Funding the Future

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.

BP made $3.2 billion in the first three months of 2026, which was more than double its profit from the same period last year. It did not achieve this by finding new oil or selling more of it. It did it by trading oil contracts. In other words: by betting on war. And your energy bill paid for it.
What is actually happening:
In 2025, around 383 million oil trades were recorded in the UK, each covering roughly 1,000 barrels of oil at over $100 a barrel
The total value of those contracts runs into the tens of trillions of pounds, dwarfing the value of all UK share trading
The post-Ukraine energy price spike that devastated household budgets was not caused by a gas shortage; it was caused by financial speculation of this sort, and it is happening again
The tools to control the damage from this trading already exist, but the government just refuses to use them:
The London Stock Exchange already charges 0.5% Stamp Duty on share trades, raising over £4 billion a year. A financial transaction tax on oil trading could work in exactly the same way and potentially raise more money.
Alternatively, a tax of this sort could, as Nobel Laureate James Tobin, who proposed it in the 1970s, said, "throw sand in the wheels" of the speculative machine, and that is what is needed. 
Even a fraction of a per cent on commodity trades such as those in oil, wheat, rice, and soybeans would reduce trading volumes, cut price volatility, and protect household budgets
A windfall tax on wartime trading profits would claw back what BP and others are extracting from the crisis
This is not complicated. It is a political choice to permit wartime profiteering. And it is now a necessary political choice to stop it.

Why write 25,000 blog posts? Why make a video every single day?
In this video, I explain what drives my work, why I have spent decades challenging mainstream economics, and why I believe much of what we are told about the economy is simply wrong.
This is not about academic debate for its own sake. It is about the real-world consequences of bad ideas; ideas that shape public policy, justify inequality, and limit what governments claim they can do.
From tax justice and the exposure of tax havens, to the deeper question of how wealth and power are concentrated, I explore how the system actually works, and why it so often fails ordinary people. I also explain why the claim that there is “not enough money” for public services is not an economic truth, but a political choice.
This matters because the stakes are now incredibly high. We face a climate crisis that demands large-scale public investment. We face public services under strain after years of deliberate underfunding. And we face levels of inequality that are both economically damaging and morally indefensible. None of these problems can be addressed unless we first understand how money, government, and the economy really work.
That is why I write. That is why I make videos. And that is why I do it every single day.
If we do not challenge bad economics, it will continue to harm millions. But if we do understand it, we can begin to change it.
Let me know what you think in the comments—and don’t forget to vote in the poll below.

Four crises are converging on the world's food supply.
 
War has closed the Strait of Hormuz.
 
Extreme heat is cutting crop yields.
 
The strongest El Niño in a decade is forecast.
 
And Trump's tariffs are fracturing the trade networks that keep food moving.
 
The UK could face food shortages as early as this summer.
World food prices are already at their highest level since November 2023, and that pressure has not yet fully been transmitted to what you pay at the till.
UK inflation is already expected to breach 5% in 2026, partly as a result of these pressures and the Bank of England warns it could get worse.
Meanwhile, it's the developing world faces the sharpest pain. In countries where food takes the largest share of household income, price spikes tip millions into food insecurity. But the UK is not immune
None of these four pressures arose by accident. Each is the consequence of political choices: the decisions to wage war, to burn fossil fuels, to impose tariffs. And the political response so far is nowhere near equal to the scale of the threat. Will you go hungry? That's the question now? The possibility is real.

The Bank of England has held interest rates, but the real story is what happens next. Beneath its decision, pressure is building to raise rates again, and that could prove disastrous. 
In this video, I explain why that is the case. The inflation we are facing is not driven by excess domestic demand. It is being driven by war, supply shortages, and speculation in global commodity markets. Interest rate rises cannot produce more oil or resolve supply disruptions, but they can further suppress demand in an already weakening economy.
That is the risk we now face. Raising rates in these conditions could accelerate the move toward recession, increasing business costs, reducing investment, and undermining confidence. There is a real danger that central banks could turn a fragile situation into a much deeper economic crisis.
The problem, at its core, is that central banks are applying the wrong theory to the wrong problem. When inflation is supply-driven, higher interest rates do not solve it. They can only make it worse. And unless that is recognised soon, the consequences could be severe.

