Tag Archives: James Yardley

30 Days Of Gratitude Day Two: My Husband

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Following on from day one, here is day two of my thirty days of gratitude. Some people don’t get to find The One but for six years now I have been lucky enough to live my life alongside my best friend, building memories along the way. I am not going to bore you all with the reasons my husband, James, is amazing, I will just say that I know I am lucky to have such a soppy, caring, sweet, loving, decent, hard-working and moral husband. We have been through a lot together and we are as happy today as the day we met. Oh, and he is the father of my son. Thank you James. #30daysofgratitude

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The Quintessentially Foundation & The Crown Estate’s ‘Fayre of St James’

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Frost joined 500 other Londoners, including, Hugh Grant, Leona Lewis, Gabrielle Aplin, Tamsin Egerton, Charlotte Tilbury, Lady Ella Windsor, Olivia Inge and Nick Frost for the Quintessentially Foundations and The Crown Estate’s ‘Fayre of St James’ in association with Quaglino’s. It was tons of fun and we had an amazing night. The drinks were superb and the canapés were delicious. We had our picture taken in the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve Photo Booth created by world-famous photographer Rankin and hobnobbed with the great and good of London.

Alison Nimmo and Leona Lewis

Astrid Harbord

Ben Elliot and Marie Claire Elliot

Ben Goldsmith and Jemima Jones

Charlotte Tilbury and Tamsin Egerton

Hugh Grant 2

Lady Ella Windsor

Nick Frost

Natalie Coyle and Tamsin Egerton

Michael Bromley, Parisa Tarjomani, Betsy-Blue English, Charlie George

Olivia Inge and Beatrix Ong

Only the Young and Rays of Sunshine

The evening included a charity Christmas concert, with traditional Christmas carols and hymns and readings from Tamsin Egerton, Hugh Grant and Nick Frost, followed by the switching on of the Jermyn Street Christmas lights by Leona Lewis and the elegant Christmas party at Quaglino’s. Guests enjoyed sumptuous canapés and Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve cocktails, with live entertainment from X Factor hopefuls Only The Young and a Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve photobooth created by world-famous photographer Rankin. The evening raised over £200,000 for Rays of Sunshine, the UK charity committed to granting wishes to the seriously and terminally ill children between the ages of three and eighteen.

When: Thursday 27th November
Where: St James’s Church, Piccadilly and Quaglino’s, Mayfair
What they ate: American Crab Cake with Bloody Mary Dressing, Mini Lemon Meringue Pie, Wild Mushroom and Truffle Risotto
What they drank: Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve Flower cocktail, Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve Going for Gold cocktail, champagne

What they wore:
Roxie Nafousi wore a combination of Amanda Wakeley and Dior, whilst Alice Neylor-Leyland wore a beautiful dress by Valentino. Cheska Hull was dressed in Coast and Natalie Coyle was wearing Ted Baker and Steve Madden.

VIP Guests included: Hugh Grant, Tamsin Egerton, Leona Lewis, Gabrielle Aplin, Tamsin Egerton, Nick Frost, Charlotte Tilbury, Lady Ella Windsor, Olivia Inge, ,Ben Goldsmith, Jemima Jones, Astrid Harbord, Ben Elliot, Dylan Jones, Henry Conway, Francis Boulle, Cheska Hull, Adam Deacon, Roxie Nafousi, Preeya Kalidas, Tanya Burr, Natalie Coyle, Noah Huntley and X Factor’s Only the Young.

 

 

21st Raindance Film Festival Opening Gala & How To Make Money Selling Drugs Premiere

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The 21st Raindance Film Festival started with a richter scale bang. The great and the good of the International Film Industry congregated at the Vue West End in the iconic film centre of Leicester Square.

Elliott Grove, Raindance founder and champion of independent cinema, was in his element and shiny with success. Elliot looked incredibly happy and rightly so; his achievement is vast.

