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In the last few years, I have gone from this to this. I’ve written about my weight loss before, but, just in the last two or three months, something has really accelerated, and I’m not quite sure what.I’m now 54. I’ve suddenly got a six-pack. Well, sort of. A four-pack. I’ve lost 48 pounds (22 kg). My metabolic age has come down from 57 (when I was 51) to 49. I am super fit and bursting with energy.Even at the age of 22, when I had just left drama school and won a British Open Martial Arts Tournament (BOMAT 1991 - I’ve got the trophy somewhere if you don’t believe me), I don’t think I was nearly as defined. I’m the same welter weight as I was then too.What’s the secret? There isn’t one. I’d love to say this was all deliberate, but really, it has happened by accident. I was overweight, started fasting to lose weight, and it spiralled from there. Normally, I put the weight back on, but this time it’s not only stayed off, but I have lost more weight and got into better shape.I thought I should describe some of my habits here, in case you find them beneficial. I don’t think it is one thing that has done it. I think it is the aggregation of everything.So here we go: 12 habits to transform your health. If you are interested in following me down this route, don’t try and do all of these at once. Do one, then gradually add others. Baby steps …1. FastDo the 5:2 diet. It takes effort, but it works. It is probably the single most effective thing you can do to lose weight. Fasting brings mental clarity too. Watch videos, listen to podcasts, read, indoctrinate yourself, then do it. After a while, you look forward to the feeling of being hungry and the good feeling you get after: I call the morning after a fast the inverted hangover because you feel so good.2. Avoid Seed OilsBy seed oils, I mean all the industrial oils that have only entered our diet in the last 50 or so years and that human beings were never supposed to eat - vegetable oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, canola oil, palm oil - all that stuff. These things were invented to be industrial oils, and they’ve made their way into our food supply and they are poison. Why is obesity such a problem? Look no further than seed oils for your answer. 100 years ago, Americans got zero calories from seed oils; now they make up a third of their daily intake. In this case, correlation is causation. Things like olive oil, butter, tallow, and coconut oil are fine. Seed oils are in everything. Assume what you are considering eating contains seed oil and only eat it when you have ascertained that it doesn’t.Tell someone you know about this.3. Dead HangsI think these might have been the transformer, as I’ve only been doing them a few months. Get a pull-up bar. You can get ones that you hang in your doorway or, better, get one outside for your garden and hang from it. At first, you will only be able to hang for a short time, but keep hanging every day so that eventually you can hang for two minutes. Then do two two-minute hangs per day. I only started doing dead hangs to cure my various neck ailments (too much computer), but they have had all sorts of unintended, beneficial side effects. They improve your posture, they stretch out all the evils of sitting in front of a screen all day, they sort out your neck problems, your shoulder problems, they stretch through your torso. I can’t think of a more physically beneficial way of spending two minutes than a dead hang.4. Get a Whoop Whoop is a health and fitness tracker watch which focuses on sleep and recovery. I got one to improve my sleeping habits. Sleep is the new exercise, as I’m sure you know. It measures, among other things, heart rate variability (HRV), which plummets when you drink. You then get a big red warning which puts you off drinking. The unintended consequence, then, of getting a whoop was that my alcohol consumption has gone from having a couple of drinks or more most days - half a bottle of wine a day kind of stuff - to almost zero. I now crave not drinking. It’s not just the calories in alcohol, it’s the bad decisions you make after drinking, particularly late-night bingeing. Not drinking also improves sleep and general health. I did not plan to give up booze. I like booze. I love beer. I love wine. I like drinking. If you told me I had to give up drinking, I would’ve said no. But that’s what happens when you get a Whoop. So get a Whoop. Plus your sleeping habits improve too.5. Have a partner you want to look good forI had one - now sadly no more - but I’m sure it made me generally up my physical game. She was also extremely health-conscious and got me into all sorts of good habits. It helps to have a partner with whom you can eat well and exercise well. It makes you accountable too.Sometimes splitting up with someone you like or love can be great for your weight too. Maybe that’s what happened to me!You really should subscribe to this wonderful publication.6. Cider vinegarIt’s better for you than Ozempic. It’s cheaper than Ozempic and it reduces your appetite. More here on the glories of cider vinegar.7. SupplementsI’ve gone from taking zero supplements to taking so many so that I don’t know which ones are actually doing good. But I’m pretty sure Tongkat Ali and Fadogia Agrestis have had an impact. I sometimes think the act of taking supplements is more effective than the supplements themselves.8. WaterDon’t know if it did anything, but I stopped drinking tap water where possible and only try to drink mineral water. (Next worry is microplastics).9. ExerciseI try to do some form of exercise every day, and I mix it up between cardio, stretching, and weights. I probably could do more weights: I only do one session per week with some dumbbells at home. I need to join a gym. I find cycling good because it doesn’t hurt your joints. When I run, I usually only run two or three miles, but I live near a steep hill, so I do four 30-second sprints up the hill at the end. I play a bit of tennis and a bit of footy. Swimming is also good, but I don’t like chlorine, so that is more of an occasional summer pastime when I can do it outside .10. Two meals a dayDo you really need three? Skip breakfast, have an early lunch, and go to bed early. And no seed oils.11. 15 Minutes of Sun The first thing I do every morning is drink a pint of water, make myself a cup of tea, then go and sit in the garden for 15 minutes and get some sunshine. This is supposed to help regulate your circadian rhythms and sleeping habits. I have been getting to sleep much more easily since I did this. Even if it’s cloudy and it’s winter, go and sit outside for 15 minutes first thing in the morning.12. Count CaloriesI have only just started counting my calories using the Calorie Counter app. The thought of putting your calories into this every time you eat deterred me from doing it sooner - yet more time on my wretched phone - but I’m actually quite enjoying it and I keep it probably 85 or 90% accurately. Eating discipline definitely improves if you get one. Ultimately, losing weight is basic maths: fewer calories in than out, and you lose weight. Net immigration is the same.Share this with your friends.A Bruce-y Bonus. Learn to stand up from the ground without using your handsThis is supposed to be an indicator of longevity. A few months ago I was hopeless. I could barely stand up from a yoga block. But now I can do it. Here’s the proof.So there you go. I hope this helps. As I say, don’t try to do everything at once. You can’t. Baby steps. This is a case of the power of incremental gains and compounding.Diet is the most important thing. If you don’t get that right, it doesn’t matter how much you exercise. You can’t outrun a bad diet.Until next time,DominicPS Don’t forget the mining show - the Edinburgh link is here. And the London link is here.Plus - Charlie Morris is one of my closest mates and he writes what I think is one of the best investment newsletters out there, in fact a suite of them. I urge you to sign up for a free trial. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.comIMPORTANT: somebody has been impersonating me on here and asking readers to message them on WhatsApp. Obviously it is not me. Don’t engage. Stop engaging and block, if you have started. And DON’T send any money.It’s a question that comes up a lot. In fact, a friend was asking me just this week, so let’s try and resolve it here and now, once and for all: gold or silver - which should you buy?Full disclosure: in my own portfolio at one stage I was geared as much as 70% towards silver and 30% towards gold. But in 2011, when silver went to $50, I rolled into gold and never went back. My physical allocation is now probably something like 90% gold and 10% silver.