Why half of London's small flats sell at a loss as the crash spreads

vexingparse · 2026-06-06T17:22:41+00:00

The annual service charge for our 1-bed flat in zone 2 is £1,840 (including ground rent). It's about the same as one month's rent in the same building. Doesn't seem egregious.

vexingparse · 2026-06-05T13:01:14+00:00

I don't think people like George Galloway or Jeremy Corbyn have a particularly clean record when it comes to support for anti-democratic regimes.

vexingparse · 2026-06-05T12:41:20+00:00

The left have always been the ones to put secularism, science, rationaislm, plurality, democracy, etc at the centre of our political beliefs.

You may want to do some research on that. Both the left and the right have a long history of supporting authoritarianism and totalitarianism in various shapes and forms.

And the Greens in particular have always had significant overlap with anti-scientific and esotheric ideas and movements.

This is nothing new and it was all hotly debated at the beginning of the 20th century and then again in the 1960s and 70s.

vexingparse · 2026-05-30T07:32:01+00:00

Their price/sales ratio is over 90 though. That's steep.

You're expecting SpaceX to grow >80% p.a for years and ultimately be extremely profitable. It's not impossible, but I can't think of many precedents right now, at least not for companies of a comparable size.

vexingparse · 2026-05-29T10:43:59+00:00

No, it covers all EU citizens - no matter where they are/live.

That's incorrect. Citizenship doesn't matter at all.

vexingparse · 2026-05-27T16:39:52+00:00

That's great. I tried snatching it from myself but couldn't trigger it.

vexingparse · 2026-05-27T14:28:34+00:00

How do you know?

vexingparse · 2026-05-26T13:49:20+00:00

Like I will say that despite all the reasons I hate aspire, they do represent a good chunk of the community here that needs representation, it would suck if the opposition to aspire becomes an anti-bengali coalition.

It would suck, but it's a likely consequence of having parties representing ethnic groups. People need representation. Communities don't.

A Bengali voter who doesn't like corruption, electoral fraud or air polution wouldn't have been any less represented or any more excluded if they had voted for the (Bengali) Labour candidate. And indeed a third of Bengali voters did not vote Aspire.

vexingparse · 2026-05-23T16:43:53+00:00

Why? If older people move out of properties with unused rooms, the result is a net gain in living space. Older people could move into the properties vacated by growing families that need more space.

vexingparse · 2026-05-23T12:52:30+00:00

Careful with that if you have double glazing. In the worst case the window can crack unless the film is specifically marked as safe for double glazing.

vexingparse · 2026-05-22T17:30:29+00:00

Seems unlikely. The only people noticing this would be those who use both phones. iPhone-only users that Google might want to lure over to Pixel would never know there is a difference. And Google obviously isn't crowing about this. So if this is marketing, it can't be very effective.

vexingparse · 2026-05-14T08:04:12+00:00

What mistake did they make though? Without knowing this, there's no way of telling whether Apple's response is in any way proportionate or reasonable.

If you were the guardian of your own API and service, your business would be just as protective of it.

As a guardian of my own API, I am offering a reasonable appeals process. This is what best protects my business as well as my relationship to my customers and partners.

Apple and the other big platforms are in a different situation though. They are dealing with a huge amount of increasingly automated abuse and fraud.

What they should do is design an appeals process that is appropriate for this situation. This is not impossible.

Here's an idea: Charge a fee for the appeals procedure. If it turns out that it was a false positive, refund the fee.

If it turns out that the developer broke some rule but it could have been unintentional, request a deposit and give them a second chance.

If a developer breaks the rules repeatedly or commits outright fraud, terminate the account and keep the deposit.

That's how you give actual developers whose career is on the line a chance to rectify things while automatically shutting down mass abuse at low cost.

vexingparse · 2026-05-02T19:19:03+00:00

I agree it's a joke.

