This is an important book. Whatever one’s views on immigration in general, whether for or against, it is a fact of life; a large number of immigrants both from within and outside the UK already live in Wales, and nothing is more certain than the fact that many more will arrive in future. How Wales reacts to their presence will have a vital bearing on the country’s economy and culture for years to come. Read More

In this final part, I shall discuss how different countries’ currencies are valued relative to one another, and the link between currency value and economic performance. Then (at last!) I shall be in a position to apply all this to Wales. Read More

The system which is in use across the world today, called ‘fiat currency’, is a sort of hybrid between the Gold Standard and ‘free money’. Despite how much we depend on it in our everyday lives, what it is and where it comes from is not often thought about, and is poorly understood – even, or perhaps especially so, amongst our political class. In this article, I shall do my best to explain it and lead into the next and final part of this short series, namely a proposal for how an independent Wales’s currency should work. Read More

Throughout history  governments have found the need to borrow money; even before mass democracy, every population’s demand for services has exceeded their willingness to pay taxes… Read More

In this post, I shall go through some background, explaining how money went from being based on gold and silver coins which had value in their own right, to being tokens issued by governments representing a share in the nation’s wealth. We’ll see how this led to governments being at the mercy of international banking cartels, dominated by a few fabulously wealthy families (one of which was Welsh). Read More