(For clarity’s sake: we are not talking about mining companies - these are a different kettle of fish altogether - just physical metal).Make no mistake: silver has a great deal more potential than gold. There is every possibility that the silver price could triple or quadruple from today’s price just below $30/oz. It could even go to $200. But my experience of 20 years investing in silver is that if it can find a way of disappointing, it will. The out-and-out silver bugs all scream manipulation, and maybe the silver market is manipulated and repressed. For sure, if all the longs on the futures exchanges were to hold out for delivery, the silver price would go shooting up. There is not the physical supply to deliver on all the contracts. That applies to many commodities, though none, it seems, consistently to the same extent as silver. But why invest in something if forces stronger than you are repressing it?It is unlikely, meanwhile, that gold will triple or quadruple from today’s price of $2,300/oz unless we enter into some kind of currency crisis or extreme inflation.Then again, the silver price could easily halve from $30/oz. I don’t think a 50% correction in gold is likely, outside of some deflationary financial panic or liquidity crisis such as we saw with COVID in 2020. In any case, any such correction would be temporary.Reasons to Buy SilverMy friend was told to buy silver because the silver-to-gold ratio at 80 is high and should come lower. Let’s consider that argument.There is 15 times as much silver in the earth’s crust as there is gold, and throughout all of history, the monetary ratio between the two reflected natural supply. Fifteen silver coins got you a gold coin.But silver stopped being used as money in the late 19th century. The many gold rushes of the period increased gold supply so that most countries around the world followed Britain’s model and adopted pure gold standards (more on this here). By 1900, China was the only major country in the world on a bi-metallic standard, which included silver. Every other nation was on gold.In my lifetime, the silver-to-gold ratio has only once gone back to its natural levels of 15, and that was in 1980 for an afternoon, when the Hunt brothers’ attempt to corner the silver market reached its climax. The reality is that the silver-to-gold ratio has been gradually getting higher for a generation now, averaging between 50 and 85, though going above or below those levels at times of market extremity. In 2020, it went to 125.Reality check - this is a long-term uptrend.I accept that the silver-to-gold ratio “should” be 15. In fact, perhaps it should be even lower because silver gets consumed, while gold does not. But in practice, I don’t think that ratio will ever go to 15 in my lifetime, certainly not for any extended period.The other argument that my friend was given to buy silver instead of gold was that silver has many industrial uses. This is indeed the case. It has many more than gold, even if gold’s biggest source of demand is jewellery. (More on gold’s industrial uses here).Gold’s use throughout history has been to store or display wealth. Silver’s has been to exchange it. Silver no longer has that use, nor is it likely to. We don’t use metal as a medium of exchange anymore, nor are we likely to. Money is digital.Gold is the store of value, not silver, which is expensive and bulky to store. Gold is the constant.We don’t buy gold to become millionaires. We buy gold to protect the value of what we have already earned. Gold will continue to do that. Silver might not.Silver is much more speculative. It has the potential to earn you more money than gold, but it also has the potential to lose you more than gold.Why not own a bit of both?Where to buy gold or silver?I’ve used many bullion dealers over the years. The dealer I like most, and with whom I have an affiliation deal, is the Pure Gold Company. Premiums are low. Quality of service is high. You get to deal with a human being. You can take delivery of your gold or store it online with them in their vaults. They deliver to the UK, US, Canada and Europe. (If you speak to them, tell them I sent you). I also like Goldcore.Why are you buying gold or silver?Are you buying precious metals because you think fiat money is going to collapse and, in this hyper-inflationary scenario, you’re suddenly going to become a multimillionaire, sweeping up assets at bargain basement prices because you own precious metals? Or are you buying them because you think the purchasing power of fiat will continue to erode over the next 10 or 20 years and you want to protect what you have?If your purpose is speculation and you want to get rich, then maybe silver or silver options are a way to do that, or silver mining companies, or even gold mining companies or cryptocurrencies. Maybe even silver itself. But they are all also means to get poor.But if your purpose is simply to protect what you have earned, then gold is the way.There is a definite case for both. But understand why you are buying the metal and be truthful with yourself as to why you’re buying it. That will give you the answer between gold and silver.In the end, I recommended my friend buy 75% gold and 25% silver. I have to say, at $30, the silver price looks a bit frothy to me and it could correct. My ambivalence towards silver is long-standing.But I don’t think my friend is going to listen to me. I think he’s gone 100% gold and that makes a lot of sense.If your purpose is protection, insurance, and safety, then gold is the way.If your purpose is speculation and something more aggressive, then silver.My Biggest Silver PositionOn the subject of silver mining, I thought I should give you a quick update on the silver company that represents one of my largest mining positions and certainly my largest position in a silver mining company.

I am bringing my Edinburgh Fringe “lecture with funny bits” about the history of mining to London on October 9th and 10th to the Museum of Comedy. Please come if you fancy a bit of “learning and laughter”. The Edinburgh link is here. And the London link is here.Let’s start with an overview of gold demand as it currently stands.Never mind central banks, investment banks, or private investors—almost 50% of annual gold demand comes from the jewellery industry. It is, by some margin, the single largely buyer of gold. Another 23% is investment demand, and 21%—last year at least—came from central banks. Just 6% of demand is industrial (excluding jewellery, of course).Jewellery, investment, and central bank demand have all been increasing in recent years. However, a change in macroeconomic circumstances could easily mean, for example, that central banks become net sellers. It's not like it hasn't happened before. But, while de-dollarisation remains a growing theme, I do not see that as likely for several years at least. Similarly, investment demand could easily shrink. Jewellery demand is more constant, and it increases when people feel rich and decreases when they don’t.Gold’s main use has always been and will always be to store and display wealth—in other words, investment and jewellery. Technological demand is rather at the margin, but might we see demand growth there? Let’s investigate. Interestingly, one huge potential increase in demand will come, ironically perhaps since that is where gold came from, at the final frontier in outer space.At the Final Frontier - Also On Your PhoneBoth silver and copper are better conductors of electricity than gold, but gold is more resistant to corrosion and oxidation. Therefore, it finds considerable use in electronics as a coating, especially where long-term stability is important. It is used to cover connectors, switches, and relay contacts; in printed circuit boards, microprocessors, and memory chips. This resistance means it finds considerable use in both aerospace and outer space, where it is used to coat satellite components and spacecraft. It can reflect infrared radiation and protect craft from overheating—especially important in the wild temperature fluctuations of outer space. It is also used in the heat shields which protect sensitive equipment from high temperatures during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. The umbilical cord that binds an astronaut to their spacecraft is plated with gold. The visors of astronaut helmets are plated with gold to protect their eyes from harmful ultraviolet radiation. The MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) instrument, which forms