WILL LIGHTFOOT HOTFOOT IT TO A SAATCHI SOIREE?

If this article below is accurate it reinforces the expert's view that Lighfoot, with his donations of our money to Charlie Saatchi(currently £70,0000), is helping to propagate the Saatchi Gallery's role in manipulating the modern art market.

But, Lighfoot, being an arrogant little chap.... and an extremely 'so so' economist loves the idea of being 'in with the big boys'. It was a trait shared by that other unlamented little chap, Pooter Cockell.


In the picture Warwick is wearing the chain of office as chairman of the Institute of Useless and Tiresome Economists

For Pooter the pleasure was hijacking the £100,000 chauffeur driven Bentley and having lunches with the Barclay and Candy Bros. 
One wonders what these business titans thought of this pretentious and failed African ciggy salesman showing off to them 'on the tax'. 
The Dame assumes they felt flattering the little chap would help them do deals.....
Anyway, the dear old Dame gets easily distracted from the real target of her ire....
From the Dame's fave read...The Mail on Line today. If you click on the text it may enlarge....like Saatchi's fortune.

HARD TIMES AHEAD FOR POOTER AND DANNY BOYS

2014 promises to be an impoverishing year for the former leader and deputy leader of the Rotten Borough. 
Pooter Cockell and Danny Boys Moylan are renowned for being extremely proficient local government

entrepreneurs. 
So much so, that the Dame's ignorant nephew, Ludo is desperate for the Dame to use her great friendship with Pooter to get him into Hornton St.

NERVY

For years Pooter has managed to extract well over £120,000 a year from London taxpayers. 
However, the gravy train may be grinding to halt. 
In May he loses his £60,000 a year from the useless LGA and has instructed the PR dept to get him as much coverage in the Guardian(no other paper being interested) in the hope he might get some replacement sinecure. 

LOSER

This year the rivalry between Pooter and Danny Boys intensified and the Dame hears that Pooter was furious when he heard that Danny Boys was up to £155,000 a year...courtesy of Londoners.
However, unless Danny Boys can twist Boris's arm his £75,000 a year as Aviation Adviser will soon evaporate as the ludicrous Boris Island Airport sinks into the estuary mud.

THE DAME APOLOGISES TO MR HOLGATE

The Dame has an apology to make to our admirable Chief Executive, Nicholas Holgate. 
In a recent piece she castigated the Council for giving Charlie Saatchi £20,000. 
This, on top of the £50,000 given in 2009. 
The decision to hand over another chunk of money to the multi millionaire ad man and art dealer had nothing to do with Mr Holgate and all to do with our very odd Finance chairman....cat loving singleton, Warwick Lightfoot.

Sophisticates who know Charlie Saatchi understand his gallery's prime purpose is to promote his collection and boost the profile of young artists he collects. 
But, being an economist, such business acumen escapes Lightfoot.

The Dame,pottering in a local charity shop, came across a remaindered book by Lightfoot.
The title claimed 'we have no money'.....
That could have something to do with the fact that Lightfoot gives it away to one of Britain's richest man!
Other ways Lighfoot found to ensure we have no money was to spend £100million on a school that should have cost £34million...Exhibition Rd costing £28million...Chelsea Care-a million down the drain and a million a year on Opera Holland Park.
So we don't need a tome from Lightfoot to explain the obvious!

RESIDENTS LOOK TO A LORD...NOT A DAME, FOR HELP

MIKATI...A SELFISH NEIGHBOUR

When residents moan about family estates, such as the one owned by Lord Cadogan, the Dame reminds them of what it could be like if they were owned by some greedy and corrupt Middle Eastern Sovereign Fund or dodgy hedge funder. On the other hand Cadogan has great affection for his birthright and is protective of its qualities.

The Dame gets the distinct impression the Cadogan Estate, run by the admirable Hugh Seaborn, will use all their power and influence to prevent this hideous plan coming to fruition.

Being an ex PM of the Lebanon it's surprising Mr Mikati has not put in a bomb proof room. 

"Residents of one of London’s most exclusive addresses fear their lives will be ruined by the noise and disruption of a proposed mega-basement extension.

A company founded by the billionaire prime minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati wants to dig out a two-level subterranean extension for a 50ft pool, cinema, wine cellar, and staff quarters below two properties in Cadogan Gardens, Chelsea.

