£108,000,000

[661-Pete]

However I am pleased that lottery money has supported everything from nature reserves to the restoration of historic buildings, from new village halls to the arts and of course funding for projects like the Olympics. If you can't see that first when looking at the lottery then it is a shame.

Even in that aspect of the lottery there are winners and losers. The small astronomical society of which I'm a member, applied for but just lost out on lottery funding. Too small, I suppose, or perhaps it was a 'postcode lottery'? Anyway - a loser, just like the mugs who buy tickets expecting the jackpot. Some of my money goes to good causes, not something I often mention, and not via any lottery.

[Mick F]

Some of my money goes to good causes, not something I often mention, and not via any lottery.

Some of my money, and a good deal of my time and effort goes into good causes - and definitely NOT via any lottery either.

[700c]

I would buy about 30 or so big old buildings on the Lejog route and do them up into hostels/b&b/camping, run as a not for profit and employing 10 or so people per site to run them. What would that cost? Maybe 10 million, with ongoing expenses covered by minimal nightly rates for tourers.

I'd also look at employing a designer to create some sort of flat pack house that would solve the countries housing crisis - maybe pump 10 or 20 million into that and then sell them really cheaply to people who can't afford to save a deposit for a "proper" house.

[horizon]

I'd also look at employing a designer to create some sort of flat pack house that would solve the countries housing crisis - maybe pump 10 or 20 million into that and then sell them really cheaply to people who can't afford to save a deposit for a "proper" house.

700c: I assume you meant country's.

This is going well off topic but just to reassure you, the UK doesn't have a housing crisis. You can buy pleasant houses in the North East for about £22,000 and there are plenty available. What you might find though is that you cannot afford a house in Hackney. However, you won't find anywhere in Hackney to put your flat pack houses, except Victoria Park. When Victoria Park is full (which indeed it would be very quickly), you still wouldn't be able to find somewhere to live in Hackney. If all the houses in Hackney were council houses on low rents, there would be a very long waiting list, so no luck there either.

Now that local authorities have back-pedalled a bit on the infamous Pathfinder scheme, you might be able to find somwhere up north (e.g. in Stoke on Trent ) at a very affordable price.

Please don't be taken in by the idea that letting development rip in London and the south east will solve "the housing crisis". There isn't one, only the need for developers to make money for which they need spurious grounds for obtaining planning permission.

[Ben@Forest]

The small astronomical society of which I'm a member, applied for but just lost out on lottery funding. Too small, I suppose, or perhaps it was a 'postcode lottery'? Anyway - a loser, just like the mugs who buy tickets expecting the jackpot. Some of my money goes to good causes, not something I often mention, and not via any lottery.

On the other hand the small cycling club of which I am a member applied for and got a small amount of lottery funding. And then (entirely through its own fault) had to give some of it back because it found it difficult to spend it upon what had originally been envisaged. I like the idea that not mentioning that somebody 'not mentioning' some of their money goes to good causes somehow makes it more noble. I'll have to tell Melinda Gates to stop promoting her malaria foundation.

[pete75]

Question. Does society need lotteries?

A certain lady PM once said, "There's no such thing as society."

The Thatcher government back then - and later with Major - said that a National Lottery wouldn't happen and they stopped the whole idea in its tracks. It took a Labour government to get it going in the mid 90s. There's not much that I agree about Tory policy, but I agreed with their stance on the lottery idea back then.

The national lottery was set up by the Major government in 1993 and started in late 1994. The Labour government didn't come to power until 1997.

[700c]

I'd also look at employing a designer to create some sort of flat pack house that would solve the countries housing crisis - maybe pump 10 or 20 million into that and then sell them really cheaply to people who can't afford to save a deposit for a "proper" house.

700c: I assume you meant country's.

This is going well off topic but just to reassure you, the UK doesn't have a housing crisis. You can buy pleasant houses in the North East for about £22,000 and there are plenty available. What you might find though is that you cannot afford a house in Hackney. However, you won't find anywhere in Hackney to put your flat pack houses, except Victoria Park. When Victoria Park is full (which indeed it would be very quickly), you still wouldn't be able to find somewhere to live in Hackney. If all the houses in Hackney were council houses on low rents, there would be a very long waiting list, so no luck there either.

