Housing – or the lack of it – is at crisis point in the UK. It’s the one issue that unites much of the electorate; a broad recognition that government has failed the next generation when it comes to securing a place of their own.
If you want to understand just how intractable the problem is, then read our special report this week by social affairs expert Hannah Fearn.
She describes the crisis as being both simple and complex. “The core of the problem can be described in one sentence: for more than 30 years we have built too few homes and now we’re at a crunch point,” she writes. “But the policy solutions are a knot of what appear to be impossible ideas. And whatever levers politicians pull, the benefits still won’t be felt for at least a decade.”
The rotating door of housing ministers under the Tories, and now the uncontrollable economic challenges faced by Keir Starmer’s government, have led to a crippling shortage of homes.
This is, Hannah concludes, no time for timidity or incremental progress. A real revolution in the country’s house building programme is needed now. Already it’s going to come far too late for many.
Also this week:
In one of his most pugnacious diaries to date, Alastair Campbell reveals what happened when a Trump fan overheard his conversation in an airport departure lounge. It doesn’t end well.
Suggested Reading
My airport row with a Trump supporter
James Ball on the sinister rise of Rupert Lowe’s Farage-challenger party, Restore Britain, and it’s gravitational pull on hard-right politics.
Paul Mason believes the time for an inquiry into Russia’s role in delivering Brexit is long overdue.
Patience Wheatcroft stands aside from the anti-Starmer clamour and suggests Sir Keir maybe the best bet Labour has… for now at least.
What are the consequences of cars that actively monitor their drivers? Caroline Marie finds out.
Sophie Smyth rails against the increasing cost of 21st dating.
Only 34 men have ever scored a goal in a World Cup Final. Michael Donald sets out to meet them all.
Lynne O’Donnell pays tribute to the greatest Australian export of all-time – Kylie Minogue.
Florence Hallett visits Basel to appreciate the artist Helen Frankenthaler whose own appreciation of the old masters seeps through her brilliant paintings.