part of NASA’s Mars exploration programme, is plated with gold. Its purpose is to create oxygen from carbon dioxide, effectively replicating the role of plants on Earth, so that a human mission to Mars can one day take place.Ultimately, gold’s permanence is the fundamental reason for its use. You need durable materials. When you send a spacecraft to outer space, you can’t repair it. This usage is not yet significant enough to radically alter gold demand, but that could change, and quite dramatically so, as space exploration increases.At the 2022 Olympics in Tokyo, the metals to make the medals came from a recycling initiative. The Japanese handed in nearly 80,000 tonnes of electrical gadgets, including laptops, digital cameras, gaming devices and 6 million phones. The appliances yielded 32kg/1,000 ounces of gold and 3,500 kg/113,000 ounces of silver. There is, I learn, about eighty times as much gold in one tonne of cellphones than there is a typical tonne of rock at a gold mine. Increased high tech means increased gold demand, but perhaps not enough to effect the price.Optics and Other High Tech UsesGold's reflective properties, combined with its stability, mean it finds use in optics—in lenses and mirrors, especially space telescopes, to reflect infrared light. Gold plates the mirrors of the celebrated James Webb telescope, the largest optical telescope in space, to optimise the mirrors’ function, allowing it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope. For example, the first stars, the formation of the first galaxies, and the detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets.There is a Canadian company, Totenpass, which has been developing some interesting gold tech, also related to gold’s longevity: “a permanent digital storage drive constructed from solid gold that requires no energy and has no movable parts. Digital data is written onto the drive by way of a proprietary light-diffraction process which imprints images, documents, and other files that can be stored as either human readable without the aid of computers or machine-readable with the employment of a smartphone. This technology allows for the permanent storage of precious digital data, thereby eliminating any future dependence on the internet and the vast amounts of energy required presently to store content. By consequence, this technology will empower both individuals and corporations to decentralize, preserve and fully control their precious digital data once and forever.” Here, it seems, is a very modern application for the extraordinary permanence of gold.If you are interested in buying gold, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy.My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company.Gold is being used increasingly in nanotechnology. Gold nanoparticles are used in photonics (the science of light waves), especially in the development of light-based technologies for imaging and sensors. Gold's inertness makes it an excellent material for nanoparticles used as catalysts in various chemical reactions. For instance, gold nanoparticles are employed in the oxidation of carbon monoxide in air purification systems. Researchers are also exploring gold's potential as a catalyst to improve renewable energy efficiency and solar cells. Again, its conductivity and resistance to oxidation make it ideal for nanoscale electronic components.Gold is like the sun: it can kill but it can cureAs for the medical industry, gold and healing have a long, intertwined history. Gold was associated with the sun gods who bestowed health and vitality, or “helped the body produce vitamin D,” as we might put it today. (More and more health benefits from vitamin D are being discovered today, especially bone health and immune function). The Egyptian God of the Sun, Ra, the giver of life, was made of gold. Gold was the flesh of the gods. It symbolised health as well as eternal life. Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun, was often depicted with gold, and he was also the God of Healing, and father of Asclepius, the god of medicine.Gold nanoparticles are used today in medical diagnostics and treatments, including targeted drug delivery and cancer therapy, because they can be easily detected and manipulated. Additionally, gold's biocompatibility ensures it does not provoke an immune response, making it suitable for use in various biomedical applications. In 2013, researchers found that gold nanoparticles reduced the ability of HIV to reproduce and infect new cells.It is becoming one of the weapons in the battle against malaria. Of the hundreds of millions of malaria tests sold each year, many contain gold: gold nanoparticles bind with specific malaria antigens, which help quick and accurate detection of the disease. The test results can be ready in 15 minutes.Golden BuildingsGold nanoparticles also find use in occasional building materials to enhance strength and thermal regulation. Coating glass with gold can reflect the sun's heat in summer while bouncing internal heat back into rooms in winter, resulting in substantial energy savings. It is corrosion resistant too, which increases longevity.But the main reason for its use in building is opulence. On the facades of buildings, gold will give your building unique and striking appeal. Toronto’s Royal Bank Plaza, the Grand Lisboa hotel and casino in Macau, and Al Yaqoub Tower in Dubai are all notable examples, as is Trump International Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas: its gleaming gold-tinted glass makes it stand out even on the Las Vegas Strip. The golden domed St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kiev is also a stunning example. To use gold on a roof or facade is extravagant but perhaps not as extravagant as you might think: an ounce of gold will cover up to 1,000 square feet (90 square metres) in gold plate and it brings substantial savings. Internally, gold also finds occasional decorative use: gilded furniture, fixtures and wall decorations, such as seen at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, which makes extensive use of gold leaf in its interior design.ConclusionAll in all, exciting stuff, but none of this demand will be enough to significantly affect the price of gold. In most cases, we are talking about plate and nanoparticles. If every roof were to be coated in gold as part of some green energy initiative ordered by the government, or space travel were suddenly to get extremely popular, then I might change my mind, but neither scenario is imminent. The main source of gold demand will be what demand has always been: as a store and display of value. Jewellery and investment, in other words.Until next time,Charlie Morris is one of my closest mates and he writes what I think is one of the best investment newsletters out there, in fact a suite of them. I urge you to sign up for a free trial. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Over the last decade, the Turkish lira has seen declines of more than 95% against the US dollar. It took just ₺1.50 to buy it dollar ten years ago. Now it takes ₺33. The lira has been one of the world’s worst-performing currencies - and in a fiat world, that is saying something - rivalled only by the Venezuelan bolivar and the Argentinian peso.While in Istanbul last week, I spoke to two young professionals, Emre, 25, and İlker, 27, about life under the lira. Both are bright, articulate, and empathetic young men who speak three languages fluently - English, German, and Turkish - as well as competent French.Given that the currency has been so bad, I was expecting to see more widespread use of foreign money, but in fact, lira are changing hands everywhere - you see people all over the place with wads of them. “You have to use lira,” they explained. “It is the national currency.” Even with such dire inflation, there is still trade. The economy still functions, albeit badly. (That said everything in the airports was denominated in euros).Food, energy, travel, housing, consumer goods - everything has gone up in price, but, surprise, surprise, wages have not gone up by nearly as much. The result is that ordinary people have been impoverished.“The average wage in Istanbul is about £650 per month,” they told me. (One thing that impressed me was how immediately they could translate the lira into pounds, dollars, or euros).“What about the receptionist in my hotel or a waiter?”“Maybe £500. A taxi driver working all hours, maybe £800.”With those kinds of earnings, it is hard to make ends meet. “That’s why everybody wants to meet a tourist,” they smiled in reply.