Elections produce interesting challenges around language. One of the most intriguing is ‘affordable housing' which could quality for inclusion in the list of' ‘doublespeak' in George Orwell's 1984.

The real question about rents is affordable to whom? Previously, when local councils were the predominant providers, rents were set with a recognition of ability to pay and a regard to historic costs. Now in London and the South East, ‘market rents' seem to be determined by the willingness of four professional workers to share a two-bedroom flat and pay in excess of £2,000 a month