put up with.....
I thought you said they got what they deserved. No, wait, that was what you said about Weinstein’s victims.
What the Rayner saga shows above all else is that our system of property sale, conveyancing and taxation is an outdated shambles that needs wholesale reform, as I am sure every single person who has tried to buy or sell a house in the last 20 years will attest.
If Starmer were to grasp the nettle of fundamental reform there it would make dramatic changes to the lives of millions of people. Far more useful than pandering to the weird obsessions of drunken lunatics about small boats that seems to stem from muddled memories of Dunkirk.
But he won’t, because he’s actually rather too like the Tories in not trying to sort out the boring stuff that makes a difference to people’s lives* rather than hollow rhetoric about grand visions that will never happen.
*An interesting example of this from Johnson was the capped bus fares.
Perhaps every intending seller could be obliged to assemble a Home Information Pack bulging with professionally attested, relevant information about the property...
I never had an issue with the idea of this. Why have multiple surveys done by interested buyers? Why not have every house with a register of energy efficiency? As ever delivery is everything.
The issue is (a) trust and (b) professional indemnity
(A) the seller is incentivised to have a cheap survey that perhaps doesn’t uncover all the problems. But they are the buyer’s liability.
(B) at the moment the surveyor has liability to their client for their work but they are protected by professional liability. One option might be to allow that survey to be handed over to the client next buyer (how do you do that in practice - not sure I would trust the seller or the estate agent to do that, especially if it’s a negative survey) but that will push up the cost of professional indemnity insurance and therefore of surveys
IIRC the HIPS idea started with the concept of a document that was official and included the indemnities of all the professionals involved. So page x would have listed the insurance policies that covered the contents.
As I understand it, the realisation dawned that this would mean unpicking a huge amount of law, bringing in new contract types etc etc. lots of actual work by government required.
What we got was the watered down version - about as useful as the estate agents brochure. On top of the costs of all the existing paperwork.
A useful thing to think about when proposing far reaching reforms.
Perhaps a better idea would have been a phased approach, building towards a final goal. Rather than Big Bang, reform the pieces. The single document thing would be the last step.
We still don't know which man and woman were arrested.
Last week it was the 12 year old arrested, and true we don't know who arrested now but given a man and woman were involved it would point in their direction, mystery continues.
We commented on the man and woman a couple of days ago - or at least I did, but no one reads me !
Comments
A bit like the Govester's ideas on education though, much of the theory was sound but the practical implementation was absolutely shocking and disastrous.
Edit - something like the Scottish system outlined by @Carnyx
Streeting and Lammy are Blairites not Starmer so much and remember Starmer opposed the Iraq War
NEW THREAD
No the story is about Ange herself and the snobbery that brought her down. The telegraph and Mail have been campaigning against her for months. Pure snobbery. Someone on here yesterday called her 'Gobby'. I'm afraid that's what females from her background who are climbing the ladder in politics have to put up with.....
(A) the seller is incentivised to have a cheap survey that perhaps doesn’t uncover all the problems. But they are the buyer’s liability.
(B) at the moment the surveyor has liability to their client for their work but they are protected by professional liability. One option might be to allow that survey to be handed over to the client next buyer (how do you do that in practice - not sure I would trust the seller or the estate agent to do that, especially if it’s a negative survey) but that will push up the cost of professional indemnity insurance and therefore of surveys
How about “Friday 20 would be more convenient for me so I can move in over the weekend. Would that work for your client?”
Woger the Feminist won’t wash.
As I understand it, the realisation dawned that this would mean unpicking a huge amount of law, bringing in new contract types etc etc. lots of actual work by government required.
What we got was the watered down version - about as useful as the estate agents brochure. On top of the costs of all the existing paperwork.
A useful thing to think about when proposing far reaching reforms.
Perhaps a better idea would have been a phased approach, building towards a final goal. Rather than Big Bang, reform the pieces. The single document thing would be the last step.