Budget day in 1988 was on March 15, and it happened to be the very day I completed my first property purchase — a flat near Clapham Common. Just short of my 27th birthday, I sat proudly within my very own bricks and mortar for the first time, waiting for a fridge to be delivered and listening to the chancellor, Nigel Lawson, on the radio. By teatime I was not only celebrating having a kitchen, but also that the taxes on a young professional like me were being slashed, with everything over 40 per cent abolished.
The very next day I bought a bigger bed than I had planned. Calculating how much more prosperous I would be, I rushed to place an advert for a