The Bank of England has warned that serious financial risks are building — and I think people need to pay attention.
An AI stock bubble, war in Iran, and risks in shadow banking could trigger a major financial correction.
In this video, I explain:
Why I think the risks are real
What the Bank of England is actually saying
How to protect your pension
WWhat to do about debt
Why certainty matters more than chasing returns right now
This is not financial advice. Please seek regulated advice where appropriate.
But doing nothing may be the biggest risk of all.

Tony Blair’s institute has published a report proposing sweeping cuts to UK social security by redefining mental illness, ADHD, autism and other health conditions as “non-work-limiting.” This will force many who are unable to work to look for jobs and leave them destitute if they cannot find them, as is likely
Worryingly, his whole report includes not a single reference to medical support for the reforms he is proposing. He is targeting those with ill health for the sole purpose of cutting taxes due by the wealthy, whose interests he seems to now serve. 
His report ignores the real causes of poor health in Britain, which has increased because of:
austerity
poverty
insecure work
poor housing
ultra-processed food
NHS underfunding
Meanwhile, healthy life expectancy in Britain is collapsing.
This is not reform. It is coercion.
And it could leave millions worse off.

The Bank of England has suggested we're facing mega economic uncertainty right now. Stock markets are at record highs. Shadow banking is exposed to AI speculation. The war in Iran has no end in sight. And the minister responsible for managing crises in the UK - Darren Jones MP-  is telling us to keep calm and carry on. That is not good enough. There are things you could actually be doing right now.
These are practical steps to protect yourself:
Pensions: if you are near or are in retirement, take advice now on pension risks and withdrawals and choose the right risk exposure for you.
Savings: if you hold more than £120,000 in a single bank, split it to stay within the government guarantee limit.
Your job: this might not be the moment to change employer; job security is more valuable than it looks at times like this.
Mortgages: You might want to avoid locking in a long fixed rate; consider a variable or one-year deal, as interest rates may fall sharply if the economy crashes. 
Energy: if you can afford a fixed-price contract, it may be worth taking one now before prices rise further. 
Secondhand goods: sell your unwanted items now to realise cash, before a downturn floods the market and prices collapse.
Cars: do not buy now, but wait for a better-quality used car at a lower price as finance deals unwind, as many might do soon.
Voting: back parties that believe in state intervention: the Greens, SNP, and Plaid Cymru are most likely to act in your interest when markets fail
The government is not being straight with you. The tools to protect yourself exist, but you need to act before the crash, not after.

The world is facing a financial crisis because we will be facing absolute shortages of oil, food, and raw materials very soon. And that changes everything.
Markets can never solve the problem of absolute shortages: they simply supply whoever can pay the most. If we leave allocation to the market, the vulnerable will be left with nothing.
The Economist forecasts that the oil crisis will hit us by June 2026 if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, as it will. But all politicians are still talking about are fiscal rules. That is not good enough.
There are only two things that can manage this crisis now. We need rationing of food, petrol, and diesel to ensure they are distributed equitably, and not sold to the highest bidder.
And then we must increase taxes on large companies, commodity traders, and the highest earners and wealthiest people to ensure money can be reallocated to those who will otherwise suffer as a result of the inflation that shortages are going to create.
These tools exist. What is missing is the political courage to use them.

Israel is a rogue state. Its wars in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Iran have no justification in international law. More than 70,000 civilians have died in Gaza alone. Ambulances and crews are being deliberately targeted in Lebanon. These are war crimes — and the world has seen this before, in apartheid South Africa.
What a full boycott must include:
End all defence agreements and halt armed supplies immediately
Ban trade, block financial flows, restrict travel
Break sporting, artistic, and academic links
Begin war crimes investigations and prosecutions
Opposing these actions is not antisemitism. Allowing them to continue unchallenged would be a moral failure of historic proportions. Sanctions eventually ended apartheid in South Africa. Nothing less will do here — and the time is now.