A money for anyone who wants to put a gentle 3 fingers up to The System

Money used to be made of gold silver or copper. Right up to the first world war, you could change paper money for gold sovereigns at the Bank of England. Then it could be changed for US dollars, and central banks could change those for gold. But since the 1970’s paper money is only supported by the fact that businesses accept it.Silver and copper coins have become copper plated steel. Paper money has become figures on a computer screen. When you borrow money from a bank they simply write it on your facebook timeline, more or less, and charge you interest.

Time to get a bit more dignity. Let’s have our own money, at least as a symbol. So I’ve  set up an association to promote an alternative money. We’re starting with the 1920’s French chamber of commerce coins. They were not issued by any governement and replaced the governement issued coins, because the metal they were made of had become worth more than the face value. They are made of bronze alu, and so contain copper unlke any new UK coin, as they are nearly all now steel, with just a coating of nickel or copper.

Diet update, one year

71.9Kg before the holiday but 73.8Kg 7 days later. The food seemed to be manufactured and then heated up by the chef. We left after being served duck with blood still flowing, made worse by the offer to cook it a bit more. Duck slightly heated twice has to be risky. When we ate with french family over chrismas I put on no weight at all. Some french restaurants serve food cooked on the premises, and some serve manufactured food, the difference is very imporant. We went to the art café in Sagonne yesterday and had hot chocolate to drink, which turned out to be cocoa made with milk, and add sugar lumps if you want. Wonderful.

15th August 2013, 71.1 Kg so slight loss. Total of 11 Kgs over the year so I’m now the same weight I was 34 years ago.

Diet update, supermarkets, horses and Bank on Dave

73.9 so, very slow loss, but inside the so-called normal range.
A revolutionary government is needed more than ever. Supermarkets are not only making people fat, they are selling food products that may well contain worm-meat for all they know, or care. The horse-meat scandel was exposed by the Irish authorities, not the UK Food standards agency. Why aren’t the supermarkets that sold contaminated own-brand products being prosecuted, or closed down? Do you think a small butcher would have the same treatment?
The Financial services authority ordered the tiny savings and loan company known as bank on Dave to stop taking savings, because they thought that it looked as though he might have been operating in an unregulated manner. They have since decided that there was in fact no breach of the regulations and he can once again take deposits. So why haven’t the big banks who actually broke regulations been stopped from taking deposits?
Do government agencies actually do any good? Well not the FSA or the FSA. They’re just FSA’s aren’t they?

Diet update

26/01/2013

74.6 Kg, Over Christmas we ate French food including a 5 hour Christmas dinner with masses of Chocolate, but chocolates made by hand at  the shop. my weight stayed steady, and then since has very gradually reduced, so  we’ve been eating chocolate made in our local chocolaterie for the last couple of days.

It’s not chocolate that makes you fat, it’s manufactured supermarket chocolate.

Diet update

75.4 Kg this morning, so slight loss, and just entering the top end of ideal weight. So I really believe that its manufactured food and supermarket temptation that makes a lot of people overweight. It’s so easy to buy more than you need because the pack is too big, or its its cheaper to buy 3. Then once you’ve bought it it’s easy to eat it. I was shocked to hear that the doctor in charge of the ward for clinically obese people in Sunderland say that he couldn’t stop the sweets and drinks trolly coming round. But there’s worse. The patient who had failed to loose weight said he had only bought juice and fizzy drinks, not sweets. The doctors reaction was that he must have bought sweets. The 50’s style diet I am recommending has tea coffee cocoa and milk to drink, although I do have a couple of whiskeys with orange juice a week I don’t claim that that helps weight loss. Does the doctor really not thnk that drinks,  supermarket style, can keep you fat? The juice made from reconstituted pulp has probably lost most of its vitamin C.

Local money for collectables

Many transactions are made on line rather than in shops these days. Auction sites often cater for small businesses, and these businesses are just as in need of protection from banks and multinationals as high street shops. Some sites are so big and multy purpose that it is hard to have an influence, but others serve a community of people with a common interest. A complimentary currency would aid traders on such sites in the same way that local currencies do in Bristol Stroud Lewes Brixton and other transition towns. The benefits of keeping money circulating within a local community is still applicable to an international community. Collectors of Postcards, stamps, old coins, etc. often make purchases on line of just a few pounds and choose to pay by cheque, or even postage stamps, within their own country, but this is not possible for international transactions, even within the euro-zone. Often the alternative is Paypal which costs a very significant part of the transaction, exactly the type of leakage a local currency is designed to prevent.
There are still many countries that paypal does not recognise. A complementary currency would avoid these charges and could be used by a collector in any country. Before there were internet sites many collectors would meet at fairs and continue to exchange items by correspondance, but internationally this was often limited to barter, as there is no international money, especially one that can be sent by post. The currency I am suggesting would be a voucher for the currency issuers online shop and any other collectors registered on the site. There will be no exchange back to sterling or any other fiat currency, so it would be very difficult for any postal thief to dispose of the currency, especially if the sender had noter the serial N°s., more difficult, in fact, than for the postcards or stamps travelling in the oposite direction.
The currency issuer would however back the currency 100% with collectable assets in their online and on-street shop. The real value of the currency to a collector would be of course that they could buy collectables with it, but the issuer will always keep a suply of mint stamps valid for postage in each of the major countries and for sale at face value in exchange for the complementary currency. These would be mainly permanent value stamps, such as 1st or 2nd class UK stamps, and this would be part of the back-up for the currency allowing it to hold its real value. One currency unit would always be worth about 8 UK 2nd class stamps and so its value in sterling would rise over time. Its value would be based on a range of items, not just the UK 2nd class stamp so it wouldn’t have gone up by 38% this year as the stamp has, but certainly by 5% making it a collectable in itself.