Peter Rhodes on property prices, poor parenting and the joy of dining on Dobbin

Why do we greet every drop in prices, or cut in inflation, as good news - except when it comes to bricks and mortar? Houses are far too expensive, gobbling up vast amounts from family budgets. We'd all be a lot better off if, quietly at dead of night before the New Year dawned, a single zero was removed from the price of every home in the land.