How ghastly to be facing old age with nothing but a £4m house to show for it | Deborah Orr | Comment is free | The Guardian

How ghastly to be facing old age with nothing but a £4m house to show for it | Deborah Orr | Comment is free | The Guardian

Sometimes I wonder if Vince Cable likes occasionally to yell "Mansion tax!" in a similar spirit to that which "inspires" people to settle down to an evening of committed internet trolling – just to enjoy the annoyance that it causes, and see if anyone can be prodded into saying something outrageous in return. Certainly, the cry of "Mansion tax!" does seem to rouse the most unlikely of people to absolute paroxysms of misguided self-pity.

Like many British people of a certain age, my admiration and love for the journalist and broadcaster, Joan Bakewell, is Darcy-like in its intensity. Except on this particular matter. Bakewell was extremely quick off the mark in this round of the dynamic and thrilling game of "Mansion tax!", taking immediately to the welcoming pages of the Telegraph to complain bitterly of the unfairness of it all.