After the red carpet we were greeted with champagne and mingled.

Deatheater and prominent British Actor Jon Campling

Deatheater and prominent British Actor Jon Campling

 

Raindance founder Eliott Grove.

Raindance founder Eliott Grove.

 

Catherine Balavage, editor of Frost, and James Yardley, Frost Writer.

Catherine Balavage, editor of Frost, and James Yardley, Frost Writer.

We then headed into the cinema, grabbed our goody bags filled with popcorn and Pop Chips and waited to watch Michael Cooke’s documentary How to Make Money Selling Drug. 

The controversial titled documentary, supported by  addiction services is a brilliant satire on how to sell drugs, but don’t worry, it is an anti-drug film. With an excellent format of going from street dealer to kingpin, it highlights the injustice of law enforcement and social economics. I cannot rave about this documentary enough. It completely changed my thinking and is now my favourite documentary. This is a very important documentary and everyone should see it. It starts off in a light-hearted way but it carries a very serious message. It does not shy away from difficult issues. Definitely go and see it.

 

The Opening Night After Party Gala at Café de Paris from 9pm with a performance from the wonderfully unique and talented band, Pepe Deluxé. was also great. Raindance is now part of the London fabric, a film festival deeply in the very fabric of the British Film Industry itself. Don’t miss it.

The Next Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis – We Have Learnt Nothing

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Some lessons are never learned and the boom and bust of the housing market is one of them. As we finish one housing crash we are already setting ourselves up for the next one. The seeds for the next sub-prime mortgage crisis have already been sown.

It stems from a desire by all parties to encourage people to buy their own homes and keep house prices going up. This results in an unsustainable boom followed by a sharp correction, all to the detriment of stability and economic growth.

Everyone from the building companies, estate agents, mortgage brokers, banks, government, owners and even buyers all want to see the market rise. Prior to the crash we had mortgages being offered for 120% of a home’s value. We now have offers encouraging people to buy houses which are equally or more dangerous.

The reality of the situation is that house buyers (particularly first time buyers) are not earning enough to get onto the housing ladder at the moment. There simply isn’t the demand.

Desperate to sell the houses on their books, Estate agents and builders have been offering shared equity solutions to first time buyers. The buyer only buys a percentage of the property (making it more affordable and much easier for them to get a mortgage). They then pay rent to the building company on the percentage they do not own. The scheme is all over housing websites. The government has been encouraging this scheme. In fact it is taking part in it.

On the face of it the scheme looks attractive. I admit even being interested in it myself initially. However once you understand the motives behind it and the reality of it we see how dangerous it can be.

You can see how it can become very expensive for someone who takes on this scheme. They are paying a mortgage, rent and service charges, not to mention maintaining 100% of a property they don’t fully own.

Many newspapers were initially very critical, until building companies started taking ads out in their papers advertising the scheme.

The service charges and rent often rocket and the homes are almost impossible to sell leaving owners completely trapped even when they need to move in an emergency. You can read some people’s nightmare experiences here.

Now, in what can only be described as utter madness, the UK government’s latest plan is to guarantee 95% mortgages. The ‘New Buy’ or mortgage indemnity scheme (MIG) only requires a 5% deposit from the buyer and if they default the government will pick up the tab along with the bank.

The government is trying to artificially inflate demand in the short term to boost the construction sector and push house prices up so everyone feels wealthier. This should also boost consumer spending and the economy as a whole. But this is a typically short term politically motivated view. The current government cares nothing for a future crisis which might occur in 10 years’ time. At some point the market will have to correct to an equilibrium level and the more we inflate prices artificially the bigger that crash will be. All the jobs created will be lost along with many more as well.

Nothing has been learnt from the recent crisis. With a government guarantee, banks and mortgage brokers will be flogging mortgages to anyone they can. This is exactly what happened before the recent crisis in America. Just look at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

When prices do start to fall owners will have no incentive to keep paying their mortgages as they move into negative equity. If house prices fall by 20% and you have only put down a 5% deposit what incentive do you have to keep paying the mortgage? As prices continue to fall this gets worse and turns into a negative cycle.

