Opinion

How technology is making disability less disabling

For centuries, we’ve designed the world for the able-bodied and called everyone else disabled. Today, technology is quietly rewriting those rules. It is making finance, communication, work and everyday life adapt to people, rather than forcing people to adapt to systems. Increasingly, I think disability tells us less about the individual than it does about…

The battle begins: Burnham versus Dimon

Andy Burnham’s first day in power started on Monday and, immediately, as the new Prime Minister of Britain, Jamie Dimon, CEO and Chair of JPMorgan Chase gives him an ultimatum: increase our taxes and we’re off. JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon warns of ‘consequences’ if Andy Burnham taxes banks Dimon casts doubt over JP Morgan’s London…

Wars aren’t won by soldiers … they’re won by banks

We often think wars are won with missiles, tanks and soldiers. In reality, they are won with banks. Every shell that is fired, every drone that is launched and every factory that shifts from producing washing machines to artillery shells has to be financed by someone. Governments issue debt. Central banks manage liquidity. Commercial banks…

Crypto and Politico: One Step Beyond

For years I thought cryptocurrency was a fascinating financial experiment. It challenged banks, questioned governments and forced regulators to think differently about money. What I hadn’t fully appreciated was that it wasn’t just disrupting finance. It was quietly becoming a force in politics and government, as I blogged the other day, and it’s now gone…

AML regs kill customer relationships

I just had my American Express Business Card suspended without warning or explanation. It turns out that they need to re-onboard me due to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations. Strange. I’ve been a customer for 25 years and they need to re-establish if I really am me. So much for trust. More than this, they…

Why punish the mule, when you want the rider?

The BBC has run many reports about how people accidentally become money mules through their ignorance: It’s not easy money. This scam wrecks your credit I got quick cash in my account but it was too good to be true I became a money mule by mistake A key point here is that, in statistics…

Bored of Jeffrey Epstein? Bear in mind he was a banker … or was he?

I’ve avoided talking about the Epstein files on this blog. The main reason is that it’s appalling how wealth, power and connections can get away with anything they want. The worst part of it, for me, was a report that alleges that Donald Trump watched a 13-year-old girl give birth to a baby girl who…

Is your attitude to money shaped by your genes or your learning?

I’ve been talking with many friends about genetic versus environmental development. Back in the day, this was a big discussion in my Sociology classes. How much of your personality is genetic versus environmentally developed? Is it nature or nurture? This is a question raised regularly by psychologists and researches and, as a father of twin…

What to do if your bank tells you to f*ck off?

Jamie Dimon, the chap that runs JPMorgan, has just stirred up a big debate about debanking by accusing Trump Media, the folks that run Donald’s Truth Social platform, of ‘making up things’. What things are they making up? That they’ve been debanked by JPMorgan for their political affiliation. The thing is that Jamie then poked…