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Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
OPINION - I can barely afford rent – and I'm a privileged journalist with a job
About £600 a month. That's what I was paying back in 2020 for a three-bedroom flat in Queen's Road Peckham (Zone 2, no Tube) in 2020. Admittedly, it didn't have a living room and the bathroom was permanently green with mould – but on the plus side I had a personal balcony (read: awkward triangle of cement). Once, I even woke up to my housemate traipsing back through the balcony door, having used my room as a pathway whilst I was dead to the world. I can tell you now that this sort of unwelcome early-hours intrusion is not something you forget quickly – though I had to forgive him as the poor guy had 'nowhere else to go to smoke his zoot'. Anyway five years later, I'm paying over £300 more than that per month, and I live just a few doors down from the Weed Crime Scene. My salary has increased a little, thank god, but has it gone up by 50%? No. My room is only a little larger than a coffin in this new gaff, although I do have a pet in the form of a little mouse who has proved more sociable than at least one of my housemates – and who has an aptitude for acrobatics (alarmingly long jumping off the kitchen counter when I walk into the room, for instance). London rents have risen by 35 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic I'm not alone and I know I have it better than many others in my generation (and of course, this is a very privileged complaint to make when you consider the increasing number of people in temporary accommodation or no housing at all due to this country's housing crisis). London rents have risen by 35 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic, as new data from property website Rightmove shows. Since 2020, real mean earnings for employees in London have increased by approximately 5%, and middle earners in London have seen a smaller increase of around 1.7% . Note the difference? Times really are hard. The gap between wages and rents growth in recent years has created an affordability gap of £720, according to Felicia Odamtten, an economist at the Resolution Foundation. It's really no wonder that nowadays I spend over half my salary on rent and I'm definitely not saving anything. My situation is not even wildly abnormal. The average London renter spends around 49% of their household income on rent, which is a figure considered unaffordable by official standards. It's worse for recent grads, who earn on average between £32,000 and £38,000 (not all of them, though, surely). I thought I'd come across a sweet deal, but it turned out another potential housemate was a heroin user Anecdotally speaking, it is not uncommon for people to now be paying well over £1,200 a month for pretty crappy properties with weird flatmates in undesirable areas. Recently I went to have a look round a flat in north London. It seemed pretty sweet – nice housemates, reasonable sized room, functioning oven – until I found out another potential housemate was a heroin user. Before you cry Gen Z moaning, this isn't that. One in five privately rented homes in London don't meet basic health and safety requirements, according to think tank the Centre for London, while 41% of Londoners have experienced mould in their homes. Gross. Often, it's far worse than this (a full on ground floor flood, mushrooms growing in the toilets, a slug infestation, frost on the inside of windows and a partial roof implosion all spring to mind). The calibre has turned places from homes into hovels. Some people are so desperate at this point that they are even jumping onto rat-infested canal boats, as my colleague did, with disastrous consequences. All this has been documented before. And whilst I don't want to come across as whiney, in the last five years specifically, the effects of the rental crisis have now become cultural. A lack of disposable income is threatening the future of London's social fabric. People go out less, are generally stingy and fear for the future. People in their 30s are moving back in with their parents - which would be fine, except they usually don't want to. Whilst it's true that in general people are richer than they were decades ago – millennials and generation Zs still know they will be poorer than their parents. JOMO (joy of missing out) is the new FOMO. For context, the salary-to-rent ratio was closer to 30% in the 1990s. And on top of this, real costs of food, fuel and transport have skyrocketed. Supermarket prices are now predicted to have shot up by 40% from 2020 to 2025. All this is not exactly a stimulating atmosphere for culture. In such a climate it's hardly surprising nightclubs are at risk and pubs are closing at a rate of one per day. A lot of it is down to people simply not feeling they have the dosh to spend. We often don't. So no wonder Londoners are swapping dancefloors for DMs. Of course, there are also far more serious consequences of unaffordable housing than affluent yuppies' disposable income and ability to pay for pints. Homelessness is rising, as people become unable to pay these sky high rents – there was an eight per cent increase in homelessness in the year to 2025 as well as a big jump in people in work who are without a home. Is the future doomed? To fix this godforsaken mess, the government needs to increase the supply of homes. It needs to build more homes – without ditching social housing requirements. But it has known this for a long time and the early signs of the Labour government are frankly not promising. The situation does not look like it will be resolving anytime soon. I'm no longer living with the bedroom-invading weed smoker – he has fled to Manchester, where rents are just a little more bearable (though rising rapidly). I, however, feel my fate is tied to this city for now. Sigh. Lucy Kenningham is Comment Editor at The Standard
