Opinion

For the last couple of years that I have worked as a mortgage journalist there has always been what I suppose we can call the elephant in the room - to pinch a rather well worn political phrase - of a housing market gone bust.

In space no one can hear you scream, but someone certainly needs to scream at the FSA over its suggestion the UK's financial services industry will survive an influenza ‘pandemic'.

Don't you just love Sky TV - one minute you can see Ronaldinho's ten goals in the Spanish league and the next minute you can watch Watford and Sheffield United look like two Sunday morning sides. From the sublime to the attrocious.

Following Emily Perryman's blog earlier this week the thought of Christmas presents has crossed my mind.

Some of us have been lobbying for many years to lighten the burden of prescriptive regulatory rules and give the industry an opportunity to come up with its own standards within the regulatory framework.

I have rarely seen a subject matter that polarises the adviser community so much as equity release. Love or hate, black or white - there is little sitting on the fence or shades of grey.

I didn't see it myself (you'd know why if you caught my column on Monday) but apparently England manager Steve McLaren was one of the pundits on Sky on Sunday afternoon for the United/Chelsea game.

We're approaching that time of year again when financial services companies go crazy issuing Christmas-themed press releases in a bid to get media coverage.

Who said Sky TV is killing the game for fans by moving matches to inconvenient times? Not me.

A blog is the perfect place not only to lay out your own opinions, but also to try to stimulate debate. And when it comes to the fuss made about first-time-buyers, the property ladder and buy-to-let, I'd like to do both.