I am not sure how you estimate what “the market demands” in terms of a housing rental market, because there are so many factors that distort that market. At the moment, for example, housing developers are declining to build houses. This is not because there is no demand for them, it is because they cannot sell them for a high enough profit. The reason people are not buying houses is because people will not lend them money, not because they do not want (or need) houses. (As the old saying goes, a hungry man with no money has a “need” for food, but no “demand”). There are some 7000 households on the Council housing register, so there is clearly a demand for affordable social housing. I would be quite comfortable with a situation where less than half the households in the UK were owner-occupiers (a proportion that is common in other parts of Europe). My landlord of choice would be local authorities, because they are generally more reliable and more accountable than either private individuals or housing associations. Like you, I don’t really want rich landlords profiting from their tenants, although I do think as a rule that institutions make better landlords than individuals (the “mom and pop” end of the rental market).

I want to do all I can to make housing more affordable and I agree with much of what you have said.

I do not though see home-ownership as a problem. I do not think the state ought own more homes than it does now; I’m a supporter of a small state and giving people the freedom to make their own choices about how they spend as much of their money as possible.

I would also not like to see a position where more rich individuals or companies owned more homes, and profited from more people living as tenants.

The rental sector is a critical component of our housing stock; it provides flexibility allowing people to move and follow work for example, but I wouldn’t want to see any efforts to expand it beyond what the market demands.

It is best for the country as a whole to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship, and business, increasing capital gains tax or any other tax reduces the incentive to generate wealth. Taken to an extreme, and oversimplifying things - there is a balance to be struck between us all being equal but poor in this country and allowing people to make money at the expense of a more fragmented society.

I too want a revolution, I want fundamental reform, I want affordable housing. We need a flatter taxation system, it is awful that some of the lowest paid people pay the highest proportions of their income in tax at the moment, but we’ve got to be careful not to deter wealth creators from living in and contributing to the country.