In this country as in no other,
we have learned to treat
our houses as tradeable,
money-making assets,
instead of as primarily
just our homes,
where we live – even,
as people used to say,
where the heart is.
Anybody who has simply wanted
to live like that
over the past decade
has been made a fool of
by the market.
The effect on how we regard
where we ourselves eat, sleep
and have our being has
in some ways
been worse.
For a while at least,
it’s over.
— David Sexton, This Is London