“What do you do?” I asked. “Do you spend money as soon as you have it? Before it loses purchasing power?”“Yes,” they said. “There is no point saving. When we were students a few years ago, you could save for maybe three years and buy a car. Now it would take you 20 years. There is no point saving in lira. We spend the money as soon as we have it.”“Even on stupid things,” added Emre, pointing to his Casio watch. “You may as well.”Everyone is the same, apparently. They spend as soon as they earn. There is no point saving a currency that will soon be worth less. The rates of interest paid do not compensate, especially given that you usually have to tie your money up for one, two, or three years to obtain decent rates, and the inflation risk of doing that is too great.Interest rates have been quite the issue in Turkey, by the way. Mainstream Islamic finance prohibits interest, something they claimed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan exploited. Until 2023 Erdoğan kept a lid on rates (they are now 50%), arguing that high rates cause inflation. He repeatedly replaced central bank governors who resisted low rates.“How do people save?” I asked.“Gold,” came the answer straight away. Everyone who can buys gold, even tiny amounts below a gram.“Silver?” I asked.“Not so much.”I asked them if they use Revolut or similar to hold foreign currencies. They had no idea what Revolut was (probably a good thing, given what can happen), but it seems most banks also offer the ability to hold euros, pounds, and dollars, and so citizens tend to convert their lira as quickly as they can.“What about bitcoin?”“Not really,” they said. “Some young people.”I was surprised by that. I saw a few adverts for bitcoin-related products out there. But apparently gold is more common.“What about saving up to buy a house?”They both laughed at the impossibility. And there isn’t even a lot of debt in the Turkish housing market. Mortgages, as we know them in the West, don’t really exist, though there are ways to borrow money. Housing is still unaffordable“So people aren’t starting families then?”“No, we can’t. Our population growth is starting to turn negative.”“So you two are not close to starting a family.”They shook their heads sadly. “What do we have to offer?”I felt so sorry for these two young men. Both would be good husbands and fathers.“When people do start families, they rent small flats. Mum works, dad works, grandparents work.”This is something I saw directly. The taxi that met me at the airport had mum and dad in the front and their two kids asleep in the back, while dad continued working into the night.A typical one-bed flat might be about £500 per month. There is not really the same culture of flat-sharing among young professionals that we have in the UK, except maybe for students, and most young people stay with their parents until they marry.I struggled to understand how anyone could make any money in such a situation. All asset owners are doing is protecting their wealth against the currency debasement; they are not actually growing it. “Who’s the richest person in the country?” I wondered.“Erdoğan,” they both said immediately. “Officially, probably the Koç family. They own Fenerbahçe, the football club. But really it is almost certainly Erdoğan.”The state of the currency and the political leadership is no doubt a huge deterrent to foreign investment.What about leaving?, I asked.That is hard too. The routes into Europe are not as easy as they once were. Far fewer Turks now go to Germany, for example. Even just getting a tourist visa can take two years, and the money they earn lasts barely a few days in Europe. Some illegals travel across the Mediterranean and up through Spain, but the US, via Mexico, is now the most common escape. Very expensive. Most are trapped in their own country. What a sad state of affairs. Isn’t fiat money a terrible thing? What it can do to a country and its people, how it can make things so hopeless.The bizarre thing: there is economic activity everywhere. Everyone is hustling. Everyone is working. They all want to better themselves and their lot. People want to trade. That is the natural human way of things. Imagine if it were all underpinned by sound money.If you are interested in buying gold, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy.My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company. I also like Goldcore.And one other thing:Charlie Morris is one of my closest mates and he writes what I think is one of the best investment newsletters out there, in fact a suite of them. I urge you to sign up for a free trial. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.comI started out with the intention of writing just one article on this subject, but it has become three. It’s a big subject … (Here is part one and here is part two, if you are not already up to speed)The latest polls show Labour comfortably in excess of 400 seats, maybe even 500.They are going to have such a thumping majority (with less than 50% of the vote - how crap is first past the post), together with a Blob which, broadly speaking, is theologically aligned, that they are going to be able to do pretty much what they like. There is scope for a lot of invasive government. The socialist mindset does not respect private property. It feels entitled to it. So today I wanted to further explore wealth taxes and what Labour might do, should the socialist-leaning instincts in the party come to the fore during those first 100 days and beyond.Wealth taxes are hard to collectLet us start with the golden rule of taxation, something with which readers of Daylight Robbery, the definitive book on taxation, will be familiar, as articulated by Louis XIV’s minister of finance, Jean-Baptiste Colbert.The art of taxation consists of so plucking the goose as to obtain the most possible feathers with the least possible hissing(If you haven’t read Daylight Robbery - How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future, by the way, I urge you too. I think it’s the best of my books and one of the things I will go to my grave feeling proud of).With that Colbert quote in mind, let us turn to wealth taxes. I’ve often argued that one reason we don’t see as many wealth taxes as you might expect is that, in practical terms, they are not as simple as they might seem. Income Tax works well because it is easy to collect. The employer collects it for the government - and faces harsh penalties if they don’t, so the onus is on them. Ditto VAT: only it is the seller on whom the responsibility to collect falls.Wealth taxes, however, rely on declarations. There is much more scope for non-compliance, whether deliberate or accidental. Say the government wanted to impose a 5% net worth tax. It would have to find out about your real estate, both at home and abroad, and reach a fair valuation for that. It would have to find out about your stocks and bonds, your possessions, your vehicles, your savings, your ISAs, your pensions, your cryptocurrencies, your art, your antiques. Anyone who has ever had to value an estate for Inheritance Tax purposes knows what a headache this is. It can take many months.The government can force banks to collect a lot of this information, and the bank can then get heavy with you, if you don’t comply (this is a route I think we will go), but there is still an awful lot of scope for non-compliance, avoidance, and evasion. Most will be truthful about what they own; but many will not - and hope that HMRC does not have the resources to investigate them properly, which it doesn’t. Many people have valuable things - from antiques to lost bitcoin wallets - that they don’t even know have value or can’t access. Note: I’m not saying a “net worth tax” won’t happen - I’d give it a 50:50 chance - just that they are not quite as easy as they sound. The goose will hiss a lot.That said, I do think that, for sure, we will see changes to wealth reporting requirements, which is a first step in that direction.You really should subscribe to this letter.But if not a net-worth tax, here are some wealth taxes that could quite easily be imposed:* A savings tax. Savings are relatively easy to prove and then tax. Banks are the ally of government here. There is some  £1.5 trillion held in savings accounts in the UK, so there is plenty there to be tapped (though a lot of this is in ISAs, which are supposed to be tax free). Starmer has made noises about ordinary working people not having savings, so I doubt he will have too many qualms about sticking his snout in that particular trough. The complaint is that people have already paid tax on their savings when they earned the money in the first place, plus they pay taxes on the interest.