Property wrongs

Over on The Telegraph comments section, Philip Johnston gives a brief, but clear account of how Nu Labour rode roughshod over our ancient property rights which once gave rise to the expression an Englishman's home is his castle.

In 1760, William Pitt (the Elder) made a famous declaration of this right. "The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake, the wind may blow through it. The rain may enter. The storms may enter. But the king of England may not enter. All his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement."

Now this is not the case with bailiffs given extraordinary powers of entry - they are advised that they can break down doors although it is suggested that they don't go as far as smashing holes through walls.

Perhaps one of the most revealing things in this country of ours is how the state seems to behave towards property owners. On the one hand they are giving more and more power to more and more people to enter our homes without our consent, while on another they seem strangely ambivalent to people who set up home in a property without the owners permission - i.e. squatters.

I think Henry Ireton may have been right after all.