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WEBCHAT GUIDELINES: 1. One question per member plus one follow-up. 2. Keep your question brief. 3. Don't moan if your question doesn't get answered. 4. Do be civil/polite. 5. If one topic or question threatens to overwhelm the webchat, MNHQ will usually ask for people to stop repeating the same question or point.

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MNHQ

Webchat with Guardian columnist Zoe Williams, Thursday, 9 April, 1-2pm

79 replies

RachelMumsnet · 07/04/2015 17:32

Guardian columnist Zoe Williams is joining us on Thursday at 1.00pm for a webchat. In her latest book Get it Together: Why We Deserve Better Politics she ponders over some key issues: Why can’t you buy a house? Will your kids be able to afford to go to university? Has the NHS had its day? Zoe appeals for everyone to play their part in creating a more equal society and states: "if you have a full-time job and still worry about shelter, food and warmth, then there is something wrong with your employer, your housing market, your food supply, your utilities ownership structure, or most likely all four".

Zoe's book offers a provocative, unique and very funny critique of the world and the future we're making for ourselves. Join her for a webchat on Thursday between 1 and 2pm or if you're unable to join us at that time, post a question to this thread in advance.

Webchat with Guardian columnist Zoe Williams, Thursday, 9 April, 1-2pm
OP posts:
ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:40

@moonbells

Hello Zoë

I haven't read your book, so please forgive me if you've covered this question! Do you think that the lack of trust in today's politicians has led to a great disenfranchisement, especially among women and other less vocal groups? It does seem that the past few years has hurt certain groups more than others, and those are the very groups who probably won't vote as they don't feel anyone can help, since the system is run by people who literally have no idea how they live. I guess I'd like to know what you would like to see done about this!

(Apart from encouraging all women to vote, because others died to give us the privilege.)

And how would you deal with the ever-present problem of who to vote for if you agree with no party absolutely and there are deal-breaker policies in all of the manifestos?

BTW, I didn't answer the question of who to vote for: all I can say is, in a knife-edge tory/labour face off, I know a lot of people voting labour who swore in 2003 they would never vote labour again. I know a lot of people voting Green who always seemed to me to be too hardboiled to vote Green. My honest view is that we won't, in the next four weeks, get the politics we deserve, and really we have to think less about who to vote for and more about what to get involved in after the election, so that our choices are better next time.

Mitchell50 · 09/04/2015 13:40

Hi Zoe,

I'll skip my last question and ask if you see any likelihood of new parties emerging in the face of so much disenfranchisement? Possibly ones which aren't led by Russell Brand...:)

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:40

@IceBeing

oh yes the pink bus....I can't believe how angry I still am about that.

ME TOO

BIWI · 09/04/2015 13:42

I managed to get here!

A question only sort-of about your book. I'm glad to see you writing more about political stuff. I have always enjoyed and appreciated your columns, but I felt when you were having your children that you seemed to be sidelined a bit, to write about only being pregnant/having children/your children.

Was this simply what you felt you wanted to write about at the time (given that it is obviously a hugely significant thing when you're 'in' it), or was it an editorial decision? And if so, did you resent it?

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:44

@Mitchell50

Hi Zoe,

I'll skip my last question and ask if you see any likelihood of new parties emerging in the face of so much disenfranchisement? Possibly ones which aren't led by Russell Brand...:)

Well, look, the Spanish experience (am I going on about this too much?), with Podemos: they are amazing. They were only established a year ago, springing out of what was effectively an occupy campaign in town squares. They have an intellectual base. They crowd-sourced a policy document, a governance document and an ethics document. They got NESTA (which is our think tank, UK gov funded, and we should totally be using it for things like this) to help with the mechanics of new membership (one phone, one vote is how it stands at the moment). And in November, it looks as though they will be the biggest party. So it's possible. You don't need a revolution for it to happen.

Having said all that, I have lost faith in waiting for a party to come along that I believe in. We all have to do the things that we believe in, then the party will follow. Much as the SNP has followed the Radical Independence Campaign.

