Funding the Future

A look at how a once-important word for noticing injustice got twisted into a sneer. Discussion of how that language shift shields wealth and hinders policies of care. Exploration of who gains from mocking compassion and how it blocks debates on taxation, climate and public investment. A call to reclaim caring language to defend democracy and economic justice.

In this video, I explain why neoliberalism is not a mistake but a system built to shift power from people to corporations. This politics of destruction delivers an economics of failure with underfunded public services, rising inequality and shrinking democracy. I also explain why fiscal rules like those promoted by Rachel Reeves reinforce this failure, and why a politics of care offers the best real alternative.

I recently recorded another Funding the Future podcast with John Christensen, with whom I have discussed tax justice and corruption for more than twenty-five years. We set out to talk about why corruption is suddenly back in the headlines. We concluded that corruption has not suddenly appeared. It has been embedded in our economic system for decades. In this conversation we discuss: • Why trust in banks, governments and corporations has collapsed since 2008 • How tax havens, secrecy jurisdictions and professional enablers make corruption routine • Why the UK and the USA sit at the centre of global financial secrecy • How sectoral balances explain the UK’s dependence on foreign money flowing into the City of London • Why corruption indices often ignore the real sources of global illicit finance • The role of think tanks, lobbying and political capture • What reforms could work – country-by-country reporting, ending investor-state dispute systems, and restoring democratic accountability Corruption is not just about bribery. It is about power, secrecy and rules written for the benefit of the wealthy. If we want a politics of care and an economy that works for people, we must tackle systemic corruption honestly.

Conspiracies exist. But they are not secret meetings in dark rooms. They are systems of coordinated power operating in plain sight. States pursue power. Corporations shape regulation. Finance influences policy. Big tech lobbies governments. Trade rules protect capital. Electoral systems entrench incumbents. This is not fantasy. It is political economy. In this video, I explain the difference between conspiracy theories and structural conspiracies: the coordination of wealth and power against ordinary people. I look at regulatory capture, media concentration, first-past-the-post, tax havens, lobbying, and the idea of managed consent. And I note the real danger is not paranoia. It is passivity. Democracy only survives if it is defended.

Modern economics behaves as if some people simply do not matter. In this video, I reject that idea outright. Neoliberal economic policy treats people as costs, blames them for failures they did not create, and deliberately excludes those who do not contribute to its narrow definition of “productivity”. Disabled people, carers, the long-term sick, the elderly, migrants, and those in insecure work are all made disposable by design. I explain why this is not an economic law but a political choice, how institutions like central banks enforce it, and why the result is an economy that fails by choice. I also set out the alternative: a politics for people and a political economy of care, built on inclusion, dignity, and justice. No one is disposable. You matter. And your job is to reject any politician whose actions suggest otherwise. 

The UK is no longer a unitary political system. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England now operate as distinct political realities, yet Westminster still governs as if nothing has changed. This video argues that Labour’s current crisis is not tactical or personal, but constitutional. The collapse of national political consent, the distortions of first-past-the-post, and the absence of a governing theory have created a dangerous vacuum. I explain why no single party can now govern the UK legitimately, why democratic credibility is failing, and why authoritarian politics thrives in that space. The solution is not domination or denial, but structured cooperation: national government in the national interest. That means electoral reform, abolition of the House of Lords, a regional senate, recognition of the voluntary nature of the Union, and governing by consent rather than force. Without this, democracy in the UK will continue to fragment, and that is a risk we cannot ignore.

Why does Britain feel poorer, more unequal and less productive than it should be? In this Funding the Future podcast, I speak with John Christensen, co-founder of the Tax Justice Network, about the finance curse, which occurs when banking and financial services grow beyond any socially useful scale. Drawing on John’s work in Jersey and decades of UK experience, we explain how finance crowds out real economic activity, drives up housing costs, drains talent, captures politics and ultimately undermines democracy. We also discuss new research showing the staggering cost of this failure to every household in Britain, and what can be done to reverse it.

Keir Starmer is being urged to explain what he believes in to save his leadership. That misunderstands the problem. This video argues that Starmer’s failure is not one of communication, but of conviction, and that his total lack of belief reveals a deeper crisis in British politics, Labour, and democracy itself.

New reporting shows the US State Department planning to fund MAGA-aligned think tanks, charities, and political movements in Europe. That includes organisations and figures linked to UK politics. This video follows the money: from post-war neoliberal networks, to modern think tanks, to today’s use of US state funding to legitimise extremist ideology. The far right no longer opposes the state. It has captured parts of it and is now using that power in the USA to attack democracies, including our own here in the UK. This is as organised, deliberate, and dangerous as if China and Russia were doing it - so why aren't the media saying so? 

Mass membership growth means something real is happening in the Green Party in England and Wales. People - who I call the watermelons, as they're red inside and green outside - are choosing commitment to that party over despair. But, critically, movements can outrun institutions. In this video, I set out the opportunity facing the Greens, the risks they must avoid, and the hard truth that values alone are not enough. If plausible, deliverable, policy does not follow, and fast, the consequences will be severe.