I agree, Neil Stephenson is hard work for me too. I kind of enjoyed Snow Crash and didn't find it hard work.
But the other two I've read I've struggled with. Seveneves was amazing for the first 2 thirds but then I just couldn't finish it. I eventually completed the book when I got in to audiobooks.
Termination Shock was just soooo slllloooowwww, nothing happened I almost quit it too.
The revised proposals have been announced today (Friday)
A tiny bit better, but still not yet the right solution!
The GCP scheme aims to encourage more people to get out of their cars.
My wife and I often walk around Trumpington and through the current park and ride car park and I don't think we've ever seen the car park anywhere close to capacity so I can't imagine why this extra car park is required.
Of course, the smart money is on the fact it will be required when the congestion charge kicks in, but that'll be before this "hub" is anywhere close to being completed!
Ha ha! Some of these are petty, I don't know what people expect!
The charity says the proposals ‘remain poor’
Looking at the plans for the Beehive, I think it's way too ambitious and I can't see it being fully utilised.
Also, that side of the retail park has all of the thriving stores, where are they all going to move to?!
According to the 2021 Census 62% of households were homeowners, 20% were private renters, and 17% were social, and of that 62% just under 33% are mortgage free.
57% (see point1.32) of landlords have a buy-to-let mortgage and a further ~9% have a conventional mortgage.
So 67% of homeowners and ~66% of landlords having mortgages, I'm going to go with banks taking most of that bread!!!
Rising interest rates affects everyone, and renters have to be protected from predatory landlords, but landlords also need to be protected otherwise it'll be the big companies that step in and acquire the houses that private landlords will be forced to sell. Not all renters can afford to buy a house, getting the deposit being the biggest hurdle, and not all renters want to buy a house.
84% (see point 1.3) of tenancies were represented by individual landlords, with companies representing 13%, it benefits no one for big companies to take more of the share.
I hate this kind of reply because blaming landlords and claiming that they are just milking renters is such a lazy response.
The way I see it is that there are 3 kinds of landlords, 1/ the big companies that have hundreds or thousands of properties and turnover millions of pounds annually, 2/ the medium sized landlords that have much fewer properties and run it as their main business and turnover a couple of hundred thousand pounds annually and 3/ the individual landlords that have 1 or 2 properties and do it as a side business to their main job.
Buying property and by extension selling property is such a drawn out, lengthy process. The prospective purchaser has to get a mortgage in principle or sell their existing property, find a property within their budget which gets smaller as time goes by, put in an offer, have it accepted, instruct a solicitor and carry out all the checks and eventually exchange and move in. Depending on property chain length this can take months to a year!!
The big companies (1) are definitely the ones exploiting renters and ensuring property prices are artificially inflated by being able to buy property when it is available with no time lag, i.e. they can pay "cash" for it and it's an easy sale for the seller/developer. They can also afford a rise in interest rates as probably not all the properties have a mortgage and overall wont impact their profits, but they will still increase rents. They also have a massive support infrastructure in place to maintain the properties and lawyers and enforcers to deal with problematic renters.
The medium sized landlords (2) are the ones at greatest risk to interest rate changes, their whole business model is based on a ensuring that rent received covers mortgages and running costs as well as paying them a wage. Sustained interest rate increases as we have seen over the last 14 months hit hard as most are interest only mortgages and are either trackers or fixed term ending and a massive increase coming. An interest only mortgage on £150k could have gone from ~£300 per month to over ~£900 per month overnight and there is no way that kind of increase can be passed on instantly, now multiply that by however many properties in their portfolio and these increases cost grow rapidly. On top of that they need to maintain the properties and deal with delinquent renters and lets not forget taxes!! A lot of people seem to think that charging ~£1000 per month and then only having to pay~£300 mortgage is a license to print money.
And finally the individual landlords (3) are in a very slightly better position than the medium sized landlords, they are able to offset a mortgage rise temporarily by using their main job, but they still have all the issues to deal with, i.e. maintenance and renters problems.
They way I like to look at it is like supermarkets and sole businesses. The supermarkets are squeezing sole businesses by undercutting them and being able to weather price rises but sole businesses can't and need to raise prices but we're not saying to them "god forbid if they have to pay some of their own costs"!!
Hi, I mod the two Cambridge orientated communities on this instance
It's a bit quite quiet at the moment in there, but we've got a good few subscribers, so please join and contribute.
Who'd have thought that the developers would prioritise selling homes over providing amenities!!
Roads are deemed too dangerous for the annual community cycling event around Histon and Impington.
It was called off over fears participants could be injured because of the number of potholes on the route.
Is the redevelopment of the Beehive necessary?
Where are all the current businesses supposed to move to, if at all?
Do we really need more laboratories and offices in Cambridge?
Where are all the new workers for theses labs and offices supposed to park or travel in from?
OK, so this is a hot topic in Cambridge, what are your thoughts on the proposed congestion charge for Cambridge city?
My personal opinion is that I'm not opposed to a congestion charge, I just don't think that the proposed plan is a fair or good solution. As we can all appreciate, traffic in Cambridge is very busy and that something needs to be done. We do have a great Park & Ride infrastructure, but some of the other bus routes could do with improving. I personally use the P&R occasionally and it works for me, but I know some people that need to take multiple busses to get across the city.
I live in the proposed zone, however I am right on the edge and I work outside of Cambridge so I will be paying to leave Cambridge!!!
Also, as an EV owner I appreciate that all cars cause congestion and this isn't an environmental push.
This proposal, to me, seems an easy cash cow for GCP, it is being implemented for week days only, so affecting people travelling to work and by excluding weekends it is not going to affect people coming to Cambridge for tourism and shopping which adds to the congestion!
Hello, thank you for dropping by!
I hope this community can grow and be a useful source of information and a great place for discussion about Cambridgeshire.
Hello, thank you for dropping by!
I hope this community can grow and be a useful source of information and a great place for discussion about Cambridge.
