Funding the Future

UK government borrowing costs are rising fast, and the official explanation does not make sense. Britain is paying far more to borrow than France or Italy, despite having its own currency, a central bank, and no meaningful risk of default.
So what is really going on?
In this video, I argue that the City of London is using the bond market to discipline government and protect wealth. The institutions that own most UK government debt are banks, pension funds, insurance companies, and wealthy investors. Rising interest rates mean rising income for them.
I explain who actually owns UK government debt, who receives the £111 billion a year in interest payments, and why most ordinary households see almost none of that money.
I also look at the role of the Bank of England, quantitative easing, central bank reserve accounts, and why UK rates are so much higher than those in much of Europe.
Most importantly, I explain why the government does not need to accept this situation. There are alternatives. A government that understood how money and central banking really work could take back control of interest rates and stop this ongoing transfer of wealth to the financial sector.
If you want to understand how bond markets really work, and why UK economic policy seems designed to protect wealth before people, this video is for you.

Why does Britain keep ending up with weak Prime Ministers?
In this video, I argue that the problem is no longer simply about personalities or political parties. The deeper issue is that the UK political system now rewards the wrong qualities and filters out many of the people who might actually be capable of governing well.
I look at the five essential qualities any serious Prime Minister should possess:
charisma,
conviction,
competence,
coherence, and
consistency.
I also explain why recent leaders have so often failed these tests, and why modern politics increasingly rewards ambition without vision, media management without substance, and spin without understanding.
The Labour Party may soon face another leadership contest, but I argue that the recruitment process itself is deeply contradictory. MPs and party members often want very different things, and the system may actively prevent genuinely capable candidates from emerging.
I also explore the extraordinary challenges facing the next Prime Minister:
economic crisis,
instability in the Gulf,
climate breakdown,
constitutional tensions within the UK,
the rise of neo-fascism,
failing public services, and
the urgent need for economic literacy at the top of government.
This is not really a video about personalities. It is a diagnosis of a political system that increasingly struggles to produce leaders capable of governing in an age of permanent crisis.

Why do so many people feel alienated from politics in Britain today? Why has trust in political parties collapsed? And why do so many voters now feel politically homeless?In this video, which I think one of the most important we have made,  I argue that seven words explain the transformation of UK politics over the last 50 years.Once, politics was organised around nature, enterprise, work and society. Political parties represented identifiable interests, and most people could understand where they fitted into the political map.The Conservatives championed enterprise. Labour represented work. The Liberals focused on society and democratic reform. The Greens emerged around nature and environmental concerns.But neoliberalism changed all of that.Today, I suggest British politics is increasingly organised around the financialised returns represented by rent, interest and product charges.Property speculation, financial returns and intellectual property extraction now dominate political priorities. Enterprise and work have been hollowed out, and are now ignored. Financial capital has replaced productive activity at the centre of political debate. Our political parties have fundamentally changed as a result.This video explains how that transformation happened, why it matters, and why it helps explain the rise of political disenchantment, Reform UK, constitutional tensions and the collapse of trust in mainstream politics.If you want to understand why Britain feels politically broken, this video explains the process that got us here.

What happens when markets stop working?
That is the question at the core of this video, and it matters because we are entering a period in which shortages of essential goods may become impossible to ignore. Oil supplies are already being disrupted. Gas, fertilisers, industrial chemicals and food supply chains are under pressure. And when essentials become scarce, markets ration by price, not by need.
That means those with the least money lose first.
In this video, I argue that neoliberal economics has no answer to a world of absolute shortages. Markets work in conditions of stability, adequate supply and clear price signals. But when fear, disruption and scarcity dominate, those conditions disappear.
So what happens then?
I explain why governments may be forced to intervene through rationing, price controls and deliberate allocation of resources, just as they did during and after the Second World War. I also explore how systems for rationing fuel, energy, and food could actually work in a modern economy.
This is not an argument against markets in normal times. It is an argument about what happens when markets fail.
And I think that moment may be much closer than most politicians are willing to admit.