The plans go before Kensington & Chelsea next week. Residents are appealing to landowner the Earl of Cadogan to use his powers as freeholder to block the development.

Among those most affected would be a 10-flat mansion block next door. One resident said: “One of the reasons I moved here was because of the peace and quiet.

“We are in the centre of London but you wouldn’t know it. All the neighbours respect each other. If they let them dig this out the noise and disruption would be enormous. I for one would move out instantly, and from what I hear many others here would do the same.” According to the plans lodged by the M1 Group, founded by 58-year-old telecoms tycoon Mr Mikati, the aim is to create a single family home.

Terence Bendixson, honorary planning secretary at the Chelsea Society, told the Standard: “The big question is whether the Cadogan Estates can play a role to prevent it that the council cannot.”

Earlier this year Kensington & Chelsea published new draft planning guidelines to limit basement dig-outs to a single floor. But they have been challenged by basement contractors.

Hugh Seaborn, chief executive of Cadogan Estates, said there was a clause in its agreement with M1 requiring the company to seek its permission for any works . However, consent cannot be unreasonably withheld. Mr Seaborn said: “Our general stance of supporting Kensington’s move to control these developments has not changed.”

M1 Group was unavailable for comment"

THE ROYAL BORER NEWSPAPER BECOMES INCENDIARY!

Like Her Majesty, the Dame keeps a close eye on the domestic offices of her own Holland Park 'palace'. 
Thus imagine her fury at seeing one of her staff 'laying up' the giant faux Tudor fireplace with copies of the latest edition of the £300,000 a year Royal Borer. 

CHEZ  LA DAME

It seems that the Royal Borer-far from serving its proper purpose of puffing up the egos of certain senior officers and councillors, is being used as a fire lighter!
A furious Dame demanded the immediate presence of her major domo, Mr Phelps. 
The Dame, being a soft hearted old thing, had given Mr Phelps a job to assuage her guilt for having 'fingered' him for circulating revolting emails to fellow councillors.
"Phelps, why are you allowing staff to use this important council communication for lighting the 'Yuletide Log'?" demanded the Dame. 
"Dame, no one ever reads it...though when I was editor it embodied a certain wit and erudition: now it serves no purpose, apart from giving Mr Fizzypatrick of PR and his team something to justify their £500,000 a year running costs".
The Dame was perplexed....why would a cash strapped council spend all this money on a load of old tosh no one reads.....

HOLLAND PARK ACADEMY TO NO LONGER FAVOUR LOCAL CHILDREN

A SCHOOL BULLY

Holland Park Academy headmaster, Colin Hall, does not like local residents...those people conned into spending £90 million on his ego trip. 
Having nearly succeeded in bullying the Council into dropping the the Planning Condition allowing residents to use the swimming pool and other facilities, he pushes it a bit further...

The Dame has been given sight of this extraordinary internal school discussion document. 
In it, one sees Hall is planning to change the admission criteria. 
Royal Borough children, whose parents stumped up for the school, will no longer have admission priority. 
And..... to add insult to injury, he plans to give entry priority to the children of staff...whether they come from within or without the Borough.....
Hall really seems to have a visceral dislike of the local taxpayers forced to overspend, by nearly £40 million, on his white elephant in the park.

CHARLIE SAATCHI'S GALLERY PICKS UP £20,000 FROM STRUGGLING COUNCIL TAX PAYERS

The Dame always like to receive interesting stuff from her merry band of readers.

The Dame at first thought this reader was pulling her elegantly turned leg......how wrong she was.

The story is incredible.......but, true.

It appears our council has taken pity on the hapless Charlie Saatchi and lobbed him twenty grand of our money!

TAKING US FOR A RIDE

Clearly frittering away our money is so routine that in the council papers it's described as: 

Decision Rating: Decision is Routine/low public interest!

To add insult to injury the Council rationalise this extraordinary waste of OUR money by suggesting that the gallery has a 'community benefit'. 

Any benefit accrues to wheeler dealer art entrepreneur, Saatchi. 

His gallery, in partnership with contemporary auction house, Phillips de Pury and Co, acts as money making publicity business...IT IS NOT A CHARITY!

In fact, Charlie gets an amazing deal to be in the 70,000 sq.ft Duke of York Building, so the £20,000 grant is mere bagatelle to a man who spends £30,000 a year on flowers. 