When the bubble does burst the ensuing crisis will be just like the recent one, except this time instead of the banks bearing the brunt of the loses, it will be the you and I the taxpayer.

Unfortunately we never learn from our mistakes. We must stop creating these damaging bubbles. We should just let the housing market correct itself naturally; unfortunately the government just can’t help itself. It is now just a matter of time before the next major sub-prime mortgage crisis. I just hope we can survive the fallout.

The Latest Greek Bailout – The Worst Decision Possible

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It always happens with politicians, you get ‘compromise’. And it’s exactly what’s happened with the latest Greek bailout. Rather than the much needed bazooka to deal, with the problem we’ve ended up with the usual indecisive and ineffective compromise, which only results in a short term solution.

If politicians had just had the guts to commit a bit more support we might have had a real resolution. As it is Greece is left mired in uncertainty. It is extremely likely a further bailout and/or default will be needed.

Even under the optimistic baseline scenario of the current deal Greece will still be at a debt to GDP ratio of 129% by 2020. That’s 8 years away and still well above the 120% considered unsustainable.

And what reasons are there for thinking the baseline will come true. Greek growth was far worse than expected last year at -6.1%. Greece has never been able to successfully implement the required reforms in the past. If Greece misses its growth targets by just 1%, a scenario which seems highly possible given Greece is expected to grow by a rosy 2.3% in 2014 (despite severe austerity measures), all other factors being equal Greece will have a debt to GDP ratio of 159%. Virtually the same as it has now! And if Greece doesn’t return to growth the consequences don’t bare thinking about. One bad number in the next 8 years would knock everything of course.

This bailout will not offer any confidence for business. The Greek people are already furious. How will they be after another 8 years of severe austerity with no or little progress on debt? Even if they achieve the baseline and get back to 129% debt to GDP they are still left in a dire position.

Once again the policy makers have found the worst option. Short term thinking politicians are pandering to their electorates and only thinking of their upcoming elections.

To set a date for default, take ownership of the problem and leave the Euro would have been a better option for the long term for both Greece and the Euro.

Even better a bigger bailout designed to knock Greek debt to GDP ratio back below 100% would have inspired confidence. Businesses would not be so afraid to invest. Greece might have even been able to sell some of its assets to the private sector for a reasonable price. This was an affordable solution. Unfortunately the German tax payer and others refuse to pay.

At some point either the Germans or the Greeks are going to say enough is enough. NO MORE BAILOUTS. It is likely that Greece will default again and leave the Euro anyway. But instead of doing it now and beginning the recovery we must drag on with the worries of Greece weighing on growth and confidence throughout the whole of Europe.

Anonymous: Damaging The Vital Cause Of Internet Freedom

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Anonymous – the radical decentralised online community ostensibly associated with the goal of ‘free speech’ – has caused controversy by issuing a statement sympathising with the UK riots.

It is yet another example of action by the organisation that damages the vital cause of internet freedom. A cause which the organisation claims to defend.

The Anonymous collective has become increasingly prominent. It is most famous for its DDoS attacks which bombard a target webserver with so many requests that it is forced to shut down. The Mastercard and Visa websites have been victims.

Frost readers will know how much I believe in the freedom of the internet and it pains me to see the cause tarnished in this way. It was always wrong for Anonymous to take criminal action. Their actions only give governments further justification to clamp down on the internet further. This is now more the case than ever following their recent statement.

For a supposedly decentralised community, the comments on the UK riots were pretty categorical, worryingly and obviously so. There is an elite within Anonymous that has its own agenda. http://pastebin.com/V00tbr01

The comments can only be interpreted as seeking to incite a revolution, saying: ‘Your politicians mask the extent to which a significant section of society is stuck in an impoverished way of life with little hope for the future.

