ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Am I the only one who thinks this is really ridiculous. G Brown is acting as though he is a new party taking over, not part - a very large part - of a previous administration. This so called 'change' is laughable how can he disown what went before?? I admit I am far from a Brown fan, but truly how can he think that we are so gullible to take this. It was the same with Gore when he tried to say he wasn't part of Clinton's administration it is just not sane.

i agree with the al gore analogy.....remember what happened to him. I feel betrayed by Brown already. The new style of govt.: anti presidential, pro local govt and consulting unions and local party aparatchiks.

obviously this is not the same Gordon Brown who ran the Treasury for ten years as a megalomaniac, sulking like a 5 year old when he didn get his own way.

cant be the same Gordon Brown who helped to run 2 incredibly successful election campaigns in 97 and 01.

dont worry bout pleasing dianne abbot, doug henderson, claire short et al. try and worry bout the british electorate, who havent voted for you yet Gordon.

bring back blair; brown sauce stinks! otherwise i see 12 years in oppossition again.

Your both wrong. Brown has got the politics right, everyone wants more affordable housing. He is striking the balance between holding on to what has been good about the last 10 years whilst renewing or moderating what hasn't worked out well.

Never mind Gordon Brown's changing rooms, it's about time Trinny and Susannah were set on Stephanie Flanders.

I know this will seem entirely off, but Eric Pickles has to be one of the most inept politicians I've seen on Newsnight in quite some time. His arguments were poor, his background knowledge seemed shady at best and his grasp of the English language seemed almost non-existent. Who are we to turn to if he and others like him are the best alternative we have for this country?

What? Gordon Brown and the MPC created the housing affordability crisis. The only way things will change is a house price crash. Thankfully, this one's out of Brown's hands - the coming credit crunch will bring this whole house of cards down.

The government needs to work on both the supply and demand side of the housing equation. Demand is currently being inflated by the high number of properties, particularly smaller ones attractive to first time buyers, being bought by buy-to-letters. In some areas it can be a majority of new-build flats go to buy-to-let landlords. While this situation continues, we will find it difficult to build enough housing for people to buy. The government could easily produce disincentives to buy-to-let and also holiday home ownership which is a huge problem in some parts of the country. The government should also act to reduce the flow of immigrants which are adding to pressure on the housing stock.

Yvette Cooper's displays all the ignorance and arrogance that we are all familiar with from the new labour gang, and to think she is rated by her fellow MPs. Cooper's performace on tonights newsnight is yet another illistration why this country is knackard; it's governed by wild eyed nutters, a scary Doctor Who moment was this, "mummy mummy, make her stop talking, she's scaring me"..

Rupert Wingfield Hayes' report tonight was one of the best pieces of reporting I have seen in a long time. Beautifully shot, great story, well told, very informative and impartially presented. This should be nominated for an RTS award: it may not have uncovered some ghastly scandal but one came away knowing more, understanding more and with a renewed admiration for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ skills - Rupert fluent in Russian and Chinese (Mandarin?) Congratulations to Rupert, his producer and cameraman/editor.

Ken Pollock, former producer, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Top Gear

Having written a small essay in praise of Rupert Winfield Hayes, you delete it! I won't bother again but will send it direct to Rupert.

Now I've heard it all!! The housing shortage, according to the Housing Minister on your programme tonight, is due in part to all the widows in this country who have the audacity to live to a ripe old age!!! Nothing to do with all the younger singletons our modernity is producing,the ever growing student population or indeed the masses of immigrants we are expected to absorb - no - it's all down to the old widows! One question then.....where did all the widows live before they arrived at this unfortunate juncture?

Super Casinos - no complaint about
affordable housing, I live in Greater London - but has nobody spared a thought for us poor souls who work in the Gambling Industry?
Is Gordon starting down the road to prohibition? Since the Licensing Act 2003 followed by the Gambling Act 2005 which becomes effective 1st September, Gambling in this country will be subject to a more stringent regime. This has been the result of a lot of hard work, legislation, consultation, and a great deal of public money spent! It has also cost the industry a great deal of money and headaches - don't move the goal posts now - please!!!

Hang on. Gordon is partly responsible for the housing boom, when he was chancellor. Now he is saying he is going to help. What a two faced idiot.

As for the 3 million more homes by 2020. 2.4 million were already promised so he's increased this by 600K - less than 60K extra per year. Whoopee Doo!!

I agree with Sarah Coles comment about G.B. and widows!
Can the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ instigate a ban on Yvette Balls being invited to contribute to any programme until she learns to tell the truth? She makes me so angry with her petulance and conduct unbecoming.

Whenever there is a discussion now among groups of people on Newsnight, one will interrupt another and they will all talk at the same time. It is impossible to hear what they are saying when they break in to each other's conversation. It happened again tonight and I now turn off the programme when this occurs as it is a complete waste of time. Decent manners have disappeared.

New housing, and a new City, on green field sites. The Government needs to stop messing around, and giving over bits MOD land that could be needed in the future, and would be better used for our military services. Stop building in, or near industrial area's that have gotten into trouble, because the wages needed, are so high to pay for mortages, and general cost of living in the first place anyway.

I agree with the applause for the Russia/China report tonight - and nearly all the reasons stated by Ken Pollok at comment No.9. However, I found it empathetic & fairminded which seems to me somehow richer than merely impartial (which in any case I doubt broadcasting can ever achieve to a point of perfection). And yes, I loved the experience of being fortunate enough to benefit from Rupert Wingfield Hayes's fluency in more than one language and culture and his skill at being able to mediate between these.

