dlawbailey <dlawbailey at netzero.net> writes
'C. Heartfield, Britain has many wonderful things and one of them is not a land surplus. Britons are cheek-to-jowl by any world standard'
Well, there are about 246 of us for every square kilometre, which is probably quite dense by US standards, but still not literally cheek by jowl.
But you will appreciate that land surpluses are relative to land use, and that for the last twenty years more and more land has become available due to increased agricultural productivity. Currently three quarters of Britain's land is earmarked for agriculture, but as much as a quarter of that is idle, under EC schemes like 'set-aside'.
Consequently, the government and the EU is managing a systematic retirement of land from agricultural use, most of which is being given over to nature reserves, such as the 12 square miles of Wicken Fen in Norfolk. And while all of this is going on new house starts are at an historic low.
'Are you a Marxist or not?' - challenges <dlawbailey>, (is that David? Dennis?) quaintly. The last, would be my reply.
And then 'Have British young people been priced out of the homes market by lack of greenfield development or by capitalists?' Well, both. More accurately, the restricted supply of housing allows developers and landlords to charge exorbitant prices and rents. -- James Heartfield Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age is available at GBP19.99, plus GBP5.01 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'. www.audacity.org