"Economic genocide" in the uk?

[bigpaul]

I know very little about mortgage's these days, the ONLY house I ever owned I lost in divorce no 1 over 30 years ago. I was lucky 22 years ago I managed to get a 1 bed council flat and have been a council tenant ever since, these days they are not owned by councils any more but by housing associations and you have to "BID" for one online once you qualify to go on the list( if your single AND male forget it-you wont even get on the list but be laughed out of the office), not everyone is successful and that's why people hang on to them once they do get one.