With political will these problems are not insurmountable: the bad incentives are all neoliberal.
Do what Thailand does: no foreigner (outsider) can buy investment property/2nd home without a local having a share in it and being on the land registry.
As per usual, the appalling neoliberal/neoclassical dog shit economics goes unimpeded by the venality of generations of worthless leaders in the Uk
J Bryant
2 years ago
“This piece was nominated for the National Press Awards in 2021.”
I’m not surprised. A powerful piece of writing. Well done.
Lesley van Reenen
2 years ago
This should be mandatory reading for pro lockdown enthusiasts who preach morality and concern for human life.
This is what has been happening on a grand scale in the poorer countries of the world – so perhaps lockdowners will have the imagination to understand better when it is happening in a first world society.
They won’t. The self-righteousness that they get to feel by pro-lockdown virtue signalling is too seductive AND too easily acquired – there is no discomfort in repeating empty slogans and feeling good about yourself for it. Most people haven’t got the insight necessary to see this, or the capacity to criticise themselves and look for/face the truth. It also, in their mind, absolves them from actually caring about human misery.
Malcolm Gladwell did an episode about this mechanism in the ‘Revisionist History’ podcast (very first episode), the research backs it up.
Last edited 2 years ago by Aleksandra Kovacevic
Tim Bartlett
2 years ago
I remember reading this article first time and being annoyed at it. Like the author I live and work in west Cornwall. This article paints a particular slant on how things are here that is by no means the full story. An example – I work with a girl who is under 30 and does two part time jobs. Her husband is a builder. Neither have family money (although have supportive families). They’ve just purchased their second house. They have a young family of their own. I also know a young woman who wanted to be a beautician – and is! With her own premises and a thriving business. Failure is not inevitable down here.
There will always be some people whose personal circumstances combined with dogged determination and some luck find a better way. This doesn’t invalidate the article though.
True, and there are real issues here especially related to housing. But, often not insurmountable. I wouldn’t want to attempt to invalidate the article, but some balance would paint a better picture.
My husband is a cornishman. As soon as he could he left, there was nothing for him there. Cornwall like many other coastal areas are places for holidays and retirement. Unfortunately what has happened to St Ives should never have been allowed and now it’s too late for a lot of people who are basically trapped. Not everyone when they are young has the wherewithal or the means to say – “that’s it I’m off”.
Jeremy Bray
2 years ago
Unfortunately, neither the SAGE scientists, MSM and Labour opposition when they clamoured for lockdown nor the government when they accede seem to factor in the further crushing of these lives into their calculations.
How you avoid rich informers acquiring property in beautiful places and hollowing them out is a difficult problem to solve. Large numbers of expensive properties are left empty in London by foreigners buying for investment and only visiting sporadically.
A heavy tax (say 10% of the properties value) applied to any property that sits empty for more than 3 months a year would be my first port of call personally. Shelter is a basic human need, it’s obscene the wealthy can leave properties empty while locals sleep in fields
Drahcir Nevarc
2 years ago
A couple of weeks ago, my left wing lodger drove down to Cornwall with her left wing friends and spent the weekend partying with them in their holiday home. I said nothing.
Why on earth would they want one of those? Is there much whaling going on in your parish?
Julie Blinde
2 years ago
Cornish beauty has gone.
Oh sure, the landscape and sea are the same but the people and way of life have gone. Replaced by a class of people who offer Cornwall nothing.
Is that beautiful do you think ?
Affluence destroys all before it
Jane Robertson
2 years ago
Do you suppose that when the new council homes were built and the locals handed the keys that they complained that they were not tiny dark unheated bathroomless one up and one down terraces on the town shoreline? Or that one of the privately owned victorian villas wasn’t taken from the owner and given to them instead?
There are tiny and beautiful historical coastal villages all around the UK that are no use for anything other than tourism any more, their value is for the millions that want to visit to enjoy the views, something most of the population can now afford.
Would people prefer that these beautiful places are compulsorily purchased by the tax payer and repurposed as council estates with state maintenance in place of tourism?
What is the end point the author wants?
Bret Larson
2 years ago
“people are feeding their neighbours, and kindly though it is, it cannot be a substitute for a functioning state”
That is a functioning state. In fact the only type of functioning state that exists. Kindness, consideration and the like are from people. Not government.
With political will these problems are not insurmountable: the bad incentives are all neoliberal.
