Funding the Future

War does not just test armed services. It tests economies.

Right now, the UK is discovering how fragile its economic model has become. Decades of de-industrialisation, reliance on imports, financialisation and extreme inequality have left the country dangerously exposed to global shocks.

When supply chains break, when energy prices rise, or when geopolitical tensions escalate, the consequences hit the UK economy very quickly.

In th...

War dominates the headlines again, but behind the geopolitics lies something much simpler: human exhaustion.

People are tired of conflict, tired of anger, tired of lives lost and hope destroyed. The cost of war is not just measured in military terms. It is measured in grief, fear, forced migration and the destruction of human well-being.

In this short reflection, I ask a simple question: why do we keep accepting war as inevi...

War in the Middle East is already pushing oil prices higher, and that means inflation pressure in the UK will rise again.

But this is not normal inflation. It is not caused by excessive demand in the UK economy. It is an external supply shock.

So the real question is simple: will the government protect households, or leave them to absorb the shock?

In this video, I explain why raising interest rates will not solve an oil shock, and...

Politicians talk endlessly about defence spending, weapons, and armies. But the first line of defence in any country is not military hardware. It is the stability of the society itself.

Do people feel secure?

Do they trust their institutions?

Do they believe government works for them?

When living standards fall, housing becomes unaffordable, and public services collapse, a country becomes divided and fragile. And a fragile society ...

People are often told that only the private sector creates wealth and that government simply wastes taxpayers’ money.

That claim is everywhere in modern political debate. It underpins austerity. It justifies privatisation. And it shapes how people think about the economy.

But it is wrong.

In this video, I explain what wealth really is and how it is actually created. Wealth is not just private profit. It includes infrastructure, edu...

Most people think they fail because they lack talent. In reality, many people stop acting because they are afraid of judgment, criticism, or being exposed as not good enough.

In this video, I discuss the powerful argument made in the book Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. The book suggests that the biggest barrier to success is not ability; it is fear.

That matters politically. If people who care about justice, equalit...

The conflict in the Middle East is not just a military crisis. It is rapidly becoming a global economic shock.

With the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, vital supplies of oil, gas and industrial inputs are at risk. That means rising energy prices, inflation, supply chain disruption and political instability around the world.

But the deeper issue is political. Wars like this often emerge when leaders under pressure seek external conflict...

The Bank of England meets on 19 March to decide on interest rates.

Many commentators now say rates cannot fall because war in the Middle East could push up oil and gas prices and increase inflation.

But that argument misunderstands what is actually causing inflation.

If prices are rising because of a global energy shock, raising interest rates will not reduce those prices. Instead, it will increase mortgage costs, reduce investment...

We’re repeatedly told that raising taxes on extreme wealth will drive billionaires and millionaires out of the UK and that the economy will collapse as a result.

That story is economic mythology. In this video, I explain why the very wealthy are not as “highly mobile” as politicians claim, why money doesn’t “disappear” when someone changes residency, why businesses and jobs don’t pack up with the owner, and why a modest fall...

Rachel Reeves will present the Spring Statement as if she's delivering stability.

The Office for Budget Responsibility will offer forecasts.

Markets will be reassured.

But the economics will be wrong.

In this video, I explain why fiscal rules, headroom, and the household budget myth are political theatre, not economic reality. Governments that issue their own currency are not revenue-constrained; they are resource-constrained.

If B...

Most people think tax pays for government spending. It doesn’t. In a modern monetary economy, governments that issue their own currency spend first and tax later.

In this video, I explain the six real purposes of tax:

• ratifying the currency
• controlling inflation
• redistributing income and wealth
• repricing harmful activity
• strengthening democracy
• organising the economy for public purpose

Understanding this changes everythi...

People often ask me why the work we do on this channel and on the Funding the Future blog is so hard to follow. It is not because the economics is complicated. It is because what we say is counterintuitive.

We have all been taught a story about money. We are told governments must behave like households, must balance their books, must cut spending on public services and social security because “there is no money left”. That story fe...

People ask whether modern monetary theory is “just theory”. I think that’s the wrong question. The real test is practical: does the UK actually operate as a modern money economy?

In this video, I walk through the plumbing: Parliament authorises spending, the Treasury instructs the Bank of England, payments are settled through reserves, and only later do taxes and gilts come into play. That sequence matters because it tells us somet...

People keep asking me how money is created, and the answer matters because misunderstanding money leads directly to bad economics and bad politics.

In this video, I explain:

1. Why money is always a promise to pay

2. How commercial banks create money when they lend

3. How the Bank of England creates money for government spending

4. Why tax does not fund spending, and instead controls inflation and inequality

If we ...

In 2023, the BBC admitted that comparing government finances to a household budget is “dangerous territory” that can mislead audiences. And yet we still hear that myth every day.

Its own impartiality review said household budget analogies are wrong. So why do they keep talking about them?

Why? Because the myth is politically useful. It limits debate, justifies cuts to public services and social security, and presents ideology as ar...

Can capitalism still organise society for the common good? That was the question I put to John Christensen. What we discovered is that the answer lies not in abstract theory but in practical experience. Mutuals, co-operatives and democratic institutions already shape our lives. The Nationwide building society, the Co-op, mutual insurers, some energy suppliers, pension funds and some phone providers prove that another way of organis...

We are being asked whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should be eighth in line to the throne. That is the wrong question.

The real issue is simple: why do we have a monarchy at all in a modern democracy?

No one should be born to rule. No one should inherit political authority. And public services belong to us, and not to a king.

In this video, I explain why monarchy contradicts equality, distorts politics, and blocks constitutional...