For months I’ve been writing about The Local Economy & Governance System (LEGS) and The Basic Living Standard. Yet I’m always aware of a deeper challenge: until people truly see the mechanics of the money‑centric system we live in – not just the symptoms, but the structure – the need for a paradigm shift can feel abstract.
The irony is that the evidence sits in front of us every day. The system hides in plain sight. But because we have been conditioned to treat money as the unquestionable centre of life, we rarely recognise how deeply it shapes our behaviour, our morality, our relationships, our communities, and even our understanding of what it means to be human.
Money today is not simply a medium of exchange. It has become the organising principle of society – the lens through which value is defined, the gatekeeper of freedom, the arbiter of worth, and the mechanism through which power is accumulated. And because money has been elevated to this position, the consequences extend far beyond currency itself. They reach into motivation, identity, governance, and the very structure of our lives.
This is why centralisation exists.
This is why it grows.
This is why it always rewards those at the centre – and harms everyone else.
The money–power–centralisation equation
The relationship is simple:
Money → Wealth → Power → Control → Centralisation
Everyone understands this at some level. Even those with the least money know that having money gives them more control over their own lives.
But as you move up the hierarchy of the money‑centric system, the dynamic changes. Money no longer gives control over your own life – it gives control over other people’s lives.
And once that dynamic exists, centralisation becomes inevitable.
Centralisation is not an accident.
It is not a side‑effect.
It is the natural outcome of a system built on scarcity, hierarchy, and accumulation.
The more money someone has, the more they can centralise power. The more power they centralise, the more money they can extract.
The cycle feeds itself.
This is the architecture of the money‑centric paradigm.
What centralisation really is
People often imagine centralisation as a simple chain of command. But in reality, it is a network of overlapping chains – each one transferring power, ownership, and influence upward, away from the people affected by decisions and toward a distant centre.
Every chain works the same way:
power flows upward
responsibility flows downward
accountability disappears
humanity is lost
And because these chains replicate across every sector – politics, business, food, media, technology, governance – they form a vast web of dependency and control.
Centralisation is not just structural.
It is psychological. It is cultural. It is economic. It is moral.
It is the mechanism through which the money‑centric system maintains itself.
The trick: centralisation is sold as “efficiency”
One of the most effective illusions of the money-centric system is the way centralisation is presented as:
reasonable
intelligent
cost‑effective
efficient
modern
inevitable
People are told that centralisation “reduces duplication”, “streamlines services”, “saves money”, or “improves coordination”.
But the truth is simple:
Centralisation always reduces the number of people with power.
It always increases the distance between decision‑makers and those affected.
It always concentrates wealth and influence in fewer hands.
And because distance removes empathy, centralisation always leads to dehumanisation.
Where we see centralisation at work
You can see the pattern everywhere:
Politics – power pulled upward into party machines, donor networks, and distant executives.
Government – “devolution” used as a cover for regional centralisation, reducing local representation and increasing control from Westminster.
Globalisation – local economies hollowed out as production and decision‑making move offshore.
Corporate structures – small businesses replaced by multinational giants.
Supply chains – farmers and producers trapped by supermarket monopolies.
In every case, the story is the same:
Centralisation removes local agency and transfers power upward.
The dehumanisation effect
As centralisation grows, the number of links between people and the centre increases. Each link removes a layer of humanity.
When decision‑makers have no direct contact with the people affected by their decisions, they stop seeing them as people at all.
This is why:
Policies harm communities without anyone taking responsibility
Corporations exploit workers and environments without remorse
Governments impose rules without understanding consequences
Systems become cold, bureaucratic, and indifferent
Centralisation creates distance.
Distance removes empathy.
Lack of empathy enables harm.
This is the psychological architecture of the money‑centric world.
The damage centralisation has caused
We have been told for decades that centralisation “makes life easier” and “reduces cost”. But the lived reality is the opposite:
People cannot afford to live independently on a minimum wage.
Communities have lost identity, cohesion, and purpose.
Local businesses have been replaced by corporate monoliths.
Supply chains have become fragile and exploitative.
The environment has been degraded for profit.
Wealth has been transferred upward at unprecedented speed.
Centralisation has not reduced cost.
It has redistributed cost – downward.
Onto the people least able to bear it.
This is not a glitch. It is the design.
Localisation: the antithesis of centralisation
Centralisation only exists because the system is built on hierarchy, scarcity, and accumulation.
Remove those foundations, and centralisation has no purpose.
This is why genuine localisation – not the fake “devolution” offered by governments, but true community‑level autonomy – is the natural alternative.
Local systems:
Operate without hierarchy
Are built on relationships
Are grounded in lived reality
Prioritise needs over profit
Are transparent and accountable
Reconnect people to the consequences of decisions
People trust local leadership because it is human, visible, and accountable.
They do not trust distant leaders they never meet, cannot reach, and did not choose.
Locality is the natural scale of human systems. Centralisation is the unnatural one.
Why this matters now
Centralisation is not just a political or economic issue.
It is the structural expression of the money‑centric worldview.
And because the money‑centric system is collapsing – financially, socially, environmentally, morally – the centralised structures built upon it are collapsing too.
This is the doorway moment.
We can continue rearranging the furniture inside a collapsing room.
Or we can step through the doorway into a new paradigm – one built on locality, contribution, community, and human dignity.
Centralisation is the problem.
