Home Sweet Home with Parental Interest ; the First Rung of the Property Ladder Is Frequently Reached with Help From Mum and Dad. But, Says Author Lionel Shriver, This Can Come at a Heavy Price Illustrations Phil Wrigglesworth

Summary

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A familiar modern perplexity: you are touring your friends' new house.

Let's say it's somewhere in East London, neighbourhood a bit dicey. The place needs some fixing up. Nevertheless, it is semidetached and three storeys high. Far from wondering where on earth they could possibly jam the microwave, they are racking their brains over what to do with two extra bedrooms (fitness suite? second study?). This is the same couple that blew out coming to Pizza Express because they couldn't afford to eat out, yet this place must have cost between 300 and 400 grand. So where did the whacking deposit come from, not that you're crass enough to ask?

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Home Sweet Home with Parental Interest ; the First Rung of the Property Ladder Is Frequently Reached with Help From Mum and Dad. But, Says Author Lionel Shriver, This Can Come at a Heavy Price Illustrations Phil Wrigglesworth

As they proudly switch on the period chandelier in the dining room (yes, there's a dining room, too), a smaller, keener light goes on in your head.

Suddenly the house, however spacious, seems more crowded. Peering from the rafters, following your friends on their tour and tut- tutting about the dust Parents.

So commonplace is this experience in Britain today that...

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