The Irish Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Oasis pay poignant tribute to Ozzy Osbourne as ‘Rock N Roll Star' appears on screen at Wembley in emotional song
OASIS have paid an emotional tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at their first gig in London for more than a decade. The band lit up a screen at Advertisement 2 Oasis put up an image of the late Ozzy Osbourne on screen before dedicated their next track Rock 'N' Roll Star to him Credit: X / @OasisMania 2 The rock legend passed away at the age of 76 on Tuesday, just 17 days after performing his final gig in Birmingham Credit: Ross Halfin The Gallagher brothers made a triumphant return to the capital - performing for the first time in London since 2009 - as they continued on their world tour. As the band made their way through staple tracks, an image of a younger Ozzy made its way onto main screen as the crowd began to cheer . After finishing the song Live Forever, Liam announced to the crowd that he wanted to dedicate the next track - Rock 'N' Roll Star - to the late singer. Ozzy Advertisement Read More on Oasis Turning to the packed Wembley crowd, Liam said: "I wanna dedicate this one to Ozzy Osbourne, Rock 'N' Roll Star." Oasis performed an electric set at Wembley on Friday night, the first of five gigs over the next 10 days in the capital. They will also perform two shows at the venue in September. Liam told tens of thousands of fans of his pride as the band graced the stage at the iconic stadium 16 years after their last appearance there. Advertisement Most read in Music Just three songs into their much-anticipated appearance, he declared the crowd was 'f****** beautiful', having bowed to the sea of raised arms before him. Oasis superfans in bucket hats and branded T-shirts had packed the Tube en route to the gig from earlier in the day, with international accents denoting the band's worldwide popularity. Inside Ozzy Osbourne's final days after historic last show 'took huge toll' on his health As with previous gigs, Liam and Noel walked onstage hand in hand, opened with Hello and proceeded to belt out many of their classics including Some Might Say and Morning Glory. The packed-out stadium was in full voice throughout and at one point Liam threw a tambourine into the jubilant crowd, while later positioning one on top of his head. Advertisement Despite pledging to concentrate on his vocals rather than talking – telling those gathered 'every time I open my mouth at these gigs I seem to get myself into a lot of trouble so I'm just going to do the singing' – Liam later engaged in some light football banter. The well-known Phone camera torches also lit up the stadium as darkness fell. Friday's show – the eighth of the tour – followed a five-night run of homecoming gigs in Advertisement After they complete their first stint at Wembley, the band will head up north to Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium before travelling to Croke Park in This comes after the band They immortalised their iconic gigs at Heaton Park by issuing an official release of their live rendition of iconic track Cigarettes and Alcohol. Recorded on the first night of their stint at the park, Cigarettes and Alcohol has become a staple favourite on the brothers' set list. Advertisement
Spectator
6 days ago
- Spectator
The nostalgic joy of Frinton-on-Sea
For the recent heatwave, it was my mission to escape our little Wiltshire cottage, where it hit 35°C. It has one of those very poor structural designs unique to Britain that, like plastic conservatories or the Tube, is useless in hot weather. First, we went to stay with friends in Frinton-on-Sea with our English bulldog, who was born in nearby Clacton and is shamelessly happy to be back among his people. Some years ago I lived in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, a living museum of America's pre-revolutionary settler history. Frinton doesn't go quite that far – there are no ersatz yeomen milking doleful cows – but to visit is to enter a time warp back to the mid-1930s. It's the sort of place where Hercule Poirot might solve a crime while en vacances. The town's heyday was the first half of the 20th century, when society notables including Churchill and Edward VII came to enjoy the solemn whimsy of ornate villas (Dutch gables, gothic crenellations and French balconies to the owner's taste), the pristine golf course and the elegant lawn tennis club. Most famous of all are the beach huts, a long, neat row on stilts, which contain so many people's early memories. My grandmother lived near Colchester and every summer my mother courageously carted her six children (and, on two occasions, a