Just Give Us Your Money And Die ….

“The InterGenerational Foundation” has been talking tosh, with their headline grabbing “25 million empty bedrooms” line.

I’ll declare an interest. I’ve lived alone, quite happily, in my own house for many years. I use the bedrooms. I’m middle-aged (born just after the baby boom).

But this current headline-grabbing scheme seems intent more on wealth-shifting – in line with their unsubstantiated statement that “British policy-makers have given undue advantages to the older generation at the expense of younger and future generations” – rather than actually freeing up bedrooms.

What all of these arguments conveniently choose to ignore is that although house prices were lower in the 1980s, that’s because interest rates were around 14%.
We didn’t have mobile phones, broadband, Sky rental, or X-boxes to maintain, though.
We had to save for a deposit, and hope that we were saving with a Building Society (yes, we had them in those days) who could free up some quota for us.

So … if you think you should have a mortgage at the moment, what are you going to do when the payments on it treble in a year ?

In many cases, we had to rent, or live with our parents, until we had enough deposit saved. And yes, that meant we had to actually get on with them.

But this is really why it’s tosh …

Don’t assume that if all these pensioners’ homes come on to the market, then you’ll be able to buy them. The banks will still want the same deposits, because you’re risky. So the houses will end up with buy-to-let landlords. Who will let them according to who can afford to pay the rent, rather than who will make best use of the bedrooms.

I will agree that stamp duty is a major drag on the market. not just for pensioners, but it does make buying a house a long-term commitment. As do all the other costs, such as Agents’ fees and solicitors’ costs, as well as the cost and sheer aggravation of moving.
All if these factors affect the ability of the buyer and the seller to agree an acceptable value.

But for many people, as well, their house represents their most significant asset. Ultimately it may be the way that they’ll pay for their care – as that covenant with the state seems to be broken. And now they’re being asked to sell that asset at the bottom of the market.

And if you think that the old people are being favourably treated, you haven’t been reading the news about (amongst others) Southern Cross.

I’d be amazed that the press give these bozos space, except that stirring up arguments sells copies.

And it reinforces my previous question – Why can nobody in Think Tanks actually Think ?

The FIFA shambles

International football has been corrupt for a long time. This is probably the first major scandal since there’s been quite so much money swilling around, though.

I think we should forget about democracy, and do what all the other power players do. Think of Russia and Georgia.

The money is in UEFA. Particularly in the Champions League, England’s Premiership, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s Primera Liga. Without those, FIFA would lack the little credibility remains to it.

If those national football associations were to get together, then they could leverage UEFA.

And UEFA could leverage FIFA.

Especially if the sponsors start to get cold feet (as seems to be happening) about paying monrey to be associated with a corrupt bureaucracy.

As I write, however, there’s a rumour that UEFA is indeed making a power play. But of course, it’s another behind-closed-doors deal, apparently with the objective of setting up Michel Platini as the new Blatter (despite apparently ruling himself out a couple of days ago). And, of course, there’s always the possibility that the G-14 may resurrect itself – after being disbanded at Platini’s urging – to flex its muscles.

Sometimes, you think, these people just don’t get the point.

The Sony thing …

So Sony’s PlayStation Network has been hacked. Now I don’t normally write about this stuff, but I can’t leave this unsaid.

I’ve two thoughts about this – and I have no personal interest; I don’t own any gaming consoles. (At the time of writing, it isn’t clear whether the intention is to inconvenience Sony, or to acquire the gamers’ data). I should also state that I don’t support hacking personal data – although I can understand that there are those who feel a need to extensively “test” a company’s internet defences when they feel that organisation has behaved unethically…

Anyhow …

Firstly, Sony has taken extensive legal action to prevent “Jailbreak” hacks from using the hardware for unintended purposes. Even Microsoft, by way of contrast, seem to be encouraging third parties to use its Kinect platform. So it’s not a surprise that Sony could become a target. For a population who – one would expect – has a fair technical competence. They should have managed their risk accordingly.

Secondly – and more importantly – it’s absolutely incredible that the data wasn’t encrypted. There’s no excuse at all for holding a password in “clear” – it should be encrypted (using an algorithm like MD5) and compared with the previously encrypted version. If the two are equal, then you accept the login.

Now this isn’t rocket science – the principle’s been around for years. But Sony – still thinking in terms of functionally constrained hardware – probably wouldn’t have the imagination to realise that a software service needs to be designed with a defensive paradigm, rather than bolting on security as an afterthought.

The potential damage to Sony is immense. Forget about the Data Protection prosecutions in Europe, the lawsuits in the USA and the sheer loss of reputation. The company is going to have to devote a huge amount of management resources to making sure that it’s sorted.

Historically, Sony has adopted a very closed attitude to its products. You feel they’ve always got the features for the next couple of generations ready and waiting. Maybe it’s time for them to review their corporate attitude to consumers – their customers.

But I suspect that the control culture is so ingrained that the underlying problem won’t be recognised. In which case, we can expect something similar to happen again …

Colin Powell and “Curveball”

This Guardian article gives the background …

I’ve seen this story before though, haven’t I ?

Oh yes, it’s John LeCarré’s “The Tailor of Panama” (itself an homage to “Our Man in Havana”). Nobody cares if the source’s “intelligence” is all self-aggrandising fiction, because it gives the “evidence” they want to hear.