Us British are such a reserved lot. Maybe even more so in the Chilterns. Every now and again, for a laugh, some TV program will try to give away free money in the street. Of course it doesn’t work. People are simply too suspicious. This is a considerable barrier because sometimes there really is such a thing as a free lunch; but is it free buffet or snake oil? Continue reading
ISBN 978-1-846-14448-6. “How Much is Enough? The Love of Money, and the Case for the Good Life” by Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky was published by Allen Lane (Penguin Group) in 2012. Robert and Edward are a father & son team; Robert is Professor of Political Economy whilst Edward is a lecturer in Philosophy. This work combines their interests and starts with Robert’s three volume biography of John Maynard Keynes. Their argument follows a torturous alternative path to a conclusion that we can all agree with: the pursuit of money, as an end in itself, is destructive. The Skidelskys propose a more paternalistic (less utilitarian) approach to economic management that helps us all focus on our quality of living. In their words “the good life”.
ISBN 978 1 84813 992 3. “Debunking Economics – The Naked Emperor Dethroned?” (Revised and Expanded Edition) by Steve Keen was published by Zed Books in 2011 (from an original 2001 edition). Reading this book is continuation of a journey we started with Ha-Joon Chang’s “Bad Samaritans” and continued up until “The Spirit Level” by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett. In this journey we asked one simple question: what if everything that was wrong about this world boiled down to economics? One of the best answers we have found was in “How Markets Fail” by John Cassidy. In essence Steve Keen has expanded Cassidy’s work into an entire Economics textbook. Sounds boring? You bet! Continue reading
Am I the only Transitioner on the Web writing about the anti-Transition campaign in Totnes? I find it all disturbing but enlightening too. The campaigners posted a set of questions to Transition Town Totnes (TTT). TTT posted them on their web site, however their answer was only to list all their contributions to Totnes life. We thought it would be interesting to actually answer those questions in this article.