Do what Thailand does: no foreigner (outsider) can buy investment property/2nd home without a local having a share in it and being on the land registry.
As per usual, the appalling neoliberal/neoclassical dog shit economics goes unimpeded by the venality of generations of worthless leaders in the Uk
“This piece was nominated for the National Press Awards in 2021.”
I’m not surprised. A powerful piece of writing. Well done.
This should be mandatory reading for pro lockdown enthusiasts who preach morality and concern for human life.
This is what has been happening on a grand scale in the poorer countries of the world – so perhaps lockdowners will have the imagination to understand better when it is happening in a first world society.
They won’t. The self-righteousness that they get to feel by pro-lockdown virtue signalling is too seductive AND too easily acquired – there is no discomfort in repeating empty slogans and feeling good about yourself for it. Most people haven’t got the insight necessary to see this, or the capacity to criticise themselves and look for/face the truth. It also, in their mind, absolves them from actually caring about human misery.
Malcolm Gladwell did an episode about this mechanism in the ‘Revisionist History’ podcast (very first episode), the research backs it up.
I remember reading this article first time and being annoyed at it. Like the author I live and work in west Cornwall. This article paints a particular slant on how things are here that is by no means the full story. An example – I work with a girl who is under 30 and does two part time jobs. Her husband is a builder. Neither have family money (although have supportive families). They’ve just purchased their second house. They have a young family of their own. I also know a young woman who wanted to be a beautician – and is! With her own premises and a thriving business. Failure is not inevitable down here.
There will always be some people whose personal circumstances combined with dogged determination and some luck find a better way. This doesn’t invalidate the article though.
True, and there are real issues here especially related to housing. But, often not insurmountable. I wouldn’t want to attempt to invalidate the article, but some balance would paint a better picture.
My husband is a cornishman. As soon as he could he left, there was nothing for him there. Cornwall like many other coastal areas are places for holidays and retirement. Unfortunately what has happened to St Ives should never have been allowed and now it’s too late for a lot of people who are basically trapped. Not everyone when they are young has the wherewithal or the means to say – “that’s it I’m off”.
Unfortunately, neither the SAGE scientists, MSM and Labour opposition when they clamoured for lockdown nor the government when they accede seem to factor in the further crushing of these lives into their calculations.
How you avoid rich informers acquiring property in beautiful places and hollowing them out is a difficult problem to solve. Large numbers of expensive properties are left empty in London by foreigners buying for investment and only visiting sporadically.
A heavy tax (say 10% of the properties value) applied to any property that sits empty for more than 3 months a year would be my first port of call personally. Shelter is a basic human need, it’s obscene the wealthy can leave properties empty while locals sleep in fields
A couple of weeks ago, my left wing lodger drove down to Cornwall with her left wing friends and spent the weekend partying with them in their holiday home. I said nothing.
Richard – i hope for you that she is not of this parish. Some of the rich Left don’t have daggers, they have flensing knives.
Why on earth would they want one of those? Is there much whaling going on in your parish?
Cornish beauty has gone.
Oh sure, the landscape and sea are the same but the people and way of life have gone. Replaced by a class of people who offer Cornwall nothing.
Is that beautiful do you think ?
Affluence destroys all before it
Do you suppose that when the new council homes were built and the locals handed the keys that they complained that they were not tiny dark unheated bathroomless one up and one down terraces on the town shoreline? Or that one of the privately owned victorian villas wasn’t taken from the owner and given to them instead?
There are tiny and beautiful historical coastal villages all around the UK that are no use for anything other than tourism any more, their value is for the millions that want to visit to enjoy the views, something most of the population can now afford.
Would people prefer that these beautiful places are compulsorily purchased by the tax payer and repurposed as council estates with state maintenance in place of tourism?
What is the end point the author wants?
“people are feeding their neighbours, and kindly though it is, it cannot be a substitute for a functioning state”
That is a functioning state. In fact the only type of functioning state that exists. Kindness, consideration and the like are from people. Not government.
Oh dear, that is SO sad!
Do watch Adam Curtis’ shorts on youTube – called Oh Dearyism I and Oh Dearyism II
The problem begins when we believe collectively that nothing can be done. Much can be done with the will of the people behind it.
Successive generations of the shittest politicians ever to walk these isles have made people feel hopeless…chin up!