Nicole Foss speaking at The Acorn in Penzanceby Jonathan How
Canadian speaker Nicole Foss made an appearance at the Acorn Arts Centre at the beginning of April. She was on a European speaking tour and Penzance was her next stop after the Swedish Parliament! She has lived in the UK in the past and said that Cornwall has always been her favourite part of the country – so she was delighted to be back.
She started by warning the audience that the UK’s debt to GDP ratio is the second highest in the world at 466%. In addition, on a global scale, it has one of the worst house price bubbles and this is now starting to deflate. To those who doubt that there is a bubble she projected maps showing the ratio of average house price to average annual earnings. For many years the figure had been about 4 and in Penwith in 1998 it was still between 4 and 6. But by 2006, after massive house price inflation, the figure was more than 8 and, although there have been some falls, the ratio is still staggeringly high and cannot be sustained.
