United Kingdom

My father in law bought a flat in king's cross for virtually nothing in the 70s because it was considered shit, there was lots of drugs and prostitution.

I'm too well mannered to ask him upfront exactly how much it's worth now but it's generally accepted he did well there.

That's a different generation though. He went into property his whole life, and he sold us our house at massive mate's rates discount but obviously we've still got a mortgage which we can fit into our budget just. But the moment it comes out of 'fixed rate' territory I'm really worried.

We've been a lot luckier than most - without my wife's side of the family we'd still be renting with the greedy landlord twats in shitty little box rooms. It's a lot easier if the landlord is your father in law. But I worry for people of my generation and for my son's generation because this is, in anyone's book, absolute madness. It shouldn't be so impossible to buy or rent a normal house on a normal wage. The system is fucked. People are paying through the nose in the UK for housing and housing should be made affordable to everyone - it should be a right not a privilege.

I know it's easy for me to say that because I have been privileged by the person I married but it makes me sick that normal people in this country are in doubt about their living circumstances on a daily basis.

I have drunk a certain amount of wine tonight.