Localisation is the solution.
LEGS is the structure that makes localisation possible.
The Basic Living Standard is the foundation that makes it humane.
The Revaluation is the shift in consciousness that makes it visible.
Once you see the doorway, you cannot unsee it.
And once you understand centralisation, you understand why nothing will change until we leave the old room behind.
Welcome to Building Better Futures: Food, Community, and Beyond – a portfolio that brings together a diverse collection of blogs and books dedicated to shaping resilient communities and thriving local economies through the lens of food and farming.
This area of work is a vital part of my broader professional journey, reflecting a commitment to practical solutions, thoughtful analysis, and transformative ideas.
Within this collection, you’ll find a wide range of resources – many of which are available as downloadable PDFs at each link, making it easy to access and share insights.
A number of the books are also available for purchase as Kindle editions on Amazon, offering flexible ways to engage with the material.
Central to this portfolio is my belief that food sits at the very heart of future communities and local economies. This vision is explored within the works listed here, with each section delving into how food systems, sustainable agriculture, and collaborative local action can empower individuals and strengthen society.
From foundational essays on the importance of farming, through analyses of current challenges and policy barriers, to practical blueprints for resilient food systems, these resources invite you to reimagine what’s possible for our shared future.
Please explore the links below to discover actionable ideas, innovative models, and a vision for building better futures – starting with food, and reaching far beyond.
1. Foundations: The Importance of Food and Farming
Introduction: This section lays the groundwork for understanding why food and farming are central to the wellbeing of communities and nations. These pieces highlight the fundamental role of agriculture and the urgent need to recognise and support those who produce our food.
Having established the essential role of food and farming in society, the next section delves into the pressing challenges and threats facing the UK’s food system today.
These entries reveal why urgent attention and action are needed to safeguard our agricultural foundations.
2. Current Challenges: Crisis, Policy, and Threats
Introduction: This section examines the mounting pressures and systemic issues threatening UK food security. The entries here analyse the causes and consequences of the current crisis, urging immediate action to prevent further decline.
Understanding the scope of the crisis leads naturally to an exploration of the political and economic barriers that hinder progress.
The following pieces critique the policies and market forces that shape – and often obstruct – efforts to build a resilient food system.
3. Political and Economic Barriers
Introduction: This section explores the political and economic obstacles that hinder progress in food and farming. The entries critique current policies and highlight the need for a shift toward self-sufficiency and local resilience.
With the obstacles clearly outlined, attention turns to how farmers and their allies are responding.
This section examines the spectrum of advocacy and activism, highlighting both the risks and the opportunities for constructive change.
4. Farmer Responses: Advocacy, Militancy, and New Directions
Introduction: This section discusses how farmers and their supporters are responding to challenges. It encourages constructive, peaceful approaches and warns against divisive or counterproductive activism.
Moving beyond reaction, the next section focuses on solutions. Here, collaboration and local action take centre stage, offering practical pathways to strengthen food security and empower communities.
5. Building Solutions: Collaboration and Localisation
Introduction: This section presents constructive approaches for improving food security and farming. It emphasizes collaboration, local action, and practical steps to build a resilient food system.
As collaborative efforts gain momentum, the conversation expands to consider new models for local economic governance. These entries introduce innovative mechanisms – such as barter and exchange – that can underpin a more resilient and equitable food system.
6. Economic Systems: Local Governance and Exchange
Introduction: This section introduces new models for local economic governance, focusing on food as a central pillar. It explores alternative mechanisms like barter and exchange, and proposes frameworks for economies that prioritize collective wellbeing.
Finally, the collection concludes by examining the deeper questions of control and power within food systems.
This last section analyses who holds influence, how policy shapes outcomes, and what it will take to build trustworthy, future-proof food systems for all.
7. Control, Power, and the Future
Introduction: This section concludes the collection by examining who holds power in food systems and what that means for the future. These entries analyse policy, strategy, and the blueprint for building trustworthy, resilient food systems.
Thank you for taking the time to explore Building Better Futures: Food, Community, and Beyond.
If the ideas, resources, or practical solutions here have sparked your interest, I would be delighted to hear from you. Whether you have questions, wish to discuss any of the topics in more depth, or are interested in collaborating, please feel free to get in touch.
I am always happy to share insights, exchange perspectives, and support your work. If you’re organizing an event or discussion where these themes are relevant, I welcome invitations to speak and contribute.
Let’s build better futures together – starting with food, and reaching far beyond.
There is growing disquiet, fear, and quiet concern about the turbulence we are experiencing in the world, alongside a deep, intrinsic sense that nothing is as it should be – and that it will never be the same again.
Yet at the heart of this unsettling feeling lies confusion. The prevailing narratives insist that with AI now here, and the technology it commands about to permeate every conceivable part of our lives, humanity should be grateful.
We are told we stand on the cusp of a new age, where surrendering to AI will deliver a dream life unlike anything mankind has ever known.
Some are already suspicious, beginning to question what the rollout of this digital revolution will truly mean.
Others believe the only way to progress – or to feel in control of either the real or digital worlds – is to recapture what they perceive as the “good times,” attempting to fix everything as if it were possible to freeze life and live forever in a single moment of the past.
Uncomfortable as it may be, the time has arrived for everyone to begin asking the hard questions: what happens next, and where will we find ourselves in a future that is no longer a distant shadow on the horizon, but