Michael Murray: Michael Noonan knows what he is doing on the issue of buy-to-lets. So make sure that you do too

History teaches us some lessons. Go back to Thursday, March 15, 1988. Nigel Lawson, then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, was on his feet in the House of Commons delivering his fifth budget. One paragraph in his speech was set to have a major impact on the price of British voters' most coveted asset - their house.

House prices had boomed over the previous five years and in one short paragraph, Lawson extended ...