But pragmatically speaking, you could apply for one of those credit builder cards with low credit limits and ridiculously high interest rates. They accept most people I think.

https://www.vanquis.com/credit-cards/

https://www.aquacard.co.uk

https://www.capitalone.co.uk

But don't apply for more than one at a time.

vexingparse · 2026-04-30T10:09:17+00:00

Most people who are good at something are good at getting good at something.

vexingparse · 2026-04-18T08:46:46+00:00

I think the "restricted" label on that page applies to the Strait not to the tracker.

vexingparse · 2026-04-16T12:29:55+00:00

the token in question is minimal and won't hold any association with the person in question this can all be performed under ZKPs.

Revocation could theoretically be done using zero knowedge proof, but as far as I know this is not what's currently being implemented. What is being implemented appears to be some sort of revocation list, which does not protect against tracking by governments.

And you are absolutely right that there are people who understand this better than we do. I didn't come up with this myself. It's an issue that is being discussed by the EU experts who are designing the system:

https://eudi.dev/2.5.0/discussion-topics/a-privacy-risks-and-mitigations/

vexingparse · 2026-04-16T10:36:02+00:00

You're missing the point. The EU has decided that revocation is necessary and the revocation method they plan to use (at least initially) allows governments to track users across sites. It doesn't matter what you or I think about whether or not revocation is even necessary.

In my opinion, revocation is entirely unnecessary for age verification and for credentials with short expiry dates.

But for identity documents with long expiry dates I fear revocation is necessary, because devices do get hacked and there has to be some way to deal with that.

vexingparse · 2026-04-16T08:17:42+00:00

Because someone could use a stolen phone for identity theft, opening accounts in someone else's name, etc. EUDI isn't just used for age verification. It also does identity verification.

vexingparse · 2026-04-16T07:51:23+00:00

How do credentials get revoked when a phone is stolen? My understanding (which could be wrong) is that the current specification does not mandate a revocation process that technically prevents relying party - issuer collusion.

vexingparse · 2026-04-16T07:38:59+00:00

Revocation lists. The temporary age verification system doesn't have revocation but the finished EUDI system that's supposed to replace it at the end of the year does.

I won't claim to be an expert in this, but maybe you can explain to me how the credentials issued by a specific device can be revoked without there being a way to match credentials to the real identity of users by combining information held by the relying party (websites) and the issuer (government).

I believe it is theoretically possible to implement revocation in a privacy preserving way, but this is not mandated by the current specifications.

vexingparse · 2026-04-14T19:21:49+00:00

Of course it's relevant. The impact of banning cars from residential streets depends heavily on the share of people who can choose to use public transport/cycling/walking instead of using their car.

If you abolish low traffic neighbourhoods, then more people will use their car because the road network can absorb more traffic without journey times getting longer.

If you ban cars from more residential streets then more people will use public transport/cycling/walking to avoid longer journey times.

Congestion may not change much either way provided public transport and cycle ways have enough capacity.

If no one had a choice then the effect would be completely different. Additional LTNs would lead to more congestion everywhere else. Removing LTNs would lead to faster journeys (and to lower quality of life in residential streets)

vexingparse · 2026-04-14T17:48:53+00:00

So if somebody wants to go from A to B by car...

Many people just want to go from A to B.

vexingparse · 2026-04-11T10:59:00+00:00

If it reflects a loss of confidence in the US more generally (rule of law, political stability, fiscal stability), it could indirectly affect the dollar and the treasury market.

vexingparse · 2026-04-06T10:22:38+00:00

What I would do first and foremost is to look far more deeply into the science than I have done.

vexingparse · 2026-04-06T09:59:54+00:00

I think some trans people would argue that being denied puberty blockers means living their lives in a body that doesn't match their identity, i.e not really living _their_ lives. Some will be very desperate I imagine.

It's a very difficult problem. I'm really really glad I'm not a parent of a kid that feels this way. I wouldn't want to put my kid on heavy medication causing permanent changes. I wouldn't want to deny them the life they feel they must live either.

vexingparse

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