cat in a basket) from Wales, across the London Underground and out to Essex for a week. Encounters with childhood nostalgia can be disappointing. The den from primary school has been tarmacked over. A favourite climbing tree has blown down. Caramac bars have been discontinued. Frinton, though, is just as I remember it. The sweet shop, the greensward, the wooden groynes covered in seaweed. The big sky and murky sea. Second homes and holiday lets are rare. Deep consideration is given to what innovations might lower the tone, and most things are rejected. There is now one pub, which opened 25 years ago, and one fish and chip shop that started in 1992. Huts have been painted cheerful pastel colours instead of the original dark brown. Other than that, Frinton is unchanged. Is the town an example of stout local pride or stick-in-the-mud nimbyism? With its mad but lovely housing stock and proximity to London, it might have become England's answer to East Hampton were the local council and residents not so resistant to change. As it is, you can't even sell ice creams on the seafront. I like it. Tucked into Nigel Farage's constituency, Frinton embodies the 'good old days' that so many Reform-minded people want to get back to, because those days simply never left them. Two days later, via London where I record the Telegraph's Daily T podcast with Tim Stanley, we head west to my parents' house in [redacted] Pembrokeshire. The small coastal town is another delight, the secret of which makes locals and lifelong holidaymakers cry when they see it featured in Sunday supplement 'best places to stay' lists in case it attracts the kind of hordes who block up Cornish lanes with their enormous Range Rovers. Costa del Cymru is a balmy 30°C and plays host to an unwelcome shoal of jellyfish who park up in the bay and a raucously fun farm wedding above the golf course. By day we swim, sandcastle, and siesta in front of the cricket and tennis. In the afternoons we loll in the garden and, in lieu of a children's paddling pool, have great results with a washing up bowl and the lovely sensation of sticking your finger up a gushing hosepipe. At night we are treated to lobster – proudly potted by Dad – white wine and the blissful sensation of snuggling down under a duvet against the slight chill. It's a deeper sleep than we've had in weeks. At the end of the stay, Mum and I try on some hats for my sister's impending wedding, then we play a tedious game of suitcase Tetris before travelling home in heavy rain. I drive and my husband works. It makes me think of how robust the constitutions of cabinet ministers must be, seeing as they do most of their box work from the back of a car and aren't sick. We arrive home to a dead lawn and the creepers of wisteria climbing into our bedroom windows like The Day of the Triffids. I check my weather apps – variable and unsettled; ho hum – and get back to work on my latest novel, which is about the shenanigans of randy young farmers in the countryside. That night I lie awake on top of the sheets in the humid darkness, sure I can ever so faintly hear the crash of waves and the cry of gulls. There is no refreshing waft of breeze, neither easterly nor westerly.
RTÉ News
6 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
O'Leary describes Dublin Metrolink as 'a waste of money'
Michael O'Leary, Group Chief Executive of Ryanair Holdings, has described the proposed Metrolink rail service in Dublin - that would also serve Dublin Airport - as a waste of money. He likened the estimated €20 billion cost to "ten children's hospitals" and says the project is "completely uncosted." Mr O'Leary said the Government allocated in the National Development Plan €2bn "for just the tendering process". He said the cost of the 18km project works out at around €1bn per kilometre. "Dublin Airport doesn't need it, Dublin Airport passengers won't use it, they're already well served by buses," he said on RTÉ's Drivetime. He said contrary to popular belief, people using Dublin Airport are all not "going to St Stephen's Green". "90% per cent of the traffic is going to suburban Dublin and down the country. "They're very well served by the existing bus capacity, which counts for about 30% of Dublin's traffic." Mr O'Leary said the Tube in London delivers only 16% of the passenger traffic to Europe's busiest airport, Heathrow, "and the Tube serves all of London". The "massively expensive" Metro, he said, will serve a "narrow corridor from Swords in through the airport in through Glasnevin, serving a couple of hundred thousand people". "And we are wasting billions of taxpayers money on a airport train that nobody is going to use and that we don't need," he said. He claimed that the Government "cannot be trusted," accusing it of already breaking an election promise that it would remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. He said no-one is willing to state publicly the likely eventual cost of Metrolink, which Mr O'Leary predicted will "easily exceed €20bn." He also accused Sean Sweeney, the New Zealander who was appointed Project Director of Metrolink last year, of "not knowing what he is talking about." Mr O'Leary said that a twentieth of the money - €100m - would pay for 400 buses which "do the same job" as the Metro, a project he said Ireland "cannot afford."