“It is time to take a stand and realise that solutions will not be found in today’s corrupt political landscape.”

Anonymous called for people to join them in a day of action on October 15th. Although Anonymous made clear it did not condone the violence, it was sympathetic to the rioters. It suggested the riots were as a result of political anger and resentment. Let’s get real here. These riots had no political point (save perhaps the initial riot in Tottenham), and everybody knows that. These riots were about self-gratifying violence and greedy opportunism.

Anonymous will point to the government response to the riots, potentially regulating and controlling social media sites. They will argue this makes it a legitimate target. Undoubtedly, the government is disgracefully jumping on the riots as an excuse for further regulation. No one truly blames twitter for the looting.

That doesn’t mean anarchy is the answer. It doesn’t make it right to incite a revolution. Internet regulation doesn’t have anything to do with anti-cuts protests or unions and it doesn’t mean ‘justice is only for the wealthy’. You have gone beyond your remit, Anonymous.

A revolution might sound romantic, but we only need to look back a few years to see the true horror they bring. They also never end in free speech.

US Loses Triple AAA Credit Rating

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One of the world’s three leading credit agencies has downgraded US debt. Standard and Poors cut the US credit rating one notch to AA+ with a negative outlook.

The agency argues that the deficit reduction plan passed by congress didn’t go far enough in addressing the US deficit. Whilst the US debt to GDP ratio is already high at 65.2% of GDP, total government liability is actually far greater when including government agencies such as Medicare and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The two main other credit agencies said last night that they had no plans to downgrade US debt in the near future.
Officials in Washington were furious with the decision and claimed to have uncovered a two trillion dollar error in the agencies analysis. The impact on the markets remains to be seen. Given the panic of the last week investors have been piling into US government bonds pushing yields to record lows despite the US government debt problems. This latest downgrade couldn’t have come at a worse time but we will have to wait until Monday to see the impact it has on the markets.

Investors will be worried that the downgrade may impact the wider economy, president Obama has already warned of the impact a downgrade would have. The downgrade threatens the dollars status as the world’s reserve currency. The instability could have severe consequences for the world as a whole.

FIRST TIME BUYERS BEWARE: The Shared Equity Con

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First time buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to get on the property ladder. Incomes and property prices remain distorted and banks have become increasingly stringent.

With the situation as it is many first time buyers are turning to shared equity housing schemes. Instead of buying the whole of a property you only buy a percentage. The local government housing authority or a building company own the rest. You pay rent on the remaining percentage but the amount you borrow is significantly reduced and so are your mortgage repayments. You also require a smaller deposit.

The government loves the scheme, it helps the construction industry and keeps the property market booming.

As someone looking to get onto the property ladder I had been considering such a scheme. I was therefore appalled when I came across some of the horror stories people have had with shared equity schemes.   I felt it was important that anyone looking into the scheme should be aware of what they are getting into. Here is a selection of people’s experience.  All comments are taken from the evening standard see the full article here and all the other comments as well.
– Marlise, Reading, 01/07/2010

Biggest mistake of my life! I bought a 40% share of a property through Thames Valley Housing Association in 2005. After a couple of years, rent had gone up by almost £200 and service charges sky rocketed, for a very poor service. Due to personal circumstances I had to move to London, to which TVHA gave me permission to rent via the local council. The council tenants did not pay rent for close to a year, and after struggling to pay living expenses in London and Rent/Mortgage on the shared ownership property, I went into serious debt, as well as mortgage debt. TVHA have been extremely unhelpful in this situation. Not making it easy for me to sell my share of the property (the costs of which are ridiculous). I am now unemployed and left to deal with mortgage debt collectors’ calls and harassment from TVHA for their rent. I no longer have an attachment to this property and would love to see it go as it has caused me so much stress, but I am trapped.

