Beardyman

Bearded folk past, present and future: have you ever worried that your employer might take you to task for your hirsute leanings? Last week construction firm Mears asked workers to remove their facial hair, citing health and safety.

In what can surely be called “hair and safety gone mad”, the firm said beards make dust masks unsafe (which is, in fact, in line with Health and Safety Executive guidelines).

Employees are only allowed beards on medical or religious grounds and even then, they need an official note from their doctor or place of worship. Razors at the ready.

Last week a dozen letting agent bosses issued a warning over the last government’s proposed letting fees ban. In a letter to journalists, they cited “independent economic analysis” which showed such a ban could cost tenants up to £103 a year extra in rent, “as landlords seek to mitigate their increased costs”.

But hang on. A Generation Rent study published just a day earlier had found tenants in England pay an average £404 in fees every time they move.

Closed Circuit is prone to the odd Diane Abbott-ism, but the ban doesn’t sound like such a bad deal for tenants after all.

Can the UK build a million new homes over the life of this parliament?

When the government first set that target, most experts laughed derisorily at the 60,000 per annum increase the country needed to achieve immediately to hit the target.

But recently ministers have been looking more confident when the target is mentioned.

The reason for this turnaround, though, is sadly not a breakthrough in solving the housing crisis, but a change in the length of time to hit the target and how we count it.

Ministers now use the ‘net additions’ figure to measure the target – which sits at 189,000. Then “the end of this parliament” became the “end of 2020”. This means the average needed is now just 175,000 per year.

As investment website Property Partner pointed out this week, this is just 9,000 more than the average over the past 10 years. It’s also 14,000 fewer than we’re currently building. All of which is down on the 240,000 homes a year which the Barker Review suggested was necessary more than a decade ago.