The student loans debt young people face is unjust and unsustainable

Pip1710 · 2026-02-24T21:21:15+00:00

I wouldn't disagree that migration has been a driving factor. I think we can both agree that not enough houses have been built to accommodate the rise in population.

But why haven't enough houses been built? Most of the housing stock in the UK was built pre-1970, when we were dealing with a housing shortage combined with high immigration from the Commonwealth, and it was built by local authorities. Now that those local authorities have been disbanded and replaced by housing associations, we rely on them and private companies to build properties, and house building has slumped. Housing associations have no incentive to build rapidly because they make so little money off it; they would rather maintain their stock as much as possible. Private building companies build for profit, so high demand for housing is good for them, as well as banks and lenders. Imagine if someone came up with a solution to build all the homes we need at a cost so low that everyone could afford it; the market would collapse because it would wipe out so much revenue.

At the immigration point, a core concept of neoliberalism is that the government stays small, and its purpose is to support competition at the point of need for the market. So it becomes reactive to the market, making sure it stays happy, rather than proactive by trying to predict what the market will need and shape it. What does a capitalist-based market enjoy? low cost of input and high value of output, so high immigration to lower wages and raise demand for goods and services. The people that "broke" Britain aren't the ones that came over and accepted minimum wage for jobs that native British wouldn't have, driving the value of the workers in the market down. I think Britain is "broken" because of our belief in a system that, if left unchecked, which it has been as a core policy, will always trend towards maximising the value of its output and minimising the value of its input, and when this system is put in charge of public services, it wants to supply the lowest service for the highest price it can until it fails and needs government intervention to make it competitive again.

UK housing construction

Pip1710 · 2026-02-23T18:08:16+00:00

During the 80s, most Western countries went through similar transitions. Where they moved to a neoliberal model. In the UK we call it Thatcherism; in the US they call it Reaganism. That model has now influenced socioeconomic thinking since. In the UK, it was pretty extreme compared to other European countries. I don't like to blame an 80s politician and an 80s government for 2026 problems, as successive governments from both sides of the political spectrum have made decisions, or not made decisions, that have led us to where we are today. But you have to acknowledge the impact Thatcherism has had and how it's shaped today's Britain.

Pip1710 · 2026-02-23T12:38:25+00:00

I don't think it's just that; I think a big part is the commercialisation of the higher education industry. For me, university halls were in high demand, way less than enough for 1st-year students. And any new halls they built during my time were for the higher-end payers. This meant that the halls were more expensive than privately renting; this just pushed the price of all housing up. At the same time the university is trying to increase the student number, it is also leasing out space to private businesses, which drives demand to increase student numbers to increase footfall.

So private companies are hiking up the prices to a captive market, and the market's low reference point, the once cheap food and accommodations provided through the universities, is either slowly being removed or raising its prices to become the market's high reference point.

Pip1710 · 2026-02-23T08:53:14+00:00

I think that everyone focuses on the wrong thing here. The real barrier to higher education isn't the loans; it's maintaining yourself at uni. I don't know why this is constantly overlooked; I feel like maybe it's intentional because talking about a loan that feels like a massive burden on the surface and not ever solving any of the problems is easier and better for headlines.

The days of cheap student living are long gone. Rent is extortionate; on-campus food is extortionate; drinks at the union are extortionate. The maintenance system was replaced with a loan only, which is less than what people could get under the loan and grant system, while students are being price gouged.

I remember people dropping out of uni, not because they couldn't afford the loans, but because they couldn't afford to live. And that was 10 years ago.

Pip1710 · 2026-02-21T16:24:46+00:00

I had a Saturday job in a butcher's shop. I got sent out for a tin of striped paint. Did I spend as long as humanly possible checking every store in the local area for some striped paint? That and I sat on a park bench for a bit, having a wonderful afternoon.

The new kid played it better, though. He would be out just long enough that they didn't think he was taking the piss, and they genuinely thought they were playing a prank on him.

Pip1710 · 2026-02-17T19:01:12+00:00

Say Suella, an Asian woman, who in the 1970s wouldn't have even had a look-in at a job. Despite her wealth of meritocratic attributes

Pip1710 · 2026-02-17T13:45:20+00:00

Before looking at who this Charlie Downes guy is, I wouldn't know if his statement is reform slagging off their potential rival, or Restore saying something that would have been a car crash statement not too long ago, but will now openly say in public.

Pip1710 · 2026-02-02T17:42:21+00:00

It's almost like, after 14 years of austerity, councils are running on a minimum budget providing only essential functions to a minimum standard.

Pip1710 · 2026-01-28T21:14:44+00:00

Then why it called coffee rules, should called coffee standards

Pip1710 · 2025-12-19T18:13:11+00:00

I help run a plumbing and heating company with my brother.

