Rule of Three

Fast, Cheap, Quality - pick any two.

So if you want something fast and good quality, it won't be cheap. If it needs to be cheap and fast, you won't get best quality. And cheap but good quality means it will take time.

Source: I first came across this saying as a library cataloguer but have since seen it applied in other situations.

Community Land Trust Housing

As UK house prices continue to rise, it becomes increasingly difficult to get on the housing ladder. Community Land Trusts (CLTs) exist to provide affordable homes, both for rent and for purchase. The 175 CLTs in England and Wales have provided 560 homes to date. Land is acquired as follows:

•  Land for development given to CLTs, free of charge, by a local authority.
• CLTs working with developers, who donate the freehold to the CLT after they have made their profits.
• Scottish focus has been more on the community ownership of land, rather than homes, after the law was changed to allow residents to buy land that comes up for sale.

Most CLTs are in rural areas rather than urban ones, typically set up where local house prices have risen far above what residents can afford. Re-sale value is limited to 31.3% of what it would be on the open market, ensuring future affordability and helping communities retain younger people.

The government is expected to announce a programme of support for coastal and rural CLTs in the Autumn Statement (2016), funded out of the extra stamp duty chargeable on second homes.

London example. An old mental health hospital in Tower Hamlets has been converted into 23 flats. Buyers pay a third of market value. When they come to sell, the price they are allowed to charge will be limited by the increase in local wages, as measured by the Office for National Statistics.
Amongst the buyers are a young couple with one child; despite their joint income of £33,000, and savings of nearly £70,000, they have been unable to afford anything in the area. But the wage link is significant as typically, wages have risen by less than 2% a year over the last decade, while despite a few dips, house prices have soared by up to 9%. If that trend continues, the relative value of their flat will decline, making it hard for them to move elsewhere.

If Rachael and Nathaniel eventually decide to sell, their property's value will not have gone up in line with the market. Linking house prices to wages requires a different attitude, believing that the security of owning a home is more important than its value - no letters saying you've got two months to leave. The mortgage for the flat will be lower than their current £1,000 a month rent, allowing them to save something each month, to help if they move out at some point, and house prices have risen.

Critics say CLTs are not a solution to the UK's housing crisis, as they can only ever build a relatively small number of properties and often rely on land being given away for free, or at a discount and that access to land is the real issue.

Source: How to keep house prices low for generations to come by Brian Milligan, 18 Nov. 2016 [Read in full on BBC website]

Vitamin D and Psoriasis

Vitamin D  is a common deficiency among people who suffer from psoriasis, so taking vitamin D supplements seems sensible.

One reader reported that her son, who suffers from the condition, has started taking vitiamin D and finds his skin looks less red and his legs no longer sting in colder weather.

Healthspan's Lifespan magazine, issue Summer 2016

Truths About Women Drivers

There are many jokes about women drivers, but here are the real statistics.

Women can park. Parking, like other skills, is developed over time. Research using surveillance camera data shows that while women may take longer to park, they are more likely to thoughfully leave their car in the middle of a bay. They were also found to be better at locating a parking space, more accurate in lining themselves up before manoevring, and more likely to follow driving instructors' preferred method of reversing into bays.

Woman are good drivers. They are less likely to drive too fast, then brake a lot (11% less likely to brake hard) but control speed with gear changes, thus being kind on the car.

Woman are less likely to crash. Some 57% of male drivers have crashed, compared with 46% of women. Then 46% of men have had a close call with a cyclist or pedestrian, compared with 35% of women. And 68% of women have a clean driving licence, but only 64% of men.

Women do buy cars. The majority of car dealers are aimed at men and 85% of women surveyed by Good Housekeeping said car dealerships were sexist. The GH survey also found out that nine out of ten women are the sole or joint decision maker when car buying.

Women can navigate.

Useful information

A 2015 investigation found that women are often charged up to 30% more for repairs and car maintainance than men. The Foxy Lady Driver Club has over 250 approved dealerships and garages that have signed a charter promising not to overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don't need.

If you want to get a quote before arriving at the garage, use car maintainance comparison site WhoCanFixMyCar.com with its useful problem-solver tool.

The GH survey shows 44% of women feel anxious about driving on motorways. Boost your confidence with the Skill for Life course run by the Institute of Advanced Motorists, with eight one-hour sessions behind the wheel with a trained observer offering advice and instruction. They run other courses on winter driving, parking and speed awareness, plus Momentum, an education programme aimed at new drivers whose lack of experience puts them at highest risk.

Learning to drive. Find a great instructor; it is far too stressful to be taught by a family member or friend. Visit the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency website to find a local instructor, who should have one or more of DIA, NSA or IAM qualifications. Choose an instructor who will give you a free taster lesson, to see how you relate, as building a positive relationship is key.