But, of course, certain very dull and mundane councillors love the idea of patronising edgy art....at our expense...and when there are residents in desperate need. 

Mr Holgate, it was you who took this damned fool decision and El Dame is very cross with you!

SITTING ON HIS HANDS

HIDING IN HIS BASEMENT

When Chelsea residents and their representative associations gather together the overriding topic of conversation is the multi level basement plague.

West London M.P. Karen Buck took advantage of a 10 Minute Rule Bill to attempt to rein in the worst excesses of those wishing to burrow, like moles, deep into the earth. 

Even Edinburgh based Malc Rifkind managed to bestir himself on behalf of the residents he normally shuns.

So how about publicity addicted Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea & Fulham? 

Greg, being a Government minister, managed to use this to avoid getting involved in supporting the Bill, but it doesn’t mean he has to maintain the silence of a Trappist monk.

His website blathers on about all the great achievements of Greg, but has not ONE reference to Buck’s Ten Minute Bill.

When a resident wrote this letter to him he did not even deign to reply.

Come on Mr Hands…..get into the debate. You have a duty to your constituents!

STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

Greg Hands M.P.

Dear Mr Hands

One accepts parliamentary rules prevent you sponsoring or signing Karen Buck's admirable Ten Minute Rule Bill, but many constituents feel that you are not constrained in informally supporting the Bill in conversations with the media.

We all are fully aware of the Council's efforts to control the worst excesses of the basement builders, but it does require our representative to be vocal outside Parliament....unless, of course, you don't support the aims of the Bill!

Whilst it is laudable that in opposition you may have spoken out against basement developments we would all appreciate a more vocal approach now.

The Hornets Nest, our local blog, has been vociferous in supporting basement controls going well beyond the measures envisaged by K&C. 

It would be good if you could make a public declaration of support for the aims of Karen Buck's bill.

http://fromthehornetsnest.blogspot.fr/2013/11/w-london-residents-association-call-for.html

With Kind Regards

Jxxxxn xxxxxxx

Moylan and Palmer...Tears Before Bedtime!

Often the Dame is called upon to 'play mother' to tearful councillors, seeking solace in her very ample bosoms. 
Most whimper about how their talents have never been recognised by the likes of Pooter Cockell

Thus, she was unfazed when her major domo, Mr Phelps, tapped on the door of her magnificent 'Louis Quinze style' boudoir to announce Councillor Palmer.

She had been expecting him to drop by since hearing the 'man love' between him and 'Danny Boys' Moylan was fast evaporating.
Cllr Palmer sobbed as he told the Dame, "I have been canvassing like mad all over Queen's Gate and I thought that Cllr Moylan would help me, but he is such a snob and says it's beneath him to talk to voters. 
When I was in the Young Conservatives we all had jolly good fun canvassing, then hitting the pub for a beer or two. 
When I told Cllr Moylan he just sneered and said he never went to pubs....it's just not fair, Dame".
The Dame, handed the councillor one of her elaborately monogrammed lawn cotton handkerchiefs and explained.....
"Cllr Palmer, I fear you have misinterpreted Cllr Danny Boys motives in inflicting you on the genteel people of Queen's Gate." 
The Dame went on, "Cllr Danny Boys is a self important £155,000 a year local government magnate with powerful friends. 
He has no time to waste meeting boring residents. 
It's your job to deal with the local plebs....so get on with it and stop whining."

PALMER DE-TONES QUEEN'S GATE

The Dame is hearing of rumblings of discontent from residents and association members upset by the infliction of  'mad, bad and dangerous to know' Matthew Palmer upon them.

They are beginning to compare this strange fellow with Fiona Buxton. 
Fiona is not well and everybody wishes her a fast recovery.
Fiona is the paragon of what every councillor should aspire to be..... intelligent, warm, and highly capable.

MAD MAN PALMER

Palmer, on the other hand, is as mad as a cut snake. 
Even the Mayor had to close him down at the last Council meeting. 




It seems so sad that a bright star in the council firmament has been replaced by the clod, Palmer.....and all on the results of a toss of a coin. 
Life is most unreasonable

THE DAME SUPPORTS THE CHELSEA & KENSINGTON FOUNDATION

 

The Dame encourages all those lucky enough not to need their Winter Fuel Allowance to donate to this highly effective charity. 
The Dame was reading up on the work of the Foundation and was stunned to realise that not everybody is as fortunate as her. 