On the subject of Housing:
Does Mr Pickles understand the extent of the problem, I wonder? Did not Greater London more or less "grow organically"? Look at the cost and muddle to try and sort out the infrastructure now!

I rather fear we need a "Grand Design" (or two!) - but that does not mean that such a plan could not contain within it elements of local choice and flavour - which I expect is what Mr Pickles might like to mean by "organic" growth. And nor does "Grand Design" need to mean idiotic and overbearing.

The Swiss and others seem to have come up with some good 'modern' examples of how to build Affordable Housing - apartments and town houses. They seem to be able to take into account, cost, build quality, finishes, comfortable and functional internal proportions, harmonious use of communal external spaces, functional communal services and also somehow incorporate into these a sense of privacy for individual units. The effort in such places really seems to have been put into getting the experience of living in them right and keeping the exteriors quite plain (though well thought out), rather than making grandilloquent or imitative statements with the exteriors and revealing little care for the prospective inhabitants who will use the space from within.
We should surely be looking at good & successful examples wherever we can find them.

Children need spaces to meet and play - sometimes by themselves and sometimes in the company of adults. The elderly need to be able to be private and quiet at times as well as be to be able to enjoy company and contribute. These are our β€œFamilies". I'd rather we build with these things in mind than fiddle about at the margins.

Agreed with the poster 2 posts above. The presenter should have told the others to shut the hell up while one of them was speaking. It was impossible to hear anything above the babble.

Apart from Rupert Wingfield Hayes report this programme was a shambles and very badly edited.

Last nights programme was indeed a shambles and most of it was down to Emily Maitlis. I've been a bit of a fan up till now but she seemed more interested in herself and the questions she was asking rather than making a good programme. She didn't respond back to anything and her failure to keep control meant I just couldn't hear what was going on.

Worst bit: Her failure to pick up the odious Yvette Cooper on her assertion that the reason there's a housing shortage is because widow's are living longer and want somewhere to live. Nothing to do with immigration then? And Emily Maitlis didn't even seem to hear this preposterous comment - Paxo or Gavin would have been on it like a light.

Buck up Emily and stop being so fascinated with yourself.

Emily too tired maybe now she is doing a column for the Spectator
The quality of the show suffers if they spread themselves too thin.
I thought the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ had stopped all that but see it's creeping in again presenters writing for Newspapers.

The Rupert Wingfield Hayes report was totally spoilt for me by the incessant,intrusive and totally unnecessary "background" -or should I say "foreground"- music. Without the musical intrusions, this would have been a serious piece of journalism.Whoever chose this particular music might argue it was put in as a link to the subject matter- I just think it was patronising.
I expected better of Newsnight

There is an old russian folk song about the gulags that basically goes 'Siberia is not so bad because it is still part of Mother Russia'.

As pointed out by Pierre Grimes

'The rise of the European nation states can be seen to have been inspired by the thought of Ibn Khaldoun, a 14th Century Muslim philosopher, who advanced the idea that once a people share a common bond of religious feeling a nation is born and becomes powerful as it plays out its destiny in history.

The nation state ignores religious feeling and replaces it with the bond of patriotism which is awakened when the state is threatened or attacked.'

So it is not paranoia to watch over the composition of a nation state because once a new common feeling is established you have a new state.

what common feeling is there left in the uk? If none then we are a state in name only?

having the weather after the watch again show is a good idea.

Ther are so many fields. They are so boring. They don't do anything. This is now a time where someone would say: I remember when all these fields, shops, offices, were industry. Heavy industry is part of the answer to this enviromental problem. Insurance companies, retail, service in general, waterfront developments, mangement consultancies that cannot manage, and cost a lot, are not the answer.

Millions of people traveling in their cars to their offices with all the lighting, and computers, is not. I forgotten what this post is about now.

Ther are so many fields. They are so boring. They don't do anything. This is now a time where someone would say: I remember when all these fields, shops, offices, were industry. Heavy industry is part of the answer to this enviromental problem. Insurance companies, retail, service in general, waterfront developments, mangement consultancies that cannot manage, and cost a lot, are not the answer.

Millions of people traveling in their cars to their offices with all the lighting, and computers, is not. I forgotten what this post is about now.

I would wish to agree with Ms Debate and Penny Simpson that the production values of the programme on 11th July were AWFUL and the discussion a shambles. Will Producers and Editors please get across to the contributors that with everyone talking at once, nobody is heard and Newsnight is becoming a switch off. Remember that it may sound alright in "the box" but you cause viewers to SWITCH OFF

Could someone please tell me the name of the enchanting choral music played at the begining and end of Rupert Wingfield Hayes' report? Thanks.

I dont think people realize just how much steroids, blood transfusions/anything that enhances performance has contributed to the attention of the sports veiwing public. I don't believe there are many athletes competing in the proffessional arena today that do not take performance enhancing drugs.
The powers that be need to recognize the truth and leave these uber humans to battle it out.
Yes we need regulation. Some of these guys would die to win. Actually die to win. They do it all the time. That's what we all love right? Someone willing to transport us with their heroism to the special place on the TV dial.
It's all so obvious.
I hate this moral high ground crap.
It's the Tour De France, it's the most grueling race in the history of sport. And we are nit picking.
Look at the early photos, we aren't the same animal. Open it up and let them have their time.
Thanks,
Peta Sanderson