Tiny frogs

My tadpoles are growing into recognisable but tiny frogs. Look! He's still got his tail.

Queen bee

We were sitting in the garden having a quiet evening drink when we heard this bee making the most almighty noise. On the plants next to us was this pair, and the smaller bee's wings were making this huge buzzing noise. As the top bee seemed to be trying to leave but was stuck, the noise got more frantic. Then another noise added to it, as if the queen were screeching. And they pulled apart and went their separate ways.

I thought mating killed the male bee. From the noise, it sounded like murder.

And now I suppose there'll be a bees nest in the garden somewhere.

Secret gardens

Today is "Secret Gardens of Aylesbury Old Town", and this afternoon around 15 of us are opening our gardens to those who want to see what lies behind the terraced houses that have not even a front yard. So my husband is outside now, polishing the stones, and mowing the lawn, which means my hay fever is about to start. If you want to come and can, do. Get your tickets and map at the County Museum. The money goes to charities.

Father's day

Shopping

Our parents are coming up to their diamond wedding anniversary but our father thinks he won't get our mother a diamond because she can't see any more, so he emailed round us siblings for alternative ideas. My brother promptly volunteered his sisters, wife and sister-in-law to take our mother on a shopping trip.

Now that's a nice idea to have a girls' day out. I can't remember going on a shopping trip with my sister ever, nor with my sisters-in-law. I remember going shopping with my mother, particularly when I was a teenager, though not with my little sister. I like going shopping with my daughter (bookshops) and with my step-daughters too. SD#2 was my style specialist when I went out to buy my first new pair of spectacles in over ten years. And granddaughter #1 is fun to go shopping with - we went to the jewellers together to choose something for her mother.

I suspect my sisters-in-law would be fun to shop with, though my brothers might be a bit nervous. Years ago, sister-in-law #1 arrived at some evening do in a most splendid bright orange trouser suit (it was the eighties). She explained that it had been half price so a bargain, but even the half price was horrendously high. I love her choice of colours, design and outfits. I'd enjoy the experience of going clothes shopping with her.

I'll wait and see what my sisters (and SiL) say.

a Good Day

June 17th
Both my children today are having good days. Although neither has spoken to me, I've heard from them electronically. One texted that she's:

"Off to Bordeaux! :))"

which means she's got good end of second year university exam results. The other has Facebooked:

"Done"

which means he has taken his last university exam this morning and is relieved.

It's beautiful weather.

And a Good Day.

Daughter in Hong Kong

Daughter at university has made new friends, and one consequence is that between exams last month and results next week, she's nipped off to Hong Kong this week where she's meeting a friend and discovering Asian heat and humidity. She writes:

You should see the lights and the shopping malls! It truly is a city that never sleeps. There are so many lights and skyscrapers! Closing at 12 seems early! I had octopus balls that night for supper, which were a new experience. But I figured that if I was going to another country, I might as well take every opportunity on offer. But even the supermarkets are different! The fruits on offer are so different to what you would find in England; and those that are similar are massive. Like an apple the size of a large orange, larger than a tennis ball.

I'm almost jealous that I've never been. But I've had other things in my life, and more to go. It's a wonderful life.

BBC

"What! You've never been to Broadcasting House?"

teased my colleague this morning when I asked him about our meeting tomorrow.

When I'd finished berating him for behaving like a teenage lad, he grinned and we sorted the details. You can tell, I'm excited to be visiting the BBC Broadcasting House to watch them record The Bottom Line for Thursday. My colleague does a two-minute talk on something related to the topic of the week and also writes a blog for it. I'm going to see who's involved and how they do it.

This visit is related to my research work, and it's work I love doing, finding out, learning is so exciting. If you want to know about it in detail you'd have to look at my work blog here.

Asset inflation

Assets - like my house and other things I've got - inflate, but my house has inflated more than anything else, and I don't like that because it means that it's too expensive for most people to afford. This situation is fine for the middle-aged people who already have homes, but tough on the younger ones. With easier access to mortgages than we used to have, and with two incomes counting towards mortgages instead of several multiples of the husband's salary and a fraction of the wife's, people get loaned more money, so can offer more money. Consequently, small houses perhaps have inflated even more than big houses, so people who can't afford very much find it even more difficult to get on the housing ladder.

The Telegraph has a campaign against the governments proposal to increase capital gains tax on second homes, because lots of people would flood the market with their buy-to-let properties and this would damage the property market, which is just recovering, that is, prices are going up again.

Now who benefits from house prices going up? Not me, and not the house owner who if buying another house just has to find more money.

• The government benefits from more frequent stamp duty.
  
• Surveyors benefit from the extra work each time a house is checked.
  
• Estate agents take a percentage of each sale.

This churn benefits those who get a cut of the changing houses, and house price inflation means they get a bigger cut, but it doesn't benefit people who aren't buying and selling or involved in this chain of business. In fact, it works to the detriment of young people who find small houses too expensive to buy. So a cut in CGT that causes a flood of houses on the market, might also help reduce the housing market, and house (i.e asset) inflation.

I can hear the surveyors and estate agents and the The Telegraph complaining that lots of jobs would be lost. But so what? What jobs are these? They don't bring money into the country, but just move money from one place to another within the country. So they don't increase the economy, (though the extra stamp duty paid will help to reduce the government debt).

So I want this CGT increase because it seems like its consequences will be a good thing for wider society, like bring down house price inflation so our children can afford houses again.