In the course of the question and answer session that formed the latter part of the book launch, one questioner introduced himself as the Chair of the UKIP London Regional Committee, Paul Wiffen.
He suggested, apparently in all seriousness, that money was a bad thing. He noted that he was doing as much as possible without the use of money, and only had £5 on him because, "his aunt had given him the money, as she didn't want him to be vulnerable". Bless...
4 comments:
A small suggestion. Our Paul, well, it's often difficult to know when he's teasing....
Thanks for springing so readily to my defence, Tim. Don't you love being misreported! I actually said I had been minimalising my use of money since 2000, had no credit of any type (even using Pay-As-You-Go for mobile phone and Oyster) and was managing quite well. The question I then asked was "Why Can't We Get Rid Of Money?" which none of the eminent economists in the room could answer (I suppose it is a bit like as General Motors which we can't live without cars). The only one who attempted an answer quoted some Australian bloke who apparently said recently "I hope all these recent events don't put people off money because money is a GOOD THING" The world economy in Total Meltdown, peoples' homes being repossessed, carnage in The City (so sad!) depression on the High St and apparently money is a good thing. This is best that academic economist s can come up with. Their solutions respectively were another Superstate (Europe) to correct the problems that the original Superstate (US) had caused with their lack of regulation, more markets on top of the existing markets because eventually they will balance out and regulate themselves (hello!) and my favourite, use our armed forces to attack tax havens because they are pirates akin to those who hi-jack supertankers. Suddenly the idea of getting rid of money seems positively sane, middle-of-the-road and rather safe in comparison!
Tim,
Welcome to the blog, it isn't often that Liberal Bureaucracy has such a distinguished visitor. You probably won't recall that you made some kind, and wholly unnecessary, comments about my blog in an early Britblog Roundup.
Whilst Paul might have been teasing slightly, and you might imply that I did wonder about that from the comparatively restrained tone of my posting, he needs to work on his humour conveyancing skills.
Unfortunately, he came across as 'a bit of a dingbat'. Thinktank people aren't noted for their sense of humour, in my experience, and I'm not sure that such an attempt at ironic humour helps UKIP's search for credibility.
Anyway, keep well and I hope that you enjoy the European Parliament election campaign to come...
Paul,
Indeed, you have been misreported. I've looked at the sentence again, and realised that I entered the sentence with a point in mind, and mangled its delivery so that it contradicted my intent by the end of it. I blame the cat that was distracting me at the time...
Anyway, I've corrected the sentence so that it reflects my memory of what you said and, indeed, your recollection.
I'm sorry that I'm picking fun of you, but your mention of your aunt's thoughtfulness was redolent of the sort of person who has their gloves attached to the sleeves of their coat by pieces of elastic by an older family member. Whether or not you're actually like that, and I checked your website to make sure that I had correctly identified you, most of the people in my corner of the room were rolling their eyes when you mentioned it.
There is an irony, in that the point you make, whilst radical, has a pervasive logic, even if I personally disagree with it. There are, as I understand it, those in the Green movement who have been advocating a move away from money for some years now, so whilst your view might be a minority one, it is a least a shared one.
Have a nice day...
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