* An equity and bonds holdings tax. Again, relatively easy to prove - banks and brokers to report and collect. I doubt, however, Starmer will tax gilt holdings or remove the CGT exemption on gilts: he will want that particular income tap to remain free-flowing.* Taxes on ISAs. The tax-free goalposts on ISAs can quite easily be changed, and there are a lot of people who have built up large pots, which no doubt Labour will be eying. The £20 grand annual allowance might be reduced or, more likely, there will be a maximum tax-free cap of, say, £100 grand. As to whether they can tax existing holdings, difficult but not impossible.* Tax relief on pension contributions. The sixty grand limit will probably come down and the tax-free lump sum will probably not be quite so tax-free.* An off-shore wealth tax. You have to declare any holdings you have overseas and then pay tax on them. Lots of scope for dispute and non-compliance, of course. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen.* A luxury goods tax. It’s not right that you should be able to afford luxury goods and that others can’t, so we are going to tax them, just as we do alcohol, fuel, and cigarettes.* Exit taxes. A lot of rich people are already leaving, others will follow. Labour will know this. I would not rule out some kind of exit tax, as reader AK pointed out to me. The USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, and Denmark all have exit taxes - in many cases, taxes on unrealised capital gains. (Imagine paying a tax on the gain, not realising it, and that gain turns to a loss. Horrible).If you are interested in buying gold to protect yourself in these frightening times, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy.My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company. I also like Goldcore.The equalisation of Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax, as mentioned in part two, looks more likely than ever. Wrong, of course. Capital gains are not something most people experience year in year out. For many, they are one-off events on the sale of a major asset or company. But such morals do not enter into it.Similarly, Inheritance Tax is likely to go to 50%, also as mentioned in part two.Angela Rayner has said that Labour is not planning rises to Council Tax “at the moment,” presumably with the permission of the party strategists, though Keir Starmer conspicuously did not rule rises out earlier in the week. As previously outlined, Council Tax is an obvious target because the banding - the prices at which homes are valued - is so out of date (based on 1991 valuations), but the money does not go to central government, which is what Labour would want. Local taxes also tend to create a lot of agro - Colbert’s hissing - which governments prefer to avoid. There is, in addition, the fact that Council Tax rises target the “wrong” people (council taxes tend to be higher in Labour-voting boroughs, which are often less well off, and Labour will not want to tax these people as much as they will the “capitalist classes”). One solution is to levy much higher Council Taxes on the most expensive properties. As with wealth taxes, I’m not saying Council Tax rises are not coming. They probably are, but they are not the prime target. One final thought: thanks to VAT on school fees, there is going to be even more pressure for places at good state schools, which will mean homes in catchment areas will command an even higher premium than they do already. (Labour says it’s going to modernise the curriculum. Oh, God. Is it not modern enough already?)Right, I think that’s your lot on Labour’s tax rises. Look out for pieces in the near future on Turkey’s inflation and the damage it has done to its people (I am actually writing today’s piece from Istanbul); on my picks from the Weird S**t Investment Conference; and I’ve got a great piece coming on wages and gold).If you are in the Edinburgh neck of the woods this August, look out for me at the Edinburgh Fringe. I’ll be performing one of my “lectures with funny bits”. This one is all about the history of mining. As always, I shall be delivering it at Panmure House, where Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. It’s at 2pm most afternoons. You can get tickets here.Condor Gold (CNR.L/COG.TSX)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.comWe have a General Election coming up in the UK, and citizens of this once-great nation want to know how to protect what they have worked for from the incoming Labour Government, which, you can be sure, is going to be sniffing around like a spaniel on luggage in an airport. We now have the Labour Manifesto, so we can start to be a bit more specific than we were in part one of this series. (Here, also, is part three).I stress: this is only the manifesto. There is a long history of governments doing things they didn’t mention in their manifestos or failing to honour manifesto commitments. Roosevelt’s confiscation of Americans’ gold is one example that springs to mind, but that might just be because I have just been writing about it. There are plenty of examples in the UK too, even with the current government - increases to National Insurance, the Covid money splurge, failures on renters’ reform, home building, immigration pledges, social care, and so on. Circumstances change and so will pledges, especially with a Prime Minister who has quite a track record when it comes to changing tack. Do not be surprised by the surprises that are inevitably coming.The broad argument of part one is that the pound will continue to be debased. It will buy you a lot less in five years than it does now. Whether we will see the 33% declines in the pound’s purchasing power we have seen since 2020, I’m not sure, but the way to hedge yourself is to own non-government money - gold and bitcoin.Labour has pledged to “keep mortgage rates low” and to “retain the 2% inflation target,” which means it will keep a lid on interest rates, or try to, especially with official inflation now having come down to 2%. That all furthers my argument that the pound will continue to lose purchasing power.Labour has a gazillion things it wants to spend money on, ranging from Great British Energy to new teachers, breakfast clubs, and increased NHS appointments, so it is going to need low rates. It has also said it plans to move the “current budget into balance” and “ensure debt is falling.” All I can say is good luck with that. No chance. Spending is going to increase, and, even with the inevitable currency debasement, it is going to need to find tax revenue too. That means higher taxes.But higher taxes where? Taxes, relative to GDP, are already at their highest levels since World War Two, and Labour has promised no increases in National Insurance, Income Tax rates, or VAT. It has also pledged to cap corporation tax at 25% throughout the Parliament.Some increased revenue, it says, will come from clamping down on tax avoidance and modernising HMRC. A lot easier said than done.The big unmentionables have been Council Tax, Capital Gains Tax, and Inheritance Tax. All three, I expect, will go up. Council Tax valuation bands are based on 1991 property prices. That is an obvious anachronism to “update,” though council tax goes to local coffers and Labour will be more interested in revenue at the national level. Even so, it is an obvious area of tax revenue growth. Not a lot you can do to avoid it, except move.Inheritance Tax, meanwhile, will not come down and will probably go up. It is, of course, morally wrong to want to pass the wealth you have earned and already paid taxes on to your heirs. Changes will be justified on the grounds of unearned wealth and exploit the politics of envy. The rate could rise to 50%, I suppose, while areas of relief - the seven-year gift rule, perhaps, the relief on main homes - could be removed. All I can say is plan early.Capital Gains Tax, meanwhile, is likely to rise. Starmer has avoided saying it won’t. I expect to see it rise to levels concomitant with Income Tax with similar bands (i.e., 40% above £37k and 45% above £125k). The way to avoid this is by not transacting, which is what most will do unless they really have to, and so the effect of CGT rises will be market atrophy.Labour will also come after your pensions too - there is so much capital there - with those in the private sector likely to take a bigger hit than those in the state.There is also a lot of blurb about the launch of Great British Energy to “harness Britain’s sun, wind and wave energy” with a windfall tax on oil and gas giants. That makes British oil and gas companies uninvestable. It