House price inflation
Will Hutton suggests there is more greed in the UK and blames ‘the breakdown of norms that held the greedy back’. One of these norms might have been that you only spend what you earn but, since people’s houses can make more in a year than they do, people have come to rely on what he has called ‘a way of boosting personal spending via easy credit and mortgages collateralised against property’. House-price inflation has debauched the work ethic here, which political parties do nothing about for fear of offending electorally decisive homeowners.
DBC Reed
Northampton