Louise - we are obviously stretching Declan's intellect beyond his limits = wow what an intellectual and thought stumulating contribution just received from him! I almost cannot wait....

Declan - open this link:

http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/vide...

that is from a Brown supporter!

now Declan - please allow me to educate you - and I live in hope that you might do the same for me....

right now I am in a very nice location - and looking at property - and guess what?

-prices here in euros have fallen by between 10% and 20% - that is asking prices (no I am not in Spain!)

-on a rough basis - like for like - I would say that today - on the basis of one euro=1pound, I would say that prices here are roughly 50 to 60% of what they are in the UK - for something that offers similar benefits (including location, views, pleasures, etc).

so my guess - is that UK prices still have to fall by circa 40 to 50% just to become sensible/competitive in international terms

now what is worrying, is that prices here are STILL falling - and the pound currently is worth more than one euro!

Ok I was once tempted to follow the 'big-mac index' but it can be misleading - what I see is NOT misleading

and what is even worse - is that in the UK, because of mismanagment, taxes are about to rise, interest rates similarly, public sector employment to be cuts, unemployment to rise, VAT to rise, etc, etc.

this HPC could be the mother of all crises!