What happens if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed?
In this video, I argue that the current conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the USA could trigger a seven-stage global economic crisis that will unfold over the rest of this year.
We are already seeing rising oil prices, higher food costs, and growing fears in financial markets. But I suggest that this may only be the beginning.
I explain:
Why oil shortages matter far beyond petrol prices
How inflation could surge again
Why central banks may make the wrong decisions
How supply chains could begin to fracture
Why business failures may follow
And why this could eventually become a banking crisis bigger than 2008
This is not about panic. It is about understanding economic cause and effect before events spiral further out of control.
The political response so far has been dangerously complacent. Meanwhile, the economic consequences are already arriving in people’s daily lives.

The local election results in England and national government elections in Wales and Scotland may prove to be among the most historically significant political events of modern times.
In this video, I argue that Britain’s traditional two-party system is collapsing, nationalism is reshaping every nation within the UK, and the constitutional settlement holding the union together is now under unprecedented strain.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all now led by parties questioning rule from Westminster.
At the same time, England itself is deeply divided over its identity, as Reform keeps alive the divisions created by Brexit, raising further questions about its future direction.
The question now confronting the UK is, in that case, existential.  What is the nation now for, and does it still represent a shared future for the four countries that make it up?
And might it be that each of those countries would now be better off on their own, pursuing a politics of care and the economics of hope, based on redistribution, inclusion, electoral reform, and rebuilding social solidarity within their own national frameworks?

England’s local election results are revealing a dramatic political shift. Reform is making major gains across poorer regions, coastal towns, and former Labour heartlands, whilst London and larger cities are resisting the trend.
In this video, I look at what these results tell us about poverty, inequality, neoliberal failure, Labour’s collapse outside London, Conservative decline, Liberal Democrat resilience, and the Greens’ disappointing performance.
I also ask whether Britain’s traditional two-party system is now breaking apart for good, and what this means for the future of English politics.
The early results suggest a country splitting politically, geographically, and economically, and unless inequality is tackled, Reform’s growth may continue.

Britain may be witnessing the end of two-party politics.
Today’s local and devolved elections could mark a turning point in the political history of the UK. Labour and the Conservatives are now polling at historically low combined levels, whilst Reform, the Greens, and the Liberal Democrats are all gaining and in Scotland and Wales, the SNP and Plaid Cymru are leading polls, questioning as a result the whole nature of the United Kingdom.
In this video, I explain why Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system is now struggling to cope with a fragmented electorate and a fragmented country, why coalition politics may become unavoidable, and why the Westminster constitutional system may not survive unchanged.
I also ask whether proportional representation, Lords reform and wider constitutional change are now inevitable.
Could Britain become a continental-style multi-party democracy as our two-party system and even national unity run out of road?

The UK government was warned in late April that the country had only six weeks of jet fuel supply remaining. Jet fuel prices across Europe have already doubled. Absolute shortages could hit in June. And the government's response has been to offer short-term reassurance with no plan beyond the next six to eight weeks.
Will your summer holiday actually happen this year? Who knows, least of all the government, it seems.
And this is just a microcosm of what the whole economy is about to face. The Strait of Hormuz closure and the geopolitical crisis involving Israel, the US, and Iran are not temporary disruptions. They now look to be structural nd ongoing. And the government's response so far is nowhere near equal to the scale of the threat.
So, what should you do right now?
Do not assume your summer flight will go ahead
Check your consumer rights — especially the £200+ compensation threshold for cancellations
If you have a package holiday, check the financial resilience of the operator and the insurer
Plan a possible alternative. Get your disappointment in early.
Pray to whoever you think might listen. We might need that. 

From April 2027, the government will cut the cash ISA allowance for the under-65s from £20,000 to £12,000, forcing the remaining £8,000 into stocks and shares. But the Bank of England is now warning of a "significant risk of a stock market adjustment." Is this really the right moment to push small savers into a volatile market?
 
In this video, I explain why this policy is recklessly irresponsible. The government claims that redirecting savings into stocks and shares ISAs will benefit the UK economy, but around 99% of all activity on the London Stock Exchange takes place in the secondary market, where second-hand shares are traded.
No new money reaches UK companies as a result. No jobs are created. The economic rationale for this change simply doesn't hold up.
That means this is the moment to reconsider how you save, and not be pressured by the government into shares if that is not what you think is right for you.