Here's an idea to solve the housing crisis. It comes from a prominent politician, as follows – there should be a programme of large-scale house-building to lower rents, employers should offer homes for their lower-paid staff, the Government should provide 20-year low interest loans to buyers, and suburban transport should be heavily subsidised to encourage commuters to live outside congested city centres.

The ideas were actually put forward in 1883 in a magazine article by Lord Salisbury, later prime minister and a free market Conservative, as a response to increasing concern about slum housing.