says it will “deliver one hundred percent clean power by 2030,” though we know that clean power is neither clean nor green . They clearly haven’t read their Alex Epstein, and it all means that essential fossil fuel will inevitably get more expensive, and the country will function less well as a result. Labour says it is going to reduce energy bills. Not possible without subsidies somewhere else, and these have to be paid for.The Housing MarketFollowers of Fred Harrison and the 18-year property cycle will note that Britain’s housing market is heading towards a cycle high, with collapse starting in 2026. Perhaps that will be triggered by Labour’s plans. It wants to fix planning and build a lot of social housing - that means a bet on builders and builders’ merchants (Travis Perkins and Vistry, for example) might make sense, at least in the short run. There is a long history of governments failing to deliver on this, and I don’t think Labour has any chance of meeting targets. If it comes anywhere close, it means Britain’s housing stock is about to get even uglier.Labour’s Freedom to Buy scheme, like Help to Buy, is just another means to pump more money into the housing market, and the general drift seems to be to subsidize at the bottom and tax at the top. It has ruled out Capital Gains Tax on your main residence, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it anyway. Meanwhile, Stamp Duty will continue, even if it means atrophy at the top end of the market. The attack on non-doms will also hit homes at the top end. For homes above £1 million, the costs of moving - high stamp duty especially, more if we get CGT too - just points to stagnation.Meanwhile, I expect the introduction of numerous schemes to protect tenants, which will only drive away landlords and end with higher rental costs.You know that I am a free-market guy, and I dislike on instinct market intervention, subsidy, and all the rest of it. All Labour’s grand plans to encourage investment just reek of crony capitalism to me, so I tend to avoid, but I’ve no doubt that industrialists, who position themselves correctly, might make good money out of them. More on this after the election.My theory used to be this: that in the same way a Conservative Party that was so scared of the left-wing press became a social-democrat party, so will this Labour Government, scared of the right-wing press, end up lurching to the centre-right. I no longer see that. Labour is trying to present itself as centre-left, but the instinct is for government intervention and I see a lot more of it coming. The civil service, the Blob, and the government are theologically aligned and that is not good. It means they can progress their agenda. I’d love to be more optimistic, but, despite Starmer’s purges, there is still a lot of socialist instinct in that party.Bottom line. Taxes are going to go up. Freedom is going to be eroded. The pound is going to lose purchasing power.If you are interested in buying gold, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy.My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company. I also like Goldcore.Don’t forget Life After the State - Why We Don’t Need Government (2013), my first book, and many readers’ favourite, is now back in print - with the audiobook here: Audible UK, Audible US, Apple Books. I recommend the audiobook ;)And if you are in the Edinburgh neck of the woods this August, look out for me at the Edinburgh Fringe. I’ll be performing one of my “lectures with funny bits”. This one is all about the history of mining. As always, I shall be delivering it at Panmure House, where Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. It’s at 2pm most afternoons. You can get tickets here.Thoughts on Condor Gold

At a drinks party in around 2011 or 2012, I had the ear of Andrew Feldman, aka Baron Feldman of Elstree, former Chairman of the Conservative Party—he of “swivel-eyed loons” fame, though he never actually said that. (Andrew is a friend, by the way.)“Tell George Osborne to buy back the gold Gordon Brown sold,” I advised.“At these prices?” smiled Andrew with a mix of incredulity, amusement, and polite condescension.“Yes!” I said. “It might be good publicity, even. Or do it secretly, and announce it afterward. The important thing is getting the gold back. We will need it at some point. Why not just quantitatively ease the money and buy it back? You’re doing that and buying bonds.”Andrew laughed at my joke, which wasn’t a joke, and then wandered off in search of someone more sane to talk to.Given the government has this extraordinary power to create money out of nothing, why don’t they just print money and buy hard assets with it?Park that thought for a moment.A couple of months ago, I was at Liz Truss’s book launch—aren’t you impressed with all this name-dropping?—and I ran into Mark Littlewood, former director of the IEA and now of PopCon. I started bending his ear about the media’s failure to report on the Bank of England and how it had shafted Truss with its advanced notice of gilt sales, Quantitative Tightening, which began the day before Kwasi Kwarteng’s budget and led to a collapse in the gilt market, the blame for which was then left at Kwasi Kwarteng’s doorstep. Mark nodded. “Do you think I don’t know?” said Liz.“I would love to be able to grill Andrew Bailey in public,” I said. “Or just ask him one question with people watching. I know exactly what I’d ask him.”“What?” said Mark.“If the Bank of England can print money, why do we need taxes?”Mark laughed and, thinking I was asking him that question, replied, “Money illusion.”Money illusion is one of those economic terms that is pretty self-explanatory, but here is an example. Most of know a hundred pounds does not buy you today what it bought you ten years ago, but we still think in terms of past prices. (Old people do this more, for obvious reasons). A worker might feel great with a 5% raise, but if inflation is 7%, he is actually earning less than before. This has been an ongoing process for decades with the result that, in real terms, wages are lower.Here’s the Wikipedia definition (edited by me):In economics, money illusion, or price illusion, is a cognitive bias where money is thought of in nominal, rather than real, terms. In other words, the face value (nominal value) of money is mistaken for its purchasing power (real value) at a previous point in time. The term was coined by Irving Fisher in Stabilizing the Dollar, and popularized by John Maynard Keynes in the early twentieth century. Fisher also wrote a book on the subject, The Money Illusion, in 1928.Mark and I both doubted that Bailey would give that as the answer, even if he thought it, which we doubted he would. If governments started printing money and buying assets, many would start questioning money, and faith in fiat might quickly evaporate. If governments worldwide started doing it (eg Britain prints money and starts buying land in France) you are in race-to-the-bottom territory. It would be a race to the bottom for fiat currency.Even if Bailey thought money illusion was the answer, he certainly wouldn’t say it because that in itself undermines fiat.Modern money has nominal value, but not intrinsic value. It relies on illusion (and the law) to function. The more you debase it, the less likely that illusion is to hold. Maybe money delusion is more accurate. Obviously, the backing of the law makes a great difference, as does the fact that taxes must be collected in this money, but, boy, is the system vulnerable. Illusions can last a long time. But when they shatter, they shatter very quickly, and then there is nothing.I don’t say the system will pop. It has been going on for a long time. But I do observe that it very easily could.It’s why I recommend both gold and bitcoin. Both are money in and of themselves: one is the product of nature, the other the product of extraordinary amounts of computer power. Neither relies on anyone else.If you liked this article, please tell a friend.If you are interested in buying gold, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy.My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company.Life After the State - Why We Don’t Need Government (2013), my first book, is now back in print - with the audiobook here: Audible UK, Audible US, Apple Books. I recommend the audiobook ;)And if you are in the Scottish neck of the woods this August, look out for me at the Edinburgh Fringe. I’ll be performing one of my “lectures with funny bits”. This one is all about the history of mining. As always, I shall be delivering it at Panmure House, where Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. It’s