Anyone going on holiday to Spain? Don't forget your waterproofs

[Odds]

Barcelona has been a cesspit of crime for decades. Who'd have thought that living in a popular city would be expensive.

I know our new government are flirting with the idea of first dibs for locals on houses, but it begs the question of fairness. Why should I get first dibs on a lovely property in a beautiful location, just because I was lucky enough to be born there? Why should the person who owns the property be forced to sell it below market value to me for this reason? Surely every citizen should have an equal right to buy.

It isn't down to having 'dibs' on a property because you're local. The house you showed in another thread is over £300,000 and is just about big enough for R&C and his cat. Building property is one thing but if the trend is towards smaller houses to make more of the limited building land then it isn't down to first come-first served is it. I read of a co-operative of local folk who built their own housing block using crowd-funding and local investment; perhaps that's another way of looking at it for people who live in the area to get affordable housing.

This is one of the major complaints about tourism driving up prices in the area and making it impossible for locals to afford a home to rent, let alone buy.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Running the gauntlet with tetchy Spaniards brandishing waster pistols is still poss preferable to holidaying here on Plague Island. Drove past junction 17 of M5 on Friday afternoon. Almost felt sorry for the lemmings sat stationery in their cars on a choked motorway. Few more hours they might reach their destination to be packed in with the crowds, being fleeced and trying to avoid the torrential rain.