Best articles: Britain NEWS^1517 August 2019 THE WEEKWe’ll all pay
for Generation
Rent
James Marriott
The Times
Idon’t ownahome, says James Marriott–and like many
people in their 20sIsuspectInever will. The proportion of 25-
to 34-year-olds who ownahouse has collapsed over the past
20 years, from 55% to 34%. Getting on the property ladder is
famously hard in London, but the problem isn’t limited to the
capital. In Greater Manchester, home ownership among that
age group fell from 53% in 1984 to 26% in 2017; in South
Yorkshire, it fell from 54% to 25% over the same period. The
idea of never havingaplace to call one’s own, and always having
to pay exorbitant rent, is “depressing” for millennials like me.
But this trend also promises to have dire consequences for society
as awhole. It’s no coincidence that the birth rate in England and
Walesisatarecord low. “Young people paying over the odds to
live in grubby shared houses are understandably reluctant to start
families.” Nor is it any wonder that many of them feel politically
alienated asaresult. It’s notahealthy or sustainable situation. Pity
Generation Rent. “But remember their problems are yours too.”Liberalism
obsolete? I
don’t think so
Gideon Rachman
Financial Times
Vladimir Putin recently took great delight in telling the West
that liberalism has had its day, says Gideon Rachman. But
“illiberalism does not seem to be doing so well either”, to
judge from events in Moscow and Hong Kong. The Russian
and Chinese states are both facing angry pro-democracy protests
that undermine their claims to stability and public support, and
in response they’ve both “retreated into self-serving paranoia”,
alleging that the unrest is being orchestrated by foreign enemies.
There are strong parallels between the protest movements too.
Both have notably young participants anda“leaderless, internet-
based quality”. In Hong Kong, demonstrators have adopted the
slogan of martial arts hero Bruce Lee–“be water”–toencourage
protesters to avoid static and predictable tactics. In Moscow,
the arrest of “almost the entire circle around Alexei Navalny,
the most prominent opposition leader”, has failed to quell the
protests. It seems “the liberalism that Putin scorns” still has life
in it yet. “Perhaps the authoritarian idea has become obsolete?”Why the Brexit
nightmare will
never end
Jonathan Freedland
The Guardian
Of all the myths that surround the Brexit debate, says Jonathan
Freedland, perhaps the greatest is the idea thatano-deal exit
would at least offera“clean break”. We would at last be able to
drawaline under the tiresome business and get on with discussing
other matters. Sorry, but that’s not the case. Any moment of
“catharsis” will be all too fleeting, as we’ll soon have to hammer
out anew trading relationship with our neighbours. And the first
items the EU will want to address? “Yep, our old friends: the
financial settlement, EU citizens’ rights, and the border between
Northern Ireland and the Republic.” Could we leave Brussels to
stew and seekaswift trade deal with the US? Yes, and Trump’s
national security adviser John Bolton assured us this week that
we’d get one. But even that won’t work, because “treaties have
to be ratified by the US Congress, and the Democrats who control
the House have said they won’t endorse any deal that threatens
the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. So guess what:
we’re back at the backstop.”Ano-deal outcome will not deliver
us from Brexit: this row will go on “for ever and ever”.The Treasury
is to blame for
airport hell
Matthew Lynn
The Daily Telegraph
ASpanish fly-tipper who
threwafridge overacliff
has been fineds45,000 and
sentenced to hard labour –
carrying the fridge back up
from the bottom of the
ravine. The man, named only
as Mario, was identified from
video footage of his crime
taken byafriend. “We’re
going to recycle it!” he jokes
in the film. “How many twists
and turns has it done?” But
he appears to have learnt
his lesson. “I just want people
to see how sorryIam,” he
said, “and stop viewing me
as thoughIwere amurderer.”Bedale AFC, in Yorkshire’s
North Riding football
league, is famous for its
idiosyncratic team shirts.
Sponsored by local sausage
maker Heck, its latest strip
features sausages, peas and
mashed potato (which also
appears on the shorts), with
the slogan: “Football’s
Coming Home... For Tea.”
The 2017 kit, emblazoned
with hundreds of sausages,
was voted the seventh worst
in the world, while 2018’s –
ahot dog with the slogan
“You’ll never pork alone” –
made the top three. “If this
one is named the worst kit,
it’ll be the last one,” said
chairman Martyn Coombs,
“althoughIquite like the
idea of Toad in the Goal.”The Inghams,aYorkshire
“YouTube family” who live-
streamed the birth of their
fourth child, already sell
branded mugs, hoodies and
T-shirts. But now they’ve
upped the merchandise ante
withadoll version of their
baby, Jace. Selling for £279,
it has “realistically adorable
features”. Owners will be
able to bring their dolls to
“specially organised baby
Jace tea parties”.IT MUST BE TRUE...
Iread it in the tabloidsCramped seats. Nothing to eat but overpriced, stale sandwiches.
Delays, strikes and cancellations. “Welcome to the special kind of
hell that is flying out of Britain on holiday,” says Matthew Lynn.
Every summer, our airports descend into the same chaos. Most
features of modern life, such as cars, TVs and supermarkets, get
better and cheaper over time. Not air travel. While planes may
be safer and more fuel efficient, and ticket prices may have come
down, the experience of flying is more miserable than ever. It’s
easy to blame the airlines for this, and they’ve certainly engaged in
all sorts of corner-cutting. But there’s another significant culprit:
air passenger duty. Since this levy was introduced in 1993, it has
been raised by successive governments to the point where we now
have the highest aviation taxes in the world. This is lucrative for
the Treasury (the duty raises more than £3.5bnayear), but forces
airlines to engage in relentless economising to keep fares down.
“Perhaps the Chancellor should think about cutting the duty –
especially if he happens to find himself with 40 hours to while
away inadeparture lounge some time over the summer.” ©BEDALE AFC