Thursday 30 April 2015

YPP pre-Bank Holiday* meet-up, Friday 1 May

Tomorrow Friday 1 May at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards. We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.

Topics:
1. Thomas, Joe, Wesley and I attended a think tank meeting on Wednesday and met a couple of like minded/useful contacts.
2. Robin says that Henry Law of the LVTC might drop in.

* If it's a Bank Holiday, do they still charge you interest for that day?

Reader's Letter Of The Day

From The Evening Standard, page 57:

The arguments against rent caps ignore all the hard evidence.

For most of the twentieth century, the UK had quite strict rent controls and better tenant protection. Yes, the result was that rented accommodation was of lower quality - but landlords were no longer outbidding owner-occupiers, keeping a lid on house price inflation.

[This para was edited out: As a result, the number of households renting from private landlords fell from 90 per cent to 10 per cent between 1900 and 1990; and the number of owner-occupier households went up from 10 per cent to 70 per cent. Social housing took up the slack.]

The most worrying statistic is that among the under-35's, owner-occupation levels have fallen from two-thirds to one-third over the past ten years. So reintroducing strict rent caps is a core part of YPP's housing and economic policies.

It is not just about protecting tenants - to borrow some Tory slogans, it is about putting money back into people's pockets and having a property owning democracy.

Mark Wadsworth, Young People's Party PPC for Epping Forest.

Thursday 23 April 2015

YPP meet-up, Friday 24 April

Tomorrow Friday 24 April at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards.

We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.

Topics: Thomas Hall & I went off to a Well Meaning Discussion on 'the housing crisis' on Tuesday. A couple of them mentioned Land Value Tax and we find out that the Something New Party have dissed us as allies. Fair enough.

In other news, we got a mention in my local paper recently.

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Radio Interview

http://bit.ly/FolkestoneDecides

My radio interview  ( no I haven't listened to it.)

See what you think?


Thursday 16 April 2015

YPP meet-up, Friday 17 April

Tomorrow Friday 17 April, at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards.

We put a yellow leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.

Topics: a couple of people have suggested that we have a slightly more formal conference.

"Tory housing minister Brandon Lewis said..."

From The Daily Express*:

"Thanks to our long-term economic plan, house building in England is at its highest level since 2007.

"Our schemes are helping hundreds of families every month to buy their own home and we will go further by allowing new homes to be built specifically for young first-time buyers.

"Our Government-backed schemes will help a million more people become homeowners in the next Parliament.

"Our long-term economic plan is getting Britain building again and is helping people achieve their dreams of home ownership – the biggest threat to this is Ed Miliband in government."

--------------------------------------------
The English Housing Survey said:

2009-10
25 to 34 age group
Owner-occupiers - 47%
Private renters - 36%

2013-14
25 to 24 age group
Owner-occupiers - 36%
Private renters - 48%

To me that looks like a catastrophic fall in owner-occupation rates with a corresponding catastrophic increase in private renting. Clearly Mr Lewis knows something we don't. (The fact that the rot set in under New Labour is neither here nor there).

Thursday 9 April 2015

YPP meet-up, Friday 10 April

Tomorrow Friday 10 April, at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards.

We put a yellow leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.

Topics: three of us will be on the ballet paper on May 7. That's enough practical politics for this week.

Officially on the Ballot papers

Well that was satisfaction.

Yes you can write to me there.



Wednesday 8 April 2015

.. and I've got the forms submitted and will be on the ballot paper.

Let's see what happens.

With a bit of luck, Thomas Dean will be standing in the local elections in Barnsley, so it's him, Rohen and me this time round.

UPDATE: by a super human effort and a couple of hours frantic emailing and telephoning with various bureaucracies, TD got himself on the ballot paper.

Saturday 4 April 2015

I've got the signatures on my nomination paper.

To stand in a parliamentary election, you need to get ten registered voters in the constituency to sign your so-called 'nomination paper' (the reasons why are lost in the mists of time). So I asked the local council to email me the electoral register and printed off my road.

Yesterday, I set off up the road at about 11.30 once it had stopped drizzling, knocked on every door, told people who I am, where I live ("You might have seen the yellow YPP poster attached to my fence…") and asked them to sign.

To my pleasant surprise, half of people were in and opened the door, and apart from one who refused point blank, they all signed quite happily. So I was back home within twenty minutes.

Next week I'll take the forms and my five hundred sobs to the Town Hall and I'm on the ballot paper.

Friday 3 April 2015

Nomination papers in, On the Ballot paper for the Folkestone and Hythe Constituency #GE2015

Dr Rohen Kapur has been officially put on the ballot papers for Folkestone and Hythe Constituency running against  Damian Collins, Lynne Beaumont, Claire Jeffrey, Martin Whybrow, Andy Thomas ( Andrew Thomas Emans) Seth Cruse, Harriet Yeo.

This was confirmed at 4pm on Thursday 2nd of April.

He would like to extend a big thank you to the neighbours and friends and total strangers that signed his forms.

He will be attending the Prime Time Hustings at St John's Church in Folkestone on Wednesday April 8th 2015 at 2pm  Doors open at 1.30 pm and the start is prompt.

I shall be speaking first so get there in time.  You won't want to miss this.

I shall be mentioning our Higher Education manifesto which will abolish tuition fees for Higher Education.

Anymore information please contact me through the link at the right hand side bar.





Wednesday 1 April 2015

YPP pre-Easter meet-up, Thursday 2 April

Thursday 2 April, at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards.

We put a yellow leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.