at 2pm most afternoons. You can get tickets here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, like a jilted boyfriend turned desperado, is announcing a new policy every day, future Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s strategy has been to be as vague and non-committal as possible about everything, and get elected on the back of the Tories being so useless. It makes sense: the less he promises now, and the less specific he is, the more scope he will have when he comes to power to do what he wants.Such is the topsy-turvy Orwellian world in which we live. Labour’s five missions—massive cringe—read like something that should be on the Conservative Party website. Labour declares upfront, first and foremost, that its “first duty” is “to protect our country – through economic stability, secure borders, and strong defence.” I’m sure this is all part of Starmer’s strategy to win over the middle and rid himself of the ghosts of Labour incompetence. “I’ve changed the Labour Party so we are back in service of working people,” he boasts. “Together we can change Britain.”So what exactly will this huge change that is coming to Britain entail?One of the few things Labour has been specific about is VAT on school fees. This has generated a lot of negative press, particularly in the mainstream media, which is heavily populated by people who went to public school and send their kids there too. But with only 7% of children actually going to public school, I guess Labour has figured, in these times of envy, that this will be a vote-winner. While it purports to be an attack on the rich, in real terms it is an attack on the middle classes, many of whom will now put their kids into state schools. The extra burden of this on an already overburdened sector does not justify the limited increase in revenues that will come from VAT, never mind the practicalities of imposing this charge and the schools that will go bust as a result. But extra revenue is not what this is about. It’s exploiting the politics of envy.Nevertheless, there is one clear thing we can infer from it: the middle class is going to get shafted. Where it tries to be independent and self-sufficient, it will find itself dragged into state dependency. That is not change, though. This is a process that has been going on for decades—since the imposition of fiat money, in fact. And that, I’m afraid, is the broad brush stroke. The details may be different, but the direction is the same. We are going to see more government, more spending, more technocracy, more bureaucracy, more quangos, more regulation, more taxation, further declines in the purchasing power of money, further erosion of individual liberty, more state solutions to things that would sort themselves out perfectly well if government stayed out of it, and so on. We will also see further steps in the direction of supranational bodies, one-world government, and all the rest of it. Change is not coming. Continuity is.So the absolute first thing you have to do is keep as much wealth as you can outside the system. Do not hold sterling, or any other fiat money for that matter. Yes, sterling is holding up moderately well in the forex markets, which know Labour will win, but that is just comparing it with other fiat currencies. Use gold and bitcoin as your savings vehicles. They will outperform sterling quite comfortably by the time of the next government. Make a note of what £100,000 currently buys you. It will buy you a lot less in five years. If you are interested in buying gold, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy.My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company.Labour’s Five Missions* Get Britain Building AgainLabour promises to “strengthen public finances” and “reform planning laws, so we build more houses, giga factories (SIC), windfarms, roads, labs, and ports, developing the skills needed to do so.” It will “reduce energy bills and invest in the jobs and industries of the future via our Green Prosperity Plan and Great British Energy, a new publicly owned clean generation company.” And it will build more homes (heard that one before?).This all means more state: more state spending, planning, regulation, subsidy, and action. You don’t need me to tell you where that leads.* Switch on Great British Energy“A new publicly owned, clean energy company that ensures jobs are created here in Britain to cut your energy bills, create 500,000 new, skilled jobs in the industries of the future, and deliver energy security.”What could possibly go wrong? All that green energy stuff has been an unbridled success so far without a whiff of corruption. * Get the NHS Back on Its FeetIt promises to “pay doctors and nurses overtime to work evenings and weekends to cut the backlog, cut waiting times by giving the NHS the staff and technology it needs, end the 8am scramble for GP appointments, improve cancer survival rates, and reduce deaths from heart disease and suicide, with more care in the community so patients aren’t stuck in hospital.”Sounds great. What’s actually going to happen is that further enormous amounts capital disappearing up the backside of the dysfunctional money pit.* Take Back Our StreetsLabour will put “13,000 more neighbourhood police on our streets, halve violence against women and girls, and introduce tougher sentences for rapists and new ‘Respect Orders’.”More spending and, no doubt, more two-tier policing.* Break Down Barriers to OpportunityLabour will “create a modern childcare system with breakfast clubs in every primary school, recruit 6,500 new staff” and further fiddle with a system that doesn’t work. (My edit in the interests of brevity.)More spending, more intervention, more state.I’m reminded of the lyric of a certain Specials song.I’m already at 900 words and I haven’t yet got to taxes and the specifics of which ones are going to go up. I’ll have to do that in a part 2 coming very soon.Despite all the pledges about fiscal rectitude and stability, and there are lots, the next government is not going to run a balanced budget. It might start out with good intentions, but deficit spending will continue and, at the first sign of crisis, it will print. It is always the way.The increase in state and quango, meanwhile, will lead to an increase in crony capitalism and deter genuine free-market, wealth-creating activities.Own gold and bitcoin. Don’t own sterling is the solution.I’ll do a part 2 about the coming tax rises very soon.If you agree with the argument of this piece, you might like Life After the State - Why We Don’t Need Government (2013), my first book, which is now back in print - with the audiobook here: Audible UK, Audible US, Apple Books. I recommend the audiobook ;)And if you are in the Edinburgh neck of the woods this August, look out for me at the Edinburgh Fringe. I’ll be performing one of my “lectures with funny bits”. This one is all about the history of mining. As always, I shall be delivering it at Panmure House, where Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. It’s at 2pm most afternoons. You can get tickets here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

I am experimenting again with a video this Sunday morning. (Podcast listeners can still get just the audio). Enjoy :)It was August 2018. Brexit Derangement Syndrome was only just starting to kick in, though the effort to derail it was underway. In comedy circles, I still was not talking very openly about having voted for Brexit—it would be another six months before I wrote 17 Million F Offs.I was doing a show at the Edinburgh Fringe, my financial gameshow.Now something happens to a performer at the Fringe. There are so many shows and so much competition that you will do (almost) anything to get publicity and draw attention to your show. The Fringe is a distillation of the entertainment industry; all the best things about it and the worst, all the highs and lows, seem to get magnified there. My PR man texted me and asked if I wanted to do a short spot about Brexit and comedy for Channel 4 News. I said yes. He said to go to the Pleasance at 5pm. They wanted someone who voted Leave.I met the film crew there, and the presenter— I have no idea what his name was—was a very nice, very charming young Englishman in his early 30s. University-educated, probably public school, made me feel very at ease. We found a little alcove, and our interview began.