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:47

@BIWI

I managed to get here!

A question only sort-of about your book. I'm glad to see you writing more about political stuff. I have always enjoyed and appreciated your columns, but I felt when you were having your children that you seemed to be sidelined a bit, to write about only being pregnant/having children/your children.

Was this simply what you felt you wanted to write about at the time (given that it is obviously a hugely significant thing when you're 'in' it), or was it an editorial decision? And if so, did you resent it?

I just didn't think it through: I actually should have spent a bit more time on Mumsnet because I made some really rudimentary mistakes. I took parenting columns because I could fit them into my life (parenting) instead of making the job fit me a bit more. But the upshot was that I didn't get any of that headspace that a lot of us go back to work FOR. So yeah, I did resent it for that reason, or maybe resent myself for being too wet. But in the end, the reason I stopped doing it (largely) is when I realised that they would soon learn to read and that would be really out of order. It was when I tweeted that my son had named his blanket Blanket O'Elton John Blanket that it dawned on my there might be privacy issues involved.

IceBeing · 09/04/2015 13:47

I know I shouldn't...but...isn't the green party already that? They are anti-authoritarian, left wing, and set policy by votes within the membership rather than leader dictated?

What more different are people looking for here?

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:48

@nikkinack

Hello Zoe, I don't have any intelligent questions about politics (I'd just want to talk about Buffy) so I'll read the thread and attempt to be educated :)

When I finish this I am gonna go home and immediately watch the Buffy Musical Episode

moonbells · 09/04/2015 13:49

Thanks again. Memo to self: get involved and try and actually help fix stuff instead of sitting on arse and moaning!

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:52

@spingley

Hi Zoe,

Your book sounds brilliant, really looking forward to reading it.

I noticed you talk about low earners being forced out of London. What major changes do you think could turn around this trend and make housing more affordable?

Thanks!

Cool question: two more interesting things to note

  1. Middle earners are also being forced out
  2. It's not just London, Cambridge, Bristol, Oxford, all completely out of the reach of anyone with a normal job.

The problem is partly that the government doesn't own any housing stock. So it just pays out of the public purse to private landlords, who have no incentive to keep rents down, and the amount ratchets up and up and up. The answer to that is pretty simple: if you believe in decent housing as a fundamental human right, you either own it yourself or you resign yourself to paying through the nose, until you can no longer afford it and your country has turned into the 18th century.

The middle earners' conundrum is much more complicated: basically, housing has become unaffordable because banks offer more credit based on it than anybody's salary warrants. So private banks - without a social interest - create our money supply, by extending debts to people that then outstrip anything any of us could hope to earn. What do we do about this? There is a huge array of answers, but to open up that discussion, we all have to be agreed on the problem: prices are being forced up by the extension of credit lines. Not because any of us want to spend 600k on a flat that used to cost 80k.

IceBeing · 09/04/2015 13:54
ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:54

@IceBeing

I know I shouldn't...but...isn't the green party already that? They are anti-authoritarian, left wing, and set policy by votes within the membership rather than leader dictated?

What more different are people looking for here?

It is and it isn't. I think people are sometimes put off by the Greens putting the environment before everything. There's a tendency to see them as a humans-second party. I don't think they are like that, but they have some work to do before we're all persuaded.

EliotAusten · 09/04/2015 13:56

Hi Zoe

Over time we have got to a position where a number of the UK's social problems could be alleviated purely by solving the housing crisis, which is history repeating itself. The failure to solve the housing crisis is diluting or completely negating the success of other initiatives, however well intentioned. It's a uniquely powerful moment to focus on housing, and encourage growth by embarking on a large project for the state to build good housing for those who may need it, permanently or from time to time. But the main political parties still seem uncertain as to the role of the state in constructing or providing housing, and what, in fact, the answer is. Do you know why this is? Has it become impossible for the main parties to propose the state carrying out a project like this directly and not via PFI or through small concessions from private developers? And if this is the case, is it symptomatic of us having lost our nerve for any big public project or big structural change?

