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Off Topic The Politics Thread

Discussion in 'Queens Park Rangers' started by Stroller, Jun 25, 2015.

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

Poll closed Jun 24, 2016.
  1. Stay in

    56 vote(s)
    47.9%
  2. Get out

    61 vote(s)
    52.1%
  1. Goldhawk-Road

    Goldhawk-Road Well-Known Member

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    That would be against the Albanians' human rights, and the lawyers that hang around the lobby would immediately bring a claim heading for the European court
     
    #78321
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  2. Goldhawk-Road

    Goldhawk-Road Well-Known Member

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    Do you mean those owned by wealthy foreigners for investment purposes?
     
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  3. Willhoops

    Willhoops Well-Known Member

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    Ahhh I see foreigners are to blame for all the vacant buildings as well <doh> ****ing hell Goldie.

    I actually mean all of them, yes some will be vacant for the reason you suggest, the vast majority… I suspect not. However yes all of them, regardless of who owns them. I’d highlight those that are going into disrepair.
     
    #78323
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  4. Willhoops

    Willhoops Well-Known Member

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    Liz Truss … British workers (not foreigners) are to blame for being lazy
     
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  5. Goldhawk-Road

    Goldhawk-Road Well-Known Member

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    It was a question, Will. Sorry that I'm not woke enough not to call foreigners "foreigners". Foreign owners (am I alright with that?) account for a great deal of the empty properties in London. You seem to agree with that, even if you regard them as - they who shall not be named!

    There's an issue with both foreign ownership, and increasingly, second homes. I've no idea how many of those are in disrepair. Not many I would think. In the 1960's there were a large number of properties in disrepair, Clapham, Notting Hill, East End etc and bomb sites were mostly used as car parks. Now, property is so valuable, I see very few properties in desrepair. Some of the poorer towns up north maybe. Is that what you're thinking about? Is that where those-that-shall-not-be-named-but-come-from-far-off-places should be given places to live?
     
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  6. Willhoops

    Willhoops Well-Known Member

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    Just odd when I highlight vacant properties your go to is to highlight a demographic that owns a tiny proportion of those properties, very odd.

    Oh well done for getting ‘woke’ in there, if all else fails you could get a job writing for the mail.
     
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  7. Stroller

    Stroller Well-Known Member

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    please log in to view this image
     
    #78327
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  8. Goldhawk-Road

    Goldhawk-Road Well-Known Member

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    Foreign owners own £90 billion's worth of property in the UK. A good number of these are for investment and are left vacant.

    So where are all these properties in disrepair waiting to house immigrants? You were silent on that.
     
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  9. sb_73

    sb_73 Well-Known Member

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    I’m not sure what this debate is about, but where did you get that figure on foreign owners of U.K. property? Is it £90bn of residential property or does it include commercial and industrial property as well?

    In 2020 the total value of U.K. residential property was estimated to be £7.7 trillion, an incomprehensibly large number, of which £90 bn, while still obviously covering a startlingly large number of properties, would represent less than 1.2%. But given that there has been property price inflation of over 10% in each of the last two years, the £90bn, if it’s a 2022 figure, would now be well under 1% of the total.

    Still, if any property is sitting empty, regardless of who owns it, something should be done about it.
     
    #78329
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  10. Willhoops

    Willhoops Well-Known Member

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    In pretty much every town and city in the U.K. I’ve been to, had the misfortune of driving through Luton the other day, so many boarded up.

    Can you show where you got your figure from? And the evidence that a good number
    are vacant.

    Are you suggesting a significant percentage of vacant properties in the U.K. are foreign owned? If so again can you provide evidence to prove that? I’m sure you must have it otherwise you bringing foreigners up, looks a bit … well ..

    Or is this another one of your ‘I’m concerned about the safety of women’ yet can’t say I’ve noticed you’ve brought that subject up again, only when you use it against the trans community. Oh I’m still waiting on any evidence to show trans people represent a proportional threat to women, yes every attack is one too many, but if you’re trying to stop a bucket from leaking what do you prioritise? A pin hole half way up or the fact the bottom of the bucket is missing? Same applies with empty properties.
     
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  11. Willhoops

    Willhoops Well-Known Member

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    Started as the U.K. being full <doh> I pointed out there are a **** load of empty properties… Goldie then decided that the major factor, must be a major factor otherwise why mention it, was foreign owned property and apparently he knows a load of them are empty.
     
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  12. Goldhawk-Road

    Goldhawk-Road Well-Known Member

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    It's from a website called Property Industry Eye. It speaks of homes, so presumably residential.

    The issue is how many of the properties are left vacant. There does seem to be a large proportion of homes owned by foreign owners that are bought for pure investment and kept vacant.
     
    #78332
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  13. sb_73

    sb_73 Well-Known Member

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    Well I am familiar with Goldie’s views on population density and immigration and I don’t think me joining the debate will make any difference to his or your perspectives. I was just interested in the numbers.
    is there any data on how much of this non-dom owned property is left vacant (why, surely that’s just throwing cash away, ok you get capital appreciation but zero rental yield….not very canny investing, but I’m not a property investor, apart from my own home, so I’m probably missing something) or is that an impression?
     
    #78333
  14. Goldhawk-Road

    Goldhawk-Road Well-Known Member

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    I said there's an issue with some properties bought by wealthy foreigners for investment purposes and left vacant. Mainly in the best areas of London. I remember watching a Panorama programme on it. I also said second homes are increasingly a problem.

