Red Ed on the Rampage: World's Oligarchs Tremble with Fear.

From yesterday's Evening Standard: A crackdown on "ghost homes" being hoarded by wealthy investors across London is unveiled today by Ed Miliband, in an exclusive interview with the Evening Standard.  New laws under Labour would hit rich owners who leave some 60,000 desperately-needed properties standing empty in the capital, and drive up house prices for everyone else...  Amid fury that thousands of flats have been sold to foreigners who never use them, but simply pocket the profits of a surging housing market, he pledged that Labour would take action by...   * drumroll * ... Doubling council tax for owners who let their flats lie empty and unused. After the property has been empty for a year, councils would have powers to impose a 100 per cent increase on their bills — which this year average £1,296.44 for a band-D home in London.