Why does the DAILY MAIL always ......

[drosophila]

articles on the housing market. I get to read it at my local Sainsbury's Cafe (my guilty little secret) and I notice they are always banging on about the bloody housing market. Why?

Because of the many pension horror stories in this country. Property is seen as a safer bet and although I am well aware it is possibly about to level off if not crash, the capital appreciation in the past 5 years has been very attractive and bricks and mortar seem much safer than giving your cash to someone else to invest.

I know but no other paper seem ot do it.

Because it's a middle-class obsession and it is a very middle-class paper.

SCHOOL LEAGUE TABLES: HOUSE PRICES ROCKET IN TOP CATCHMENTS!

PAEDOPHILES LIVING IN BERKHAMSTED: HOUSE PRICES TO PLUMMET!

METEOR TO HIT SUSSEX: HOUSE PRICES TO PLUMMET!

Go here and you can make up your own random Daily Mail headlines!

addendum: As someone who struggled for a while to afford a house in a nice area, I often find myself wishing (in a pie-in-the-sky way) that house-buying wasn't so closely tied to income. I know that sounds daft, but it's not like buying a can of beans or a car or a CD - it affects who your neighbours are, where your kids go to school, your entire lifestyle. Something that important shouldn't just come down to what you've got in the bank.

Oh UQD, was just thinking this as I went on a walk this morning, looking a lovely huge houses dreaming about living in them when kids have left home. Seems so maddening that you need a bigger house when you have young children and are most financially stretched as well.

maybe the editor's looking for a house and it's his current obsession..????

The daily mail is a wanna be middle class rag - its bigoted and, to be quite frank, racist and just about every prejudiced ist that exists!

Maybe some sort of questionnaire:

How many books a month do you read?
Do your children ever have their hair cut in "skinhead" style?
What do you call your evening meal?
What do your children call their grandmother?
How often do you go to MacDonalds?
How often do you watch ITV?

If answers are "none", "yes", "tea", "nannan", "once a week" and "all the time", then you fail the suburbia test.

Did you know that house prices have increased by 5000 per cent in the past 40 years? And seeing as even at the most generous estimation, the rate of inflation over the past 40 years couldn't be more than about 2000 per cent, how the hell are any of us supposed to afford a home and a standard of living

Disclaimer: Although the theory is mine, these figures are vague and I am only estimating the rate of inflation.

I suppose the obvious answer is that people are borrowing at a greater multiple of their income. For years it was 3x single income or 2.5 x joint, but these figures are out of the window now.

I feel quite reassured that, although DW and I doubled our mortgage to move from a shoddy area to a lovely one, we now have a 60% mortgage as opposed to a 95% one. I think a lot of people will be in our position. Still couldn't afford to live in the very nicest areas of our city, though, and as for London - fantasy-land.

because they prey on the fears of their core readership who are homeowners.

that's why.

I wouldn't even waste my time with that neo-conservative paper.

because there's no news

I know I feel a little guilty reading it but I find it enlightening.

so that FIL can suggest we have made a cock-up in renting for a year

I can't stand the Daily Mail. I was going to post a long screed on why this is until I realised I couldn't be bothered.

Here's Uncyclopedia's take on it

They say it better than I could, especially in the sample headlines. e.g.

ASYLUM SEEKERS CARRYING NEW TYPE OF AIDS THAT LOWERS HOUSE PRICES ENTER BRITAIN!

I love that, kevlar:

"the neutrality of this article is disputed"

I know but you have to read it to know how some people think ad what motivates them. I do find that Littlejohn unbelievably odious.

The health thing is sooo true. There is always a story about some hedious illness hitting a lovely (white) family.

Brilliant, Kev! Thanks for the link!

I hate the Daily Mail so much that I wouldn't even use it to line the rabbit hutch. I do love it when it's featured on the Wright Stuff though because Matthew Wright is always so rude about it!

It makes me laugh as you can pick out the stock phrases that they pepper the 'essays' with (usually about some 'wronged' person brooding over it). A lot of the time the grammar is no better than the Sun's but at least they're not pretending to be owt they're not .