“In a comedy club, what do you say when heckled about Brexit?” he asked me.Now there are three types of comedy gigs. One is where the audience has come to see you; two is when they have come to see comedy (not necessarily you); and three, the worst type of gig, is when they neither come to see you nor comedy.Comedy clubs mostly come under category two (unless you are doing a solo show).I answered the question truthfully: “I MC a lot of nights. My job is to create a warm and friendly atmosphere. Audiences in comedy clubs are fairly mixed. So, I tend to avoid talking about Brexit, as you risk losing half the room, which is not good for the night.”“Sure, but what would you say if someone heckled you about Brexit?”“Well, I don’t talk about it, so they don’t.”“But if you did?”“But I don’t.”This went round in circles for a bit. Then he changed his approach. “And if someone heckled you about voting Leave?”“Well, they don’t because I don’t talk about it.”“No, but what if they did?”“Well, they don’t. As I say, in a regular comedy club, with a mixed crowd, if you come down very heavily on one side, you risk losing half the room. I’m the host. I don’t like to do that. It might be different if I was doing a show specifically about it, but I’m not.”“Well, what if you were?”“Well, I’m not. And if I was doing a show about voting leave, I doubt many remainers would come.”“But what if they did?”It just kept going round and round in circles. I thought I was being reasonably articulate about the need to be diplomatic in a mixed room if you are the host, and I made the same point several times, each time phrasing it slightly differently, but he just was not having it. He kept coming back to this same question.“But if someone heckled you about voting Leave, what would you say?”Eventually, somewhat exasperated, I said, “Oh, I don’t know. ‘Whatever, loser.’ Something like that.”He smiled and quickly drew the interview to a close. We parted company with, apparently, good will expressed. I had spent probably five minutes explaining the need to be diplomatic and a microsecond with that last line.Later that day, I watched the clip from Channel 4 News. Guess which part of the interview they used?“Leaver comedian calls people who voted Remain losers,” ran the headline of the vid on the Channel 4 site, or some such (I can’t find the vid now to quote it accurately).The only clip from the interview they used was me saying, “Whatever, loser,” even though it was totally misrepresentative of the rest of the interview. Then in the comments beneath, I remember reading a load of remarks along the lines of, “Well, how is that funny?”, “Remind me to never go and see that guy,” “Leavers just aren’t funny,” and so on.I won’t say I was shocked by how disingenuous the process was, but I was shaking my head wearily. I explained it to myself along the lines that he had gone into the interview wanting a certain clip that he could use to illustrate a story he had already formed in his head. He would not stop until he got that clip, and he had no interest in anything else I said. I suppose that’s a kind way of looking at it—a trap I often fall into. On the other hand, he was a lying cheat, and the clip he showed of me was completely misrepresentative. It could have been quite damaging to me reputationally, but fortunately, the clip was so short, and not that many people will have watched it.If nothing else, it showed me just how untruthful the news is.You really cannot trust it. No wonder so many have lost faith.When you have a reporter brimming with ambition (the same ruthless ambition that actors, singers, comedians, and other media stars have), the most important thing is their career. Everything else, including the truth, is subordinate to that. Sometimes there is a happy coincidence: the reporter boosts his career by breaking some amazing truth. But given a choice between the two, career usually wins. Such is the nature of the ambition of many in the media.Even with everything I know now, I still watch a news story and am taken in by it. It’s only when you were actually there that you see just how misrepresentative it can be.Don’t trust the news. It lies.I’ve now just remembered another story. It was during the 1990 World Cup when the English fans got into scuffles with Dutch fans just before the England-Holland game in Cagliari. Evil, terrible hooligans causing trouble, ran all the headlines, alongside lots of footage of Italian police with riot gear, firing off tear gas, and all the rest of it. I was there. I’m bilingual. I saw the whole thing. The Italian police directed tens of thousands of English straight into tens of thousands of Dutch in the narrow lanes of the historical centre—the police messed up badly. They then panicked and started firing off tear gas. The news told a completely different story.I was 20 at the time. I think that was my first taste of the BS.Thank you very much for reading this and for being a subscriber. Don’t forget:* This August I am going to the Edinburgh Fringe to do one of my “lectures with funny bits”. This one is all about the history of mining. As always, I shall be delivering it at Panmure House, where Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. It’s at 2pm most afternoons. Please come. Tickets here.* My first book and many readers’ favourite, Life After the State - Why We Don’t Need Government (2013), is now back in print - with the audiobook here: Audible UK, Audible US, Apple Books. I recommend the audiobook ;)* You can catch up on all my latest pieces here.Until next time,DominicP.S. In case you missed them, check out these recent pieces:Argentina and the Accidental Gold Standard both proved very popular. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.comTwo bullish developments for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies this week: first, Donald Trump, who is currently the favourite to be the next US President, declared, 'I am very positive and open-minded towards cryptocurrency companies and all things related to this new and burgeoning industry. Our country must be the leader in the field; there is no second place.'Those words will have been written for him, but they nevertheless show that policies, should he win the election, as currently looks likely, will be favourable. That has to be good for the sector.Second the Ethereum ETF got green lit this week in the US, so today we consider the implications of that, and give our outlook on the sector more generally.First up, ether has rallied. It’s risen by about a third from $2,900 a coin to within spitting distance of $4,000.I must confess to being somewhat flummoxed by Ethereum. (If you want to read my guide, it is here). Briefly: its founding principle is to use blockchain technology for purposes beyond an alternative system of digital money. Known as "the world's programmable blockchain," it can be used to “codify, decentralize, secure, and trade just about anything.” Charlie Morris of Byte Tree likens it to a decentralized App Store (you should all read his letter by the way). Developers can use the platform to build and publish smart contracts and distributed applications (dApps), and it is a kind of marketplace for financial services (DeFi), NFTs (non-fungible tokens), games, and apps, all of which can be paid for in ether.The Bitcoin maximalists don’t like it. Ethereum is not properly decentralized. The numerous forks that have taken place in reaction to hacks prove this—they would not be possible with a properly decentralised platform. Too many coins were pre-mined and handed out to founders. Ethereum 2.0 met with delay after delay. Transaction costs, known as gas fees, can get exorbitant. Its blockchain is not that robust. In short, it’s something of a ticking time bomb.Well, maybe. But its founder, Vitalik Buterin, a billionaire many times over by the time he was 28 (just in case you weren’t feeling inadequate enough already this morning), will know all this. He is a genius, and I satisfy myself that by owning Ethereum, I am effectively long Buterin—not unlike being long Elon Musk by owning Tesla.Ethereum also has numerous competitors—not least Solana, but also Binance Smart Chain, Polkadot, Cardano, Terra, and Fantom - which may or may not be a good thing. Many of these are technologically superior, say critics—faster, more robust.Price-wise ethereum been something of a laggard. Its all-time high was $4,800 and it’s about a thousand bucks, or 20%, below that. That said, it does tend to move later in bull markets - and by more.But despite all of this, Ethereum remains by some margin the number two cryptocurrency by market cap—at $465 billion—followed by Tether, which has another purpose altogether ($110 bn), then Binance Coin ($89 bn). By way of comparison, HSBC has a market cap of $165 bn. And you thought crypto was a passing fad.So what can we expect with the launch of this new ETF?