Worried about an older driver? There is no age limit for holding a licence, drivers over 70 simply renew it and self-certify their fitness every year. One suggestion is for mature drivers to take an annual driving assessment with an independent instructor; assessments are available via the AA, ROSPA and the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

 Feature by Zoe Williams and Ginny Buckley in Good Housekeeping, March 2016

Christmas Facts

How did our Christmas celebrations take shape? Two books I read some time ago make interesting reading.

Christmas past: Gavin Weightman and Steve Humphries

Pre 1837 Christmas was not celebrated in the UK. Winter feast days (wassailing, Plough Monday, etc.) tended to be local and took place between All Hallows on 1st Nov. and Candlemas on 2nd Feb. Our Christmas ritual was the invention of the Victorian middle class. For Scots, Christmas was an English festival, resisted partly for nationalistic reasons, partly as the Presbyterian Church regarded it as essentially pagan; Scotland and other northern regions celebrated the New Year or Hogmanay. Until late 19th c., in all regions and social classes, Twelfth Night was still observed.

As Christmas developed, it concentrated on just two days of the twelve, Christmas day and Boxing day. Essentially a domestic, family festival rather than a village event. As it became more popular, the rural customs died out being inappropriate to urban life. Victorian middle class not content simply to enjoy Christmas themselves but took Christmas to the poor. Middle class fashion for charity giving at Christmas replaced the Christmas box; for centuries masters and householders had given gifts of money to servants, and tradesmen had rewarded loyal customers with free goods.

First Christmas cards 1843, Henry Cole. At that time, annual greetings were exchanged at New Year. First cards were often pagan with nymphs, etc., and derived from New Year cards. New Year was never a religious festival. Tom Smith, sweetmaker, introduced the cracker in 1840 as a sales gimmick, originally as a wrapper with a bang for his sweets; sold even better when he added paper hats and trinkets. Christmas tree from 1840’s, a German custom popularised by Prince Albert. When introduced into UK, turkey took over from swan or goose or beef as the bird for feasts. Mince pies date from Elizabethan cookery. Christmas cake was originally the Twelth Night cake.

December 25th became Christmas Day when the Christian church took over winter solstice celebrations. Evergreens were magical plants that did not die in winter. Many winter celebrations were raucous and ribald with cross-dressing and temporary social disorder (eg. boy bishop). Victorian middle classes sought to replace the excesses with a demure, family-centred celebration. The cross dressing of 12th night transferred to Pantomime along with the risque jokes.

Victorians made it a family festival and created the compulsion to return home for it. For a long time this was not possible for many people. Domestic servants were needed to keep the household running, transport was limited and weather and roads bad. At the time, family reunions were mostly in the summer, such as Whitsun and Michaelmas.  Wakes weeks (common in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Staffordshire) were short summer holidays when all the factories, mills or mines in a village closed; travelling fairs moved in for the local revellers. Cheaper travel by rail gave the option of spending these holidays away at Blackpool and Bournemouth, increasingly the family reunion transferred to Christmas. For urban working class families, Christmas Day dinner unlikely to involve anyone other than immediate family of Mum, Dad and children.

St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Turkey in 5th c., became patron saint of children; his name evolved into Santa Claus. Poem ‘The Night before Christmas’ by Clement Clark Moore of USA in 1822 first described him and the 8 reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blixen). Legend developed to dress him in red bishop’s robes. Pre 1870, Father Christmas was a regular character in mummers’ plays, representing a general spirit of revelry and festivity. Santa Claus was more appropriate to family Christmas; the terms are now interchangeable.

Pre 1830, exchanges of gifts were usually at New Year. From 1840’s increasing emphasis of 25th Dec. as birthday of Jesus united established tradition of gift giving at birthdays and New Year. There was also a pre-Cromwellian tradition of giving sweets and small gifts to children on Christmas day.

Adults now recalling the magic of their childhood Christmasses imagine that the magic has been lost. As a rule children do not agree. However, higher standard of living means the significance of a feast and gift giving are lost. Still remains the single most important annual festival in Britain today. Being on your own at Christmas is regarded almost as a tragedy, though this may change as Christmas has always been changing. Only recently has it been enjoyed by the mass of the population - this is its most remarkable feature.

Hogmanay and Tiffany: Gillian Edwards

In England, only the learned spoke of Epiphany, season commonly called Twelvetide or Twelftide, and Jan 6th feast as Twelfth day. Dates back to King Alfred, who is said to have promulgated a law ... with relations to holidays, by virtue of which the twelve days after the Nativity of our Saviour were made festivals ... later known as the 12 days of Christmas. In medieval courts and great houses, feasting and celebrations continued until final revel of Twelfth Night. Nowadays the superstitious mark Twelfth Day by taking down Christmas decorations. Twelfth Night precedes Twelfth Day; increasing confusion over this as we have forgotten the ancient custom of starting day not at midnight but at six the previous evening. This last great festival of Christmas - eating, drinking, dancing, mumming, foolery and plays - of Twelfth Night was actually on what to us would be the night of Jan 5th/6th.

END