    Of course, it's not enough to provide a derelict house to the immigrants you want to bring in. Cash-strapped councils would have to pay to make it habitable, there would be a housing waiting list which presumably you'd want the migrant to leapfrog, then there is the strain on already stressed services like doctors surgeries, nurseries, schools etc. But you dream on.
     
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  15. Goldhawk-Road

    Goldhawk-Road Well-Known Member

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    They are looking to park money in the UK's ever increasingly valuable property market. These are high end properties and absent owners don't want the hassle of tenants, maintenance, renovations, possible security of tenure and legal disputes. They treat property like buying gold - there is no dividend but are in it for the capital value increases
     
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  16. Willhoops

    Willhoops Well-Known Member

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    Kiwi said we were full, truth is we aren’t. I mentioned empty properties and where the owner comes from is irrelevant to me, I feel their should be tighter regulation when properties become dilapidated state and organisations such as councils should be way better at maintaining their portfolios.

    Personally I feel if this sorta approach was taken along with other measures could be a step to help all with housing issues.
     
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  17. Willhoops

    Willhoops Well-Known Member

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    Presumably I want migrants to leapfrog… where have I said that?

    Rather silly thing to say.
     
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  18. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    Doctors
    Schools
    Councils
    NHS etc can't cope with the population living there now.
    I think you are full enough
    Apparently 35 million quid a week is spent housing illegals now
     
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  19. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    bloody hell
    more knife crime on the streets of london
    what chance did he have


    London mobility scooter stabbing victim named as Thomas O’Halloran, 87

    Police seek to identify man seen on CCTV and say O’Halloran travelled 75 yards on his scooter before asking for help

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    Thomas O’Halloran was well known in the community and regularly played accordion to raise money for Ukrainian refugees, say residents. Photograph: PA
    Caroline DaviesWed 17 Aug 2022 18.02 BST


    An elderly man fatally stabbed while riding his mobility scooter in west London has been named as Thomas O’Halloran.

    Detectives said the 87-year-old was stabbed on Western Avenue in Greenford and managed to travel 75 yards on his scooter before asking a member of the public for help in nearby Runnymede Gardens.

    Police released an image of a man seen running away from the scene armed with a knife, who they said they were “keen to identify as a matter urgency”. He was wearing grey shorts, a dark-coloured T-shirt, a white baseball cap and white patterned builder-style gloves.

    DCI Jim Eastwood, who is leading the investigation, said: “We are keen to identify the man in the CCTV images as a matter of urgency. He is clearly a dangerous individual and people are advised not to approach him, but to call us immediately on 999 if they know him or have any information regarding his whereabouts.”

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    CCTV image of a man who police say they are ‘keen to identify’. Photograph: PA
    O’Halloran, understood to be a retired engineer, regularly busked with his accordion outside a local Tesco superstore and Greenford station, collecting money for charitable causes, including for Ukrainian refugees. One theory is he may have been followed by somebody who saw him collecting.

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    CCTV footage, believed to be from moments after the attack, shows him flagging down two passersby, having been apparently stabbed in an alleyway next to the A40.

    One person who lives near the scene, Frasley Coutinho, said he saw the victim surrounded by a group of young boys. Coutinho said he caught some of the incident on a CCTV camera but it was obscured by a plant.

    He said: “I saw a couple of people gathering around him and then he drove past and stopped further up, and then there was a group of young boys around him.”

    The Metropolitan police west area commander, Ch Supt Sean Wilson, said: “Yesterday an 87-year-old grandfather on a mobility scooter had his life needlessly snatched away in a shocking act of unprovoked violence right here in Greenford. I understand that our community will quite rightly be shocked and appalled at this incident, as I am too.”

    He said detectives were “working tirelessly to understand what has happened and to identify who is responsible for this horrific crime”. Police were following up a number of inquiries and a forensic examination was under way in the area.

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    Wilson appealed to the public for help, especially anyone with dashcam or cycle helmet footage.

    “We believe that Mr O’Halloran was stabbed in Western Avenue shortly after 4pm yesterday, Tuesday 16 August, before managing to travel 75 yards or so on his mobility scooter to Runnymede Gardens where he flagged down a member of the public for help,” he said.

    Extra officers are patrolling in the area. The scene was taped off as forensics officers in blue overalls examined the road in front of a row of semi-detached homes at the junction of Cayton Road and Runnymede Gardens, which runs next to the busy A40.

    Customers and business owners in the small row of shops near Greenford station were shocked. “I saw the news and can’t believe it’s him,” said one. “Such a lovely, lovely man. Loved his accordion. And his scratchcards. Him and his wife were always buying scratchcards.”

    Hitesh Patel, 62, a shop owner, said O’Halloran had a Ukraine flag on the front of his basket as he played his music. “It said ‘help for Ukraine’. He was a very good, kind man.”

    John Robbins, 82, out walking in a small park near the scene, said: “You would see him regularly outside Tesco playing his accordion.”

    Robbins and his neighbour Peter Banks, 94, said the incident would not deter them from their daily walk. “It used to be a very quiet area, but it’s all built up now,” said Robbins, who has lived there for 50 years. “There are yobs now riding around on their bikes,” he added.

    His neighbour agreed, adding: “But there is no point worrying. If something is going to happen, it’s going to happen.”

    Simran Advani, 25, a senior property manager who lives near where the stabbing took place, said she often saw an elderly man on his mobility scooter who “always used to smile”. “He was a nice old man. He often goes round the block, he always went on the road and not the pavement,” she said.
     
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  20. bobmid

    bobmid Well-Known Member

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    I watched that programme myself, seemed like a money laundering scheme. Wealthy foreignes buying up properties and just sitting there empty.
     
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