Pilchenstein posted:

Can anyone recommend me some cheapish e-books? I've just finished Flat Earth News and Bad Science for the second time, so anything in that sort of vein where even a simpleton like myself might learn something. I've got Bad Pharma but I'm finding it a bit of a slog, if that helps anyone judge just how short my attention span is.

My mam's recovering from surgery, so I'm spending a fair bit of time at her house and need something to keep me sane while she's watching soaps. Thanks in advance.

LemonDrizzle posted:

Capital in the 21st century by light-hearted pop-economist Tommy P. may be up your street.

LemonDrizzle posted:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pol...ding-again.html

quote:

Ministers also announced plans to enable fracking to take place under people's homes without their permission.

mfcrocker posted:

First 32 people drawn at http://antlab.co.uk/sweepstake/c/b2ca35c6.html


If you're not in this list you either haven't entered or will be drawn before the end of the week. As it stands we've got 47 entrants for £235 to some charity.

Still time to enter, will cost you a fiver to a charity: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wrOZLqHwOiUrz9UCC2mTAQPscdOi53MIF5n6D8r86_Q

S106 Management posted:

Affordable Housing and Section 106 payments aren't always inevitable, we can advise on how to avoid or significantly reduce them

If the profit margin for your scheme is pushed to below 17.5% by Affordable Housing or other Section 106 payments, we can help. The demands made by local planning authorities should not jeopardise the viability of any underlying planning permission. In these cases we can prepare a Viability Assessment based on properly documented building costs and sales values, helping you to negotiate a significant reduction in your Affordable Housing provision or Section 106 payments.

DJT518T posted:

Another exciting rental opportunity appears in London

"Please note that the property is height restricted to 5 foot 6 inches (167.64 centimetres) due to the low ceilings and also consists of no windows."

Crane Fist posted:

I'm in, still got a UK bank account with some money in so I may as well do something good with it.

Sidenote- the form's not written in Russian, right? What the gently caress is going on with my google?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:

I think I've just discovered a new group of people who should be nailed to a loving wall when the revolution comes: http://section-106.co.uk




Sorry poors no homes for you they were less profitable now get out of my way I've a beach to be sunning myself on.

IceAgeComing posted:

what a load of loving twats

Is there anything actually good in the queens speech this year? Like there's usually something that everyone can always agree with although I don't know with this government...

hookerbot 5000 posted:

We get to sack MP's who get sent to prison.

DJT518T posted:

Another exciting rental opportunity appears in London

"Please note that the property is height restricted to 5 foot 6 inches (167.64 centimetres) due to the low ceilings and also consists of no windows."

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-30455280.html

SybilVimes posted:

yeah, if you can get 10% of the entire constituency to sign a petition - it's hard enough getting that many to vote in the first place

tooterfish posted:

It's a loving hobbit hole! How cool is that?

You guys are so negative all the time!

Pilchenstein posted:

Can anyone recommend me some cheapish e-books? I've just finished Flat Earth News and Bad Science for the second time, so anything in that sort of vein where even a simpleton like myself might learn something. I've got Bad Pharma but I'm finding it a bit of a slog, if that helps anyone judge just how short my attention span is.

My mam's recovering from surgery, so I'm spending a fair bit of time at her house and need something to keep me sane while she's watching soaps. Thanks in advance.

SybilVimes posted:

yeah, if you can get 10% of the entire constituency to sign a petition - it's hard enough getting that many to vote in the first place

SybilVimes posted:

It's 'near a tube station' though (no poo poo, it looks like it's been built in a tube tunnel)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:

I think I've just discovered a new group of people who should be nailed to a loving wall when the revolution comes: http://section-106.co.uk




Sorry poors no homes for you they were less profitable now get out of my way I've a beach to be sunning myself on.

Munin posted:

Personally, my favourite bit is the low to the ground fisheye shots to make it impossible to gauge the size of it properly.

mfcrocker posted:

First 32 people drawn at http://antlab.co.uk/sweepstake/c/b2ca35c6.html

Renaissance Robot posted:

Wait till you get there and find out all the pieces of furniture are lovingly crafted 80% scale replicas

Munin posted:

Personally, my favourite bit is the low to the ground fisheye shots to make it impossible to gauge the size of it properly.

