Ai Weiwei and not all Londoners will benefit from higher house prices

Great film I saw on BBC Iplayer recently   was all about   Ai Weiwei, it was under the Storyville strand and was really interesting both in terms of the creative work of Ai  and the Chinese states persecution of him.
Ai was thew creative consultant responsible for the creation of the concept of the 'Birds Nest stadium' at the Olympics in 2008 but is no longer in favour with the powers that be in China.

A brave artist in China

During the time the film was made Ai Weiwei was working on work that examined his recent imprisonment on what appears to be trumped up charges - these were a series of 3-dimensional works representing his treatment while he was held by the state authorities.

Several very interesting things came out of the film one was that a modern consumer state that micro-manages and puts its artists under surveillance is ultimately doomed Ai when the  question was posed to him when it would fall apart was unable to put a date on it but was clear that it will change.

Problems for people

The news that the average  price for a house in London is now over £400,000 brings renewed focus onto the plight of many who will not be able to own their own home in the nation's capital.
What is striking about these times where the successful thrive is the hard times that many suffer often as a result of loneliness as much as by their relative poverty.
On discussing with people who suffer as result of low fixed incomes it is apparent that human contact is often missing or malfunctioning.

Red are the London prices Blue the rest of the UK
(from http://monevator.com/historical-uk-house-prices/)