Though the Royal Borough may be a place of huge wealth, with hedge funders able to burrow deep into the earth's surface, the story is very different up north. 

North of the Borough many residents struggle, on a daily basis, to keep warm.  

TOWN HALL WINTER WARMTH LAUNCH

This is what local charity, the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation has to say.....

"£200 is significant for all of us, but for our most vulnerable neighbours it can be life changing. 

As another harsh winter approaches, the Kensington & Chelsea Foundation is asking those in a position to do so to pass some or all of their Winter Fuel Payment into a fund for those less fortunate - or to make a general contribution to the campaign."

The charity came out with these startlingly sad stats:

• There were 40 deaths in Kensington & Chelsea last winter linked to cold-related illness 
• 62% of Kensington & Chelsea residents over the age of 65 live alone 
• 60% of households in the Borough live in fuel poverty

With recent announcements on fuel price increases, the situation is only going to become more challenging this winter.

The Foundation addresses these issues head on by working through referrals from partners such as Age UK Kensington & Chelsea to pay the fuel bills of our most vulnerable local neighbours.

To support the Winter Warmth Campaign and transform local lives, please call 020 7 2295499    or email team@thekandcfoundation.com

http://www.thekandcfoundation.com/current-campaign

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL AND FISHES ROTTING FROM THE HEAD

The High Court just threw out Essex County Council's attempt to prevent Alessandra Pacchieri from being identified....a great day for British justice and a slap in the face for the repulsive Judge Mostyn. 

ESSEX CC!

It was Mostyn who allowed Essex County Council to treat Miss Paccieri in a way the Chinese Government might consider a step too far.



This case is not the usual Hornet territory, but it resonates by showing what happens to a council with corrupt leadership. 
In the case of Essex, a crook like Lord Hanningfield.
This leader survived for years by surrounding himself with sycophantic and equally rotten fellow councillors. 
It reinforces the adage that a fish rots from the head.
But, it also reminds the Dame of the late Baroness Ritchie. 
Shireen ran Social Services with care and compassion. 
Yes, the Dame was harsh with Shireen over triple jobbing, but she would never have allowed officers to behave as Essex has. 
The reputation of Essex,already in tatters over the crooked activities of its former leader and officers, is now taking yet another battering.
Anyway, this exchange between one of the Dame's people and the Essex CC Cabinet member responsible for Alessandra says it all.... 

"I am not sufficiently briefed on the minutiae of this case"

Can you believe it? 
A Cabinet member not being cognisant of the most basic facts of the case! 
Like Pooter, Aldridge and fellow councillors, like to swan around in high end motors with personalised number plates...
Very Essex!

Dear Cllr Aldridge

Why did you not hire an ambulance plane and transport the lady back to Italy:a simple, expedient and compassionate solution. 

She and her unborn child were the responsibility of the Italian authorities and the extended family. Had you done this you would have exercised common sense and kindness.

You infer that the Court of Protection was somehow behind the appointment of Sir James.....

This is NOT the case. Sir James was concerned about the role of the Council and as President of the Family Division exercised his authority over the Court of Protection. And, as you also know full well, this highly regarded judge has grave misgivings about the role of social workers in such cases. 

My facts are correct in this matter: I happen to know a senior Family Division judge.

So, in essence there are two questions, one relevant to this case and the other to satisfy my curiosity.

1. What prevented your from returning the lady to her homeland

2. How on earth did you all not realise, that in the dreadful Hanningfield, you had a crook for a leader...

Rgds

xxxxxxxxx

Dear xxxxxxx
I am not sufficiently briefed on the minutiae of this case to answer your specific enquiry. I hope that the reasons will become clear when reporting restrictions are lifted by the Courts.