IceBeing · 09/04/2015 13:56

both the houses and the internships are prisoners dilemmas. If all the interns refused to be treated like crap or unpaid, then they could force payment. If all house buyers decided not to spend more than 300K on a house, then prices would crash.

MuddhaOfSuburbia · 09/04/2015 13:57

Just hopping in to say I think you are most excellent and I agree with about 99% of what you say. EVER.

If i asked you a question it would only be about your dog because I am as shallow as a puddle tbh

You said the other day you were sick of Clapham. Why not come over here to Lewisham-the Arsehole Quota is MUCH lower

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:57

@Mitchell50

Zoe, thanks so much for coming on. I'm rattling through your book which is gripping and I have recommended it to a few friends already. You talk about the lack of defining impetus from the left and a lot of in-fighting - do you blame Ed Miliband for this lack of focus?

This is a great question too: EM is just scared of his own shadow, I think is the problem. He's putatively this great leftie firebrand that the Daily Mail are so afraid of, and it comes across sometimes in his speeches, but the party is more than speeches, and he doesn't do anything to curb in the neo-tory element (because he thinks they know how to win elections).
I don't blame EM for the infighting. I think the left has a chronic tendency towards it, in contrast with the right, who are really good at smoothing over profound differences. This is something everybody has to work on. Even me. I look at other lefties who I should agree with on everything, and I find them more annoying than Louise Mensch.
Have I admitted too much?
Not ALL lefties

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 13:58

@MuddhaOfSuburbia

Just hopping in to say I think you are most excellent and I agree with about 99% of what you say. EVER.

If i asked you a question it would only be about your dog because I am as shallow as a puddle tbh

You said the other day you were sick of Clapham. Why not come over here to Lewisham-the Arsehole Quota is MUCH lower

I love Lewisham! I love People before Profit. I love your whole vibe, man

IceBeing · 09/04/2015 13:59

One could double stamp duty for each house you already own....

That should shift some property towards those who don't already own.

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 14:01

@EliotAusten

Hi Zoe

Over time we have got to a position where a number of the UK's social problems could be alleviated purely by solving the housing crisis, which is history repeating itself. The failure to solve the housing crisis is diluting or completely negating the success of other initiatives, however well intentioned. It's a uniquely powerful moment to focus on housing, and encourage growth by embarking on a large project for the state to build good housing for those who may need it, permanently or from time to time. But the main political parties still seem uncertain as to the role of the state in constructing or providing housing, and what, in fact, the answer is. Do you know why this is? Has it become impossible for the main parties to propose the state carrying out a project like this directly and not via PFI or through small concessions from private developers? And if this is the case, is it symptomatic of us having lost our nerve for any big public project or big structural change?

Hi, I notice you've named yourself after the authors of the last big housing crisis era; that's one of the things that cheers me up about our current situation, that we've been here before. We've seen how it strangles progress, to have a very small class in charge of the land, and everyone else working to serve them.
The beginnings of my answer, I just set out: we aren't ready for structural change until we can articulate why we need it. And I respect that; I don't think people should just throw in their lot with radicals, on a whim. So it's worth articulating, and doing so constantly, the situation we're in, even if it sometimes feels a bit Cassandra-ish and ruins dinner parties.

ZoeWilliams · 09/04/2015 14:02

Right I'm going to run because I'm out of time, but I may hunt down those of you I didn't answer and find you on twitter.
Thanks, everyone, for great questions and really kind remarks.
xxx

IceBeing · 09/04/2015 14:03

or charge a mansion tax on total property value not individual....

MNHQ
RachelMumsnet · 09/04/2015 14:03

Great webchat. Thanks so much for joining us Zoe and to everyone who posted up questions. Enjoy Buffy!

OP posts:
IceBeing · 09/04/2015 14:03

bye zoe! great webchat!

nikkinack · 09/04/2015 14:05

When I finish this I am gonna go home and immediately watch the Buffy Musical Episode Grin

Bye Zoe!

Mitchell50 · 09/04/2015 14:06

Bye Zoe, thanks