Staying with mortgage lending, Philip Blond, director of one of the more insightful economic and social think tanks, Respublica, has called for the two bailed out banks to adopt 'debt waivers' on all their loans and mortgages as a replacement for the now totally discredited PPI policy. Common in the US, this insurance is arranged by the lender which agrees not to claim payments for a set period if the borrower suffers financial hardship through losing their job for example. The lender buys insurance to cover that potential cost. Although, this would ultimately be reflected in the product's price, it's an interesting alternative to the void which now exists where PPI once was. Whether one agrees with this or not, mortgage lending post Credit Crunch needs more original thinking like this.
On a completely different and somewhat lighter note, I have put this off for a number of weeks now, but can do so no longer... I have to draw attention to a phenomenon that's now almost out of control - that of the rucksack.
In years gone by these appalling things were almost exclusively the preserve of teenage French students standing on the left of the escalator. Over the past couple of years though, I have observed with growing alarm their appearance in increasing numbers all over London, to the point where now they are ubiquitous.
The culprits… Unbelievably, it's mainly City workers, both male and female, who double the crime by dispensing with shoes in favour of, well, I wouldn't even call them 'trainers', they can only be described as silvery running shoes - some so bad as to be worthy of Mo Mulki himself. What, I ask you has happened to the sartorial standards which helped make this country and in particular, London, great?
I have yet to discuss a solution to this problem with my colleague Bob Sturges who is an arbiter of good taste. Seeing as Bob's attention to detail extends to not wearing tweed after 7pm, I'm sure his judgement would be severe. Wear a rucksack if you're going hiking NOT if you're travelling on the tube - TfL should put their CCTV to good use for once and fine these people for… well, any number of crimes actually but 'Carrying an Offensive Rucksack' seems a good place to start.
Leave a comment