Kind regards

John Aldridge CC

ESSEX COUNTY CLLR TWITCHEN IN A SEVERE TWITCH

Essex County Council is about to be severely criticised by the President of the Family Division for its cruel and vicious treatment of the Italian lady recently sectioned. Whilst sectioned her baby was forcibly removed by Caesarian section.
She was then told by Essex CC social workers she would never see her baby again and it was to be adopted. 
This, despite her Italian extended family.... and that country's social services, being ready to look after her. 
In fact, the lady could have been flown back by air ambulance at a fraction of the cost being spent on her. 
A friend of the Dame's wrote to the chairman of Essex County Council, Cllr Twitching. 
His letter lambasted the council over its wicked treatment. 
He also pointed out that this was a council so useless that it allowed the crooked ex leader, Hanningfield, to plunder taxpayers' resources for years. 
But we all know Essex CC is a by word for dodgy 'Essex Practices'.
Anyway, the Dame could not refrain from reproducing Cllr Twitching response. 
Typically, she comes out with usual balls about, 'when the facts are known'- as if our press were not fully aware of what went on. 
Clearly Cllr Twitching is not stupid: after all she boasts that she is a waste management expert...expertise that the wasteful Essex CC has long required!
Anyway, this stupid woman of no experience or consequence is being paid £30k plus a year...outrageous!

ESSEX TWITCHER

Dear Mr. xxxxxxxx

I am very proud to be Chairman of Essex County Council, which is neither corrupt nor inept.  We deliver a wide range of services to the people of Essex and we do it with integrity, professionalism and always mindful of the fact that it is your money we are spending.  That does not mean we are perfect in everything we do all the time, but we strive for high standards and in my judgement we achieve them.

You are clearly not aware of the background facts of the case to which you refer.  I assume you are relying on what you have read in the press.  In the fullness of time it is likely that more of the facts of this sad case will be revealed, at which time I will expect you to apologise to me for your inappropriate language.

Cllr. Kay Twitchen.

Member for Billericay and Burstead.

Chairman of the Council.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

HOLLAND PARK ACADEMY TO TELL RESIDENTS THEY ARE BARRED FROM SCHOOL POOL!

The gnomic Colin Hall, headmaster of the Holland Park Academy views residents wishing to use 'his' pool with disdain.

DISDAINFUL HALL

When planning permission for the school was granted strict conditions were imposed. These guaranteed residents access to the swimming pool and other facilities. 

Hall seeks to retrospectively alter these conditions: a thing unheard of in planning circles.
In late January an early evening  'School Completion Event' is planned by Hall.

At it he will unveil a draft 'Community Use Plan' he and his staff have cobbled together......

The insolence of the man! 
Already in serious breach of planning conditions this pushy chap thinks numerous bottles of red wine will 'lubricate' objectors and get acceptance of a plan to remove residents' rights of access to a school they overpaid £90 million for.

The Council should take control of this and tell Hall any such meeting will take place at the Town Hall and will be chaired by Cllr David Lindsay.

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL ADOPT CHINESE 'BIRTHING' METHODS

When the Dame read the story of the Italian lady, sectioned under the Mental Health Act and forced to endure a Caesarean section, she thought she was reading about an assault on personal liberty so commonplace in human rights abusing regimes like China: the country our Prime Minister and the laughing stock Mayor of London like to suck up to. 
She was unfair to China. 
It was, in fact, carried out by that cesspit of corruption, Essex County Council.
This was the council which allowed its criminal leader, 'Lord' Hanningfield to steal tens of thousands of pounds from residents so he and his partner could go on luxurious jaunts around the world.
His Chief Executive, Joanna Killian, whose own expenses required scrutiny, should have been fired for allowing the pig farmer, Hanningfield, to keep his snout in the trough for so long. 
Even now there is no way of keeping Hanningfield out of the Lords. 
When in session he attends daily to collect his £300 a day, tax free allowance.

GREEDY CRIMINAL

You may ask what the connection between Hanningfield and the appalling case of this Italian lady, forced to endure such cruelty and have her baby taken from her. 

The answer is not complex. 
Councillors so venal as to allow the criminal Hanningfied such latitude for his criminality are putty in the hands of equally unsavoury officers. 

The Dame will be sending some stern emails to the pathetic successor to the crook Hanningfield, Cllr David Finch. 
His email is cllr.david.finch@essex.gov.uk and if you want to give him a tinkle his mobile is 07834 252 070. 
He will not be happy to hear from you.....but don't let that stop you. 
He needs to be told a few home truths.


"Pregnant women who have been deported but are forced to leave their babies in Britain is becoming an ‘increasing problem’, an influential MP has said, after it emerged that an Italian national was forced into a caesarean section by social workers. 

The Italian woman, who was made to leave her baby in Britain, had travelled to the country for a two-week Ryanair training course at Stansted when she was sectioned under the mental health act and told she must stay in hospital.