Metro
22-07-2025
- Business
- Metro
London's Oyster card prices to nearly double - check if yours is affected
Londoners face rising travel costs in the capital as a popular Oyster card is going up by £15. People wanting to get free travel with an Oyster concession card will have to dish out more money after a price hike. The cost of applying for the Oyster +60 and six different Zip photocards will increase from today, TfL announced. The +60 Oyster card faces the heftiest price rise. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Around 1.5 million Londoners aged 60 and over can currently travel for free. But the cost of applying for a 60+ Oyster is almost doubling from£20 to £35. The cost of a replacement card will increase from £10 to £18. The higher prices are needed because of financial constraints, TfL argued – despite a 4.6% Tube fare increase for passengers earlier in the year. Other Zip photocard applications, like the children and young people photocards, are seeing a £1 rise. Further Oyster card price increases are in the pipeline. From September 7, the new Oyster and Visitor Oyster card fee will rise from £7 to £10. Here is a roundup of the Oyster photocard price rises starting today, July 22. 60+ Oyster, new price £35 (previously £20) 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard, new price £11 (previously £10) 11-15 Zip Oyster photocard, new price £16 (previously £15) 16+ Zip Oyster photocard, new price £21 (previously £20) 18+ Student Oyster photocard, new price £21 (previously £20) Apprentice Oyster photocard, new price £21 (previously £20) 18-25 Care Oyster photocard, charged at £21 (previously £20) Peter Henderson, from Harrow, 68, relies on his Oyster discount card as he travels from his job as a mental health support worker. He told Metro he was surprised to hear of the 60+ price hike, saying it is 'a lot of money.' However, he said he understood why TfL was making the change after losing 'lots of money over Covid, so they are trying to get some of it back.' 'The prices go up all over, and I suppose it's time for an increase. But a lot of people cannot afford that,' he warned. Without free travel, Peter would be in 'deep trouble' as he struggles with the cost of living and is forced to continue working as long as he physically can. Michael Roberts, the chief executive of London TravelWatch passenger watchdog, said: 'Higher TfL photocard fees, especially for the over-60s, will be unwelcome news to Londoners who continue to feel the pinch of the ongoing cost of living crisis and some of the most expensive public transport fares in Europe. 'Annual index-linked increases might in future avoid big hikes in fees, but it's disappointing that more isn't being done to soften the blow this year for 60+ card holders on lower incomes. 'Londoners will be wondering what further unpleasant revenue-raising surprises TfL might have in store over the coming months.' Over-60s were given unlimited free travel on all London transport and trains at any time in 2012 by then-mayor Boris Johnson. However, during the pandemic, the 60+ concession was cut back by the London mayor Sadiq Khan, with free travel starting only after 9am on the TfL network and from 9.30am on trains. More Trending The 60+ Oyster scheme made headlines when it was revealed it costs TfL almost £500 million a year – compared to the £130 million the transport authority spends on tackling fare dodging. It has the biggest revenue gap between paid journeys and discount travel journeys, TfL said. Alex Williams, TfL's chief customer and strategy officer, said: 'We are fully committed to keeping travel in London affordable and accessible to everyone. Our fees for photocards haven't increased in 10 years, and these changes will mean that we can continue to provide these concessions while ensuring that the fees better reflect our costs for operating the schemes.' For Peter, who only works night shifts and has to travel before 9am, changing the 60+ discount back to all times would be a 'huge help' as he currently still spends almost £5 a day on travel to work. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Why was an innocent electrician shot and killed by police 'in cold blood'? MORE: 'First-of-its-kind' Eurostar-style train to directly connect UK with Berlin and two more cities MORE: Fans slam 'atrocious' immersive Elvis Presley show with tickets up to £300
