Happy new year! Right,
thats over, let's get on with it. From the 22nd December
to this current date (12/01/16), I have been unemployed. A grand
total of 3 weeks. And its, well, shite. This is the first time I've
been searching for a job and seem unable to find one. This is the big
difference between being on holiday and unemployed, and it's
something a lot of channel 5 documentaries (amongst others) need to
realise. I'm not doing this because it's some sort of doss or cop
out, I want to work, and it's not available. So, when Im not applying
for jobs or making some sort of heinous veg soup (potatoes are
awesome!!), I try and keep my mind occupied. Today I was flicking
through the usual dross on TV, when I found myself past the horror
channel (usually the freeview point of no return) onto BBC House of
Commons Live. And this is when it got strange. This isn't my first
experience of the channel, an innovative idea of broadcasting to the
nation what our government gets up to, and how the day to day running
of the country is handled. So at about 2.30, over some toast, I
caught the debate on 'Affordable housing'. Now, Im 21, a long way off
getting on the property ladder, but that's no reason I cant aspire to
owning my own 'little bit of land' Of Mice and Men style.
So, settling in for some political battling, I was kinda shocked to see only around 50 MPs had bothered to show up. If I didn't show up to a days work serving drinks, in the House of Commons bar, for example, I doubt my employers would look kindly on it. But nevertheless, I watched a few of these MPs, such as Stephen Hammond, talk about affordable housing as though it is a dirty word. My understanding of the bill as it stands, is that high value vacant property, is to be sold by local councils, and the money gained used to pay for more affordable housing. Okay, so on the face of it that seems reasonable. BUT WAIT! Why are these high value properties not being rented by the wealthy who can afford them? Because they're waiting until the Council is essentially forced by the government to sell them, at a reduced rate, so they can either sell them on, or rent them out again for a higher price than the council rents them. Remember when the Post Office got sold for way less than it was worth to a lot of George Osbournes mates who made a fortune? Yeah. That. But with houses. So that bill will be passed, with many long worded amendments that I couldn't quite grasp. And why should I? None of the information broadcast at half 2 on a Tuesday was meant for me, an unemployed graduate living in the north of England. Surely the only conclusion I can draw from the half hour of live government I was able to stomach is that a room of 50 odd bored, listless looking fuckwits, decide on important things like how 'affordable' it'll be for me to keep a roof over my head in the coming years.
So, settling in for some political battling, I was kinda shocked to see only around 50 MPs had bothered to show up. If I didn't show up to a days work serving drinks, in the House of Commons bar, for example, I doubt my employers would look kindly on it. But nevertheless, I watched a few of these MPs, such as Stephen Hammond, talk about affordable housing as though it is a dirty word. My understanding of the bill as it stands, is that high value vacant property, is to be sold by local councils, and the money gained used to pay for more affordable housing. Okay, so on the face of it that seems reasonable. BUT WAIT! Why are these high value properties not being rented by the wealthy who can afford them? Because they're waiting until the Council is essentially forced by the government to sell them, at a reduced rate, so they can either sell them on, or rent them out again for a higher price than the council rents them. Remember when the Post Office got sold for way less than it was worth to a lot of George Osbournes mates who made a fortune? Yeah. That. But with houses. So that bill will be passed, with many long worded amendments that I couldn't quite grasp. And why should I? None of the information broadcast at half 2 on a Tuesday was meant for me, an unemployed graduate living in the north of England. Surely the only conclusion I can draw from the half hour of live government I was able to stomach is that a room of 50 odd bored, listless looking fuckwits, decide on important things like how 'affordable' it'll be for me to keep a roof over my head in the coming years.
Add to that the death of David Bowie (a man who's life was made for the analysis suggested in my first blog), junior doctors on strike (which I support, the disparity between the pay and working hours of a junior Dr vs an MP is sickening), and a proposed tube strike, we've a lot going on in 2016.
Don't worry, my next post will be a film review (probably.)
As a nice lil sum
up, and sorta seasonal vid, here's a scene from 'It's a Wonderful
Life'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4ne13Zft9Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4ne13Zft9Q
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