HortonNash posted:

My dad reckons he caught Barratt Homes doing that back in the day. He used to be an architect, and some friends of his were thinking of buying one of the new builds on an estate somewhere so they asked him to come have a look at a show house with them. He noticed something strange about the couch, and only realised what was up when he, a quite slight man, sat down on it and found it was way too small for him. He then whipped out a tape measure and found that they had scaled everything down to make the rooms feel way bigger because most people viewing didn't bother to actually go into the rooms, they just stuck their heads in and glanced around whilst the salesman delivered the spiel.

IceAgeComing posted:

For the same price you could get a p nice 3 bed flat on Byres Road in the west end of Glasgow right next to the university.

London lives in its own loving world!

Umiapik posted:

I visited Glasgow the other year. It was alright.

DJT518T posted:

Another exciting rental opportunity appears in London

"Please note that the property is height restricted to 5 foot 6 inches (167.64 centimetres) due to the low ceilings and also consists of no windows."

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-30455280.html

Zephro posted:

"This well-appointed hobbit hole features gas central heating".

quote:

A tiny studio flat that has become a symbol of London's soaring property prices is to be investigated by planning, environmental health and fire safety authorities after the Guardian revealed details of its shoebox-like proportions.

The property, in Kember Street, near King's Cross, sparked an online furore after it was offered for rental at £170 a week or £737 a month, only to be snapped up in less than 16 hours.

Though marketed as a "modern studio apartment", the flat seemed to consist of little more than a small room into which had been crammed a double mattress, a wardrobe and several fitted kitchen units, leaving barely enough room to open the front door or walk round the bed, plus a separate toilet and shower.

Paul Convery, who represents the Caledonian ward on Islington council for Labour, told the Guardian he had prompted the council's planning inspectorate to investigate after seeing photographs of the flat, saying he suspected it had been created by subdividing an existing studio flat without planning permission.

It would also be viewed by Islington's housing standards team, he said. "There are basic, minimum standards set in law, a series of risks that are involved in substandard housing, so it will be tested [according to] those. I don't know if it will fall foul of those minimum standards, but I'm drat sure that, if this is a subdivision without planning permission, then the wheels will turn."

Convery has also asked the fire service to inspect the flat to ensure it conforms to fire safety standards, he said.

But the owner of the block in which the tiny flat is situated insisted he had appropriate planning permission for the 40 individual residential units in the four-storey building.

Andrew Panayi, a well-known local landlord who owns multiple properties in the immediate vicinity, told the Guardian: "The property does have planning. It's been checked several times by the environmental health and the planning department. We have not subdivided units." He said he had bought the property, a former hostel, in 2003.

Panayi said the photograph chosen by the estate agent Relocate Me "didn't do justice" to the flat. "They didn't photograph the bathroom or the [communal] roof terrace." The particulars had also failed to mention the fact that central heating, internet and unlimited hot water were included in the price, he said.

Despite its tiny proportions, the property was let within less than 16 hours of its listing early on Tuesday morning, after the estate agents received more than 20 calls and a similar number of emails.

Convery said the borough, like other London council areas, had "hundreds and hundreds" of landlords renting out substandard or poorly managed properties.

"We're mainly talking about young 20-somethings, students, new arrivals in London and European visitors. They are exploited on an industrial scale, but they are often not really complaining about it because the price of living in zone 1 or 2, and most of London, is so extortionate now that they are prepared to shrug their shoulders and make that trade-off between quality and price."

An Islington Council spokesman said: "We take alleged breaches of planning rules and the housing acts very seriously, and are seeking to gain access to this property to investigate fully and rigorously.

"We will take robust action if any planning controls or housing acts are being breached."

HortonNash posted:

My dad reckons he caught Barratt Homes doing that back in the day. He used to be an architect, and some friends of his were thinking of buying one of the new builds on an estate somewhere so they asked him to come have a look at a show house with them. He noticed something strange about the couch, and only realised what was up when he, a quite slight man, sat down on it and found it was way too small for him. He then whipped out a tape measure and found that they had scaled everything down to make the rooms feel way bigger because most people viewing didn't bother to actually go into the rooms, they just stuck their heads in and glanced around whilst the salesman delivered the spiel.

Kegluneq posted:

Hobbit holes had windows.

quote:

Paul Convery, who represents the Caledonian ward on Islington council for Labour, told the Guardian he had prompted the council's planning inspectorate to investigate after seeing photographs of the flat, saying he suspected it had been created by subdividing an existing studio flat without planning permission.

Umiapik posted: