General Chat

that who owns Britain programme on BBC2 last night, presented by that old stalwart, Peter Snow and his son, Dan? Was quite interesting seeing who owns what in terms of land in Britain.

Andy was a very interesting program I didn't like the bit where we pay for the upper classes to live in there own mansoins other than that enjoyed it Howardx

Yes I watched it Andy. I don't think I was surprised at which group owned the biggest chunk of land. But I was surprised that the Church and MOD owned so little in comparison. And isn't Peter Snow's son the spitting image of him!

Didn't see it, but was discussing it with one of the lads in the office earlier, he said he found it really interesting

I suppose one of the things that surprised me was how small the percentage was for us as ordinary householders. But I guess you have to remember that there are large areas of the UK (e.g. the wilds of north west Scotland) that aren't densely populated.

I did think it was rather unfair that the aristocracy had got away with not registering their land as it had been passed down from father to son. Surely everybody should have to do it and not have one rule for them and another for us

Jeanette, yeah, did seem strange that.

I think Howard has a good point too. We pay our taxes, part of which goes towards keeping the upper classes in their mansions. They then turn around and say that in return they open their houses and land to the general public. But don't we have to pay an entrance fee when we get there? Mind you, I did quite like the old guy (was it the Earl of Londsdale?). At least he thought it was fair that his heir would have to pay out all that money in death duties which was a fair exchange for all of the subsidies he was getting while he was alive.

I'm typing this as quick as poss in case my internet connection disappears again. Thought the programme was very good. Amazing what you find out about the country you live in. Wonder if they will do one on who actually owns British industry/institutions etc. That would probably be an eye opener. How much of it would have a foreign owner?

Winter Now that would be an eye opener for all of us and would be very interesting Howardxx

I didnt see it. So who does actually own Britain then?

the aristocracy/landed gentry mostly

Paul The biggest chunk - about a third - is owned by the landed gentry. The next biggest chunk was in private ownership - people such as Mohammed Al Fyed. The Church only owned about 1% and it seems that all of the homeowners are squished into less than 10% of the country