[Bright Raven]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12377215

More news ...... lots of public protest but no U turn.

[northfifeduckling]

my "MP" voted for it, despite my complaint 

[waterhouse]

I think the forestry issue is vote loser which doesn't even save a lof of money, if any.  Hopefully the govt is flying a kite and will reel it back in.

I see the essence of the economic problem in house prices.  My mother bought a flat for £100k and sold it for £240k ten years later.  This is a 9% compound return, way higher than interest rates were.  If the property had merely kept pace with inflation it would have been worth perhaps £140k and therefore considerably more affordable.  If the person who then bought it borrowed 90% of the "value", that is £215k, then they're borrowing a lot more than than an affordable value, encouraged by a stupid and greedy banking system (and a stupid and sleepy regulator.

We need house prices to fall to give our kids a chance, but the banks can't let that happend cos they can't afford the losses and the govt won't let it happen because kicking people out of houses is bad for them too.  In Germany most people rent because tenants are heavily protected.  House prices don't rise, so people don't buy them and tenant protection means they don't want to buy them so prices don't rise.  Here rising prices mean prosperity...

A mess.

[faith0504]

just found this news article

Sales of 15% of England's publicly-owned forests are to be put on hold while the criteria for selling them off are re-examined, the Government said. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Forest sales delayed amid review Enlarge photo The move follows widespread criticism of proposals by ministers to offload the remaining 85% of England's public forest estate to timber companies, charities and local communities.

The proposed sales of 15% of the forests announced in last year's spending review will not go ahead until a review aimed at "significantly" strengthening the protections given to the woodlands is completed, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said.

The sale of 15% of the forest estate - the maximum the Government can sell under current legislation - aimed to raise £100 million towards the Environment Department's budget.

But Ms Spelman said the Government was committed to increasing protection for access and public benefit in public woodlands, and that the "inadequate measures" applied to sales under the previous administration would be reviewed.

She said the review would not affect the commitment to sell 15% of the forest estate over the next four years, and had no impact on the continuing consultation into the remaining 85% of the public forests.

The Government's consultation, which provoked a storm of protest when it was published last month, outlines plans to offload England's 258,000-hectare public forest estate, currently managed by the Forestry Commission, over the next 10 years.

The proposals include a £250 million sale of leaseholds for commercially valuable forests to timber companies, measures to allow communities, charities and even local authorities to buy or lease woods, and plans to transfer well-known "heritage" woods such as the New Forest into the hands of charities.

The statement relates only to the 15% of English publicly-owned woodlands already earmarked for sale.

Ms Spelman said: "In light of the Government commitment to increase protection for access and public benefit in our woodlands, the criteria for these sales will be reviewed so that protections are significantly strengthened following the inadequate measures that were applied to sales under the previous administration. Pending this review, no individual woodland site will be put on the market."