 

 

– SR, London E14, 15/04/2010

Biggest mistake of my life wish I had read this four years ago. Desperately need to sell to move closer to a disabled relative, there are errors in the lease preventing me from selling and the housing association are taking their time to sort it out. Paying a fortune in service charges for poor service.

 

 

– Lewis, Southampton – England, 02/03/2010

Very Interesting reading all the comments, only wish the info had been out there 2 years ago before I bought my 40% share. Rent and charges have jumped up by 75% in 2 years, flat has dropped £40,000 in value, can’t afford to increase my share, can’t afford to sell, and now paying more in combined rent and mortgage than I would have if I were privately renting….
Whatever anybody thinks, it is genuinely a mistake to get involved in shared ownership (even in a rising market) believe me!!
– Josh, London, 17/07/2009

 

Hi, I have just bought on shared ownership. This was the only means of myself and girlfriend to get on the ladder. We are paying a good £450 cheaper than renting in that area. Our incomes are low but we still managed to get a 4.5% fixed rate. This was the only option for us. To be honest all the problems are down to lack of research and thought. In a falling climate you will obviously find it hard to sell property. Not only this but we have gone into this scheme planning on staircasing to 100%. I don’t think anyone can say this is worse than renting as I am saving £450 per month to go on more equity.


As a long term I don’t see this as an investment but a foot up. To me it’s less risk of neg equity if circumstances change i.e break up. If you go in to this thinking it’s an easy way then you will find problems every day. As for the overpriced bit. Ours was on the market for 300,000. We got them to go down to 250,000 due to our independent survey we got and they accepted as they knew we would pull out otherwise. This is about 10% cheaper than all 2 beds in the area on the open market.


I think if you look at this as an easy way to own a home by still having the same rights as renting you will be in for a big awakening. I also have friends who have bought and sold on this scheme and because they did their research they have come out with no problems and quids in.
So I part own a 2 bed apartment right on the river in London next to canary wharf for 800pcm inclusive. Bad??!!

– Sarah, London, 09/07/2009

I am in the same situation trying to sell my 45% of shared ownership property to no success.
My rent and service charge has doubled it is just ridiculous! Now in the predicament of taking it off the market to try and gain some equity as if we sold now we would lose so much, however have a baby on the way and need out! Feel completely stuck in this flat, but had nowhere else to live and no deposit so had to go shared ownership! A2 Dominion housing associations are also unhelpful, time wasters and money grabbers. Good luck to anyone trying to get out!

– Gillian, London, 16/07/2009

I too, am in a similar predicament to the other people commenting. After securing a good job in Norfolk I informed my housing trust (Metropolitan Homes) that I needed to sell my 40% share of my one bedroom flat. It has taken them 5 weeks to market the property, a valuation (for which I had to find and pay a surveyor) £15,000 below one estates agents valuation and £30,000 below a second estate agents valuation. They have sent only two people to view in the two weeks since marketing and I now have only 6 weeks till I take up my new post with NHS Norfolk. (I am a nurse)
Everyone recognises that selling a house is stressful but the ‘don’t care’ attiutude of housing associations just makes the whole situation worse!

 

 

– Aji, London, 09/09/2008

The shared-ownership scheme has been around for years and the Government are always attempting to promote it, it’s a way of getting people off council waiting lists. I have lived in a shared-ownership property for 15 years and I would never recommend it to anyone, in fact I would advise people to think very, very carefully before taking part. My housing association owns the larger percentage of the house, but do not pay a penny towards the upkeep, as a ‘home owner’ I am expected to do this myself. There are lots of pitfalls with these schemes so my advice is “buyer beware”!

I offer my condolences to all those who have suffered but I also thank them for sharing their experiences. Hopefully we can now avoid making the same mistakes they have. This was not a case of me cherry picking the worst stories. This was the majority experience; please check the evening standard article for yourself.

If you are considering a shared-equity scheme the message is clear, do your research and don’t rush into anything. Make sure you read the small print.

More articles on property coming soon.