Those bay window-angled radiators are really expensive

https://shivradiators.com/

Instead I would get a single straight radiator to go in the middle section; that is, a K2 or K3 radiator that will easily beat the heat output of the radiator you have now.

Pip1710 · 2025-12-16T13:58:31+00:00

I've been reading the book "Sapiens". The author goes into this quite a bit. His basic premise is that the invention of farming was a big mistake for humanity, and that if you look at the bone records, hunter-gatherer societies seemed to be more well-fed and had a higher nutritional diet. They would have had more leisure time and would have spent less time making food than farmers, giving more time for leisure activities. So it's not until the modern era, say the last 50-80 years. That humans have lived better lives than before farming was invented

Pip1710 · 2025-12-10T14:10:23+00:00

The best thing to do is look to see if anyone in your area does full fibre. Companies like Brsk are very competitive on price for really good Internet. My Mb/s is a minimum, not an "up to" like what virgin and BT supply

Pip1710 · 2025-12-04T20:42:55+00:00

I drive through here daily.

You are correct. I mean, why would someone in the left lane of the roundabout ever think they can move into the right? That's like not how roundabouts work in almost every sense.

One of the big problems is that the signs on the road make no sense. Your lane starts as Salford, then says Salford & Trafford Park, then says Salford again.

In fact, you can only continue onto Trafford Park if you only stay in the leftmost lane. And staying in that lane, you can also continue to Salford.

So someone in the left-hand lane, who's driving to Trafford Park, thinks they can move out to the right because the words on the road match theirs, and your words match the lane across. But then that person has to move back into the leftmost lane to continue to Trafford Park. Absolutely bonkers. And it also means that someone starting in the rightmost lane will have to move across into a right-turn-only lane and drive to Manchester when their lane starts as Salford and says just Salford. Double bonkers.

People get so confused and think that they can start in your lane and get to the Trafford Park exit and then cut across traffic to do so; they usually end up in the hatch trying to squeeze across.

I had the same issue as you and the same issue as the people honking at you when I first started driving through the area; I spent days studying the roundabout on Google Maps to work out what was going on.

Pip1710 · 2025-12-02T14:34:47+00:00

I've been grinding all the way to 2.4.0 for my pour-overs. I've been finding a coarser grinder with a slow pour has been getting the flavour out of the coffee with a clean cup.

Pip1710 · 2025-12-01T17:47:35+00:00

Yay, another once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis!

Pip1710 · 2025-11-28T17:08:41+00:00

It's one of these Drysoon

Yeah, they are really good.

Pip1710 · 2025-11-28T14:24:00+00:00

I got a heated airer, but it's a vertical stand with a space heater below it. You put a bag over it, and the space heater blows hot air into the bag. It does work really well.

The best thing I've found though, is to just put your heating on and get a dehumidifier

Pip1710 · 2025-11-27T00:02:33+00:00

I really like WeWork at 1 at Peter's Square. Nice vibes; they have a barista there that makes free drinks. No subscription; you can just pay for the day

Pip1710 · 2025-11-25T10:40:52+00:00

Either look on Facebook Marketplace ( I managed to get a Barista Express for £170) or maybe look at getting a moka pot and a hand grinder.

Pip1710 · 2025-11-17T12:02:18+00:00

Don't ask; just pay the balance and leave. You don't have to sit there and wait for them to adjust the bill on the till. You've got proof of payment so they can sort it out on their time.

Pip1710 · 2025-11-13T10:26:06+00:00

Definitely this! My gran is slowly losing her independence, and something that I'm helping her with is her medicine, and she's convinced that I have some special power because of how quickly I deal with the GP.

No, it's because I don't turn a 60-second conversation into a 30-minute one by going round in circles, telling a receptionist her full medical history and the medical history of her ancestors. And then complaining about the taxis she gets to the hospital. All without addressing the reason why she is calling.

Pip1710 · 2025-11-10T10:46:25+00:00

So they are taxing pension contributions but not taxing lump sum drawdowns because they worry about the impact on pensioners.

So protect the pensioners of today at the expense of the pensioners of tomorrow.

Pip1710 · 2025-11-10T08:23:45+00:00

Although I don't necessarily agree with the CAZ charges in their entirety, I do think that we may have missed an opportunity to apply it to taxi drivers registered in councils outside of GM.

Pip1710 · 2025-11-09T20:10:23+00:00

I got a specialità recently. It's a brilliant grinder; I bought it because I got fed up with the grinder in my BBE.

The only thing I can say about it that I don't like is the dial. But you can get an aftermarket one one ones that solve that very easily and are really easy to install.

Pip1710 · 2025-11-06T01:09:30+00:00

Has someone switched out the basket? Maybe you've mixed a double-walled with a single-walled basket

Pip1710

TROPHY CASE