Now that local authorities have back-pedalled a bit on the infamous Pathfinder scheme, you might be able to find somwhere up north (e.g. in Stoke on Trent ) at a very affordable price.

Please don't be taken in by the idea that letting development rip in London and the south east will solve "the housing crisis". There isn't one, only the need for developers to make money for which they need spurious grounds for obtaining planning permission.

No, I said countries and I meant countries. But thanks

I can assure you that there is an acute housing shortage of readily available housing that people can afford countrywide, and not just in the UK.

[pete75]

I'd also look at employing a designer to create some sort of flat pack house that would solve the countries housing crisis - maybe pump 10 or 20 million into that and then sell them really cheaply to people who can't afford to save a deposit for a "proper" house.

[/quote]

It's not the cost of the building that creates high house prices so much as the price of the land it stands on - just look at the prices of similar properties in different locations.

What you envisage was designed during WW2 - the prefab. Some are still lived in and are, apparently, not unpopular with their residents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabs_in_the_UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... risis.html

[Audax67]

I'm glad they gave the winning numbers. I'll play them next week and then I'll be rich too.

[Mick F]

The national lottery was set up by the Major government in 1993 and started in late 1994. The Labour government didn't come to power until 1997.

Yep.
I corrected myself further up this thread. My memory wasn't correct.

But I do remember how the Tories said they weren't going to set up a National Lottery. The lady may not have been for turning, but her successor was.



Of all the "good things" that the lottery does, would they have got done without it?

[thirdcrank]

I watched a telly programme (unusual for me in itself) about winning and not winning the lottery (including the counselling the organisation offers to people who can't find their big win tickets.) One of the things that emerged was that avoiding publicity is practically impossible, although I suppose you could take some precautions which might help. Even "no publicity" winners' ticket details are publicised with info about the general area where the winner lives, so hacks can ask if anybody has just disappeared mysteriously, or had a dramatic change of lifestyle. Everybody but the actual winner has an interest in maximum publicity.

As soon as the world knows you have that much £££, $$$, or even €€€, you have to live with much more security, as does your family. For most people,that means going to live somewhere else. Whatever you do in terms of giving it away, you then have to survive seven years to avoid tax at 40% unless you give it to a charity.

I don't think it's the money itself that's the threat to happiness but its sudden arrival, bringing an equally sudden change of lifestyle. Hangers-on and scroungers have been mentioned, but what about true friends who don't want to appear as though they are on the make and so take a step backwards?

[Ben@Forest]

I watched a telly programme (unusual for me in itself) about winning and not winning the lottery (including the counselling the organisation offers to people who can't find their big win tickets.) One of the things that emerged was that avoiding publicity is practically impossible.

Can't always be true - some years ago a magazine (I think the Sunday Times supp) ran a piece on big winners who had remained anonymous, although this was before the really big Euromillions wins. Some of these people had done nothing more than pay off their mortgage and start taking slightly more luxurious holidays but still worked as a gas fitter or bank manager or whatever. The money just sat in the bank accruing lots of interest (and lots of tax) and their lifestyles hadn't changed. One I remember had bought a seriously expensive motorbike and kept it a rented garage some miles away. Occasionally he went over and took the bike out, nobody knowing who he was, no neighbours to ask awkward questions. It may be the bloke sitting next to you at work...

[horizon]

700c: I assume you meant country's.

No, I said countries and I meant countries. But thanks

My apologies. I stand corrected.

Note to other forum members: see how confusing it gets? If you don't use the correct plural, you don't even know when someone is using it correctly!

[Ben@Forest]

I'm not keen on forum pendantry but the housing crisis 'belongs' to an entity so has to have an apostrophe somewhere. If a singular country like England then it is country's housing crisis. If it is more than one country like England, Wales, Scotland it is countries' housing crisis. The crisis belongs somewhere. Now I'll wait for some pedant to tell me Wales isn't really a country...

[thirdcrank]

I can see that one advantage of winning the €uro lottery would be that you could tell people where to put their apostrophes.