ESSAY SEEING RED OVER THE GREEN BELT

摘要

Winter. A street in east London. White vans are parked, workers sleeping inside, engines running all night to keep themselves warm. They can't afford to live in the city. The housing crisis was Jeremy Corbyn's very first question at his first prime minister's questions, raised on behalf of Marie, one of thousands who had emailed him on the issue. House prices have rocketed, sometimes tenfold in 20 years. Only the rich can afford to buy in London, whether city centre or suburbs. For the first time since the war the proportion of homeowners has fallen - from 70 per cent to 64 per cent. Private-sector rents are rising. People without the bank of mum and dad have to move out, not to suburbs but to exurbs and beyond. Towns with fast transport to London, such as Cambridge or even Colchester, are now unaffordable; people have to move to Ely or further afield. For the young, Thatcher's 1975 vision of a home-owning democracy is a sick joke.