Sunday 23 February 2014

Edinburgh - a potential Financial Capital City

The great and good of the financial world have been threatening financial Armageddon on the Scots if they vote to leave the UK but I wonder if that is right.  Savills kindly sent me a copy of their recent catalogue of properties for sale and I noticed;

'An elegant 5 bedroom townhouse on a charming listed crescent in Edinburgh's New Town conservation area. It has wonderful proportions, a superb roof terrace with outstanding views and delightful central gardens.'   Yours for £795,000 - yes only £795,000 in London the equivalent in the West End would set you back in excess of £10 million!

Not only can you buy a lovely family house for almost an affordable amount  but in Edinburgh there are virtually no Russians, no Arabs, no Chinese'investors' and - most important of all -perhaps - no French. Wow what a city? There is also a well educated and financially astute and able population. Add these factors together sprinkle on top the plethora of world class golf courses and grouse moors within easy driving distance, not to mention art galleries and oodles of culture and you have a potential cocktail which ought to prove almost too tempting for any financial company. The only blot on the horizon -of course -is Mr Salmond and his continual desire to show his economic illiteracy by opening his mouth and saying stupid things.  Remember though - the first Prime minister of Singapore -Lee Quan Yew - was a socialist and then - strangely- metamorphosed into the most capitalist of all post colonial leaders and built Singapore up into the financial power house it is today. Could the same happen to Mr Salmond if he ever gains the independent Scotland he craves?     

Tuesday 11 February 2014

THE HERON - Penthouse or Shithouse?


I spotted this advert in the property section of the Sunday Times:  -

 LIVE WITHOUT COMPROMISE  -
The opportunity to live in an exceptional space. Expansive residences
above the 30th floor with unparallelled views over London.
An outstanding specification and first class amenities throughout
Prices from £3.6 million   

This 'opportunity' is brought to you by 'the Penthouse Collection' at THE HERON EC2. The ad featured a  photograph taken from the inside of one of these Penthouses which, incidentally, featured a large pair of super sized binoculars pointing straight at The Shard -suggesting that one of the attractions of the Heron is that you can play 'Peeping Tom' on the equally mentally sub normal cretins who purchased similar 'penthouses' in that idiotic aberration of a building.

Actually I think that they shouldn't be called 'Penthoses' but - 'Shithouses' - because -if there is one thing which is absolutely certain -the sort of people who are going to buy into the Heron 'penthouse culture' are going to be absolutely top of the Premier League international shits.

Saturday 1 February 2014

The Somerset Levels

I am a bit fed up with all the whining and whinging from the inhabitants of the Somerset Levels . Frankly it is  time they did some lateral thinking. For a start if you want to live in a house which is virtually at sea level why not build your house on stilts? It is not rocket science is it? Secondly let's be honest. The Somerset levels are just that - level - they are not -in short - a thing of great beauty or interest-  nor is the farmland of much value except, in the main, as grazing.

No the answer to the problems of the Somerset levels is not more dredging, drainage, pumping, and dykes but the opposite- flood it and keep it flooded. Imagine 30,000 acres of inland water. Forget the Norfolk Broads the Somerset levels could become a great holiday destination and revitalise the dormant economy of these parts. As for all those complaining house owners who whine about the fact that they are cut off - get a life and get a boat - and remember that waterside homes the World over always fetch a large premium. Make the levels into an inland sea and just watch property prices soar.

As for the cost it would - assuming compensation to farmers of around £5,000 per acre - be around about £150 million, chicken feed for an Agency which spent £31 million on establishing a bird sanctuary last year!