Essex social services then obtained a High Court order against the woman, allowing her to be forcibly sedated and the child to be taken from her womb.

John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley and chairman of the Public Family Law Reform Coordinating Campaign, which wants reform and greater openness in court proceedings involving family matters, said there were many other instances of children taken from mothers in Britain, who are then deported.

He referred to the case of a mother whose child, now five-years-old, was born in Sweden, but was taken into the care of a local authority in Britain after her mother was involved in an incident at Heathrow airport"

"THE MANSION TAX IS A NASTY TAX" SAYS NICK PAGET-BROWN

One of the negative effects of a forced coalition is having a limited pool of talent to draw upon. 

Just look at the LibDem end of the coalition...what a bunch of nonentities!

An ex National Parks PR man, Danny Alexander running our money and the very mediocre, ballroom dancing economist, 'Doctor' Vince Cable as Business Secretary.
The Dame watched Vince, in front of the Commons Committee, trying to justify giving away Royal Mail 'on the cheap'....it was just squirm making... 
A real couple of buffoons in charge of the economy!

No wonder their idea of a Mansion Tax has attracted scorn from civil servants. 

Even Tessa Jowell says it just won't work.

The Dame's attention was drawn to an excellent piece in Conservative Home by Nick Paget-Brown. It's well worth reading...good stuff, Nick.

PAGET-BROWN IS RIGHT ON THIS

On taking power in 2010, the Coalition was faced with an almighty mess. Some very difficult decisions have had to be taken to clear that mess up.  Part of the problem was an addiction to ever higher taxes and borrowing and a lack of willingness to consider value for money, cost-effectiveness and entitlement. Saying “stop” is rarely popular, but that is what responsible Governments have to do.

Now with elections appearing on the horizon, we find Labour and the Lib-Dems both promoting a Mansion Tax. The two versions are pretty much the same: an annual one per cent charge on the value of a home above £2 million.  The only real difference is that Labour promises to hypothecate the extra revenue in order to re-create the 10p tax rate they abolished in 2008.

In publicity promoting his tax, Vince Cable indicates that it is aimed at “some of the world’s wealthiest people who own property in the UK worth millions…”.

According to Ed Balls, once part of a Government that proclaimed itself relaxed about people getting “filthy rich”, the tax will mean “that foreign investors who buy up property in London to make a profit will finally pay a proper tax contribution to our country.”

In the UK some 55,000 homes are said to be worth more than £2m, seven out of ten of those are in London and just shy of 12,000 are in my own borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Who owns those homes?  Is it those popular hate-figures – international bankers, oligarchs and corporate raiders – that Mr Balls would have us believe?

Well, no doubt some of them are owned by such people but that is very far from the full story.  Our council tax database only goes back as far as 1999 but it tells us that of the properties that might be caught by the tax – the ones in Council Tax bands G and H – 7,000 of them have been in the same ownership the entire time. And it’s a safe bet that very many of those homes were bought or inherited many years prior to 1999.

Kensington and Chelsea was still a desirable area back in the eighties and nineties of course, but house prices really were remarkably different.  The average price of a semi these days is an unbelievable £4.7 million.  In 1995 it was £505,000.  An average terrace is today valued at £3.3million.  In 1995, it would have cost £423,000.  Back then the merely well off could buy in Kensington and Chelsea, today you need to be one of the super rich.

But what gets forgotten by the advocates of a mansion tax is that there is a large chunk of home owners in our Borough who are by no means “filthy rich” or part of the  global plutocracy..  Many are retired. Several are elderly. Many are on fixed or relatively modest incomes. Increasing numbers live alone. They  purchased their home long ago from post-tax income. What will be the impact of the Mansion Tax on them?  Well if they are living in that average Royal Borough semi, Ed Balls and Vince Cable will be expecting them to find £27,000 a year in mansion tax.  That’s about £50,000 of pre-tax income and there’s no mansion involved – just a lifetime home.

The inevitable result of that can only be that much of our stable older population will be driven from London and from the homes in which they raised their children thereby exacerbating the already skewed demographics of inner London.

And who will be the long-term beneficiaries of such an exodus? Step forward the very people the Lib Dems and Labour claim to have in their sights: those super-rich overseas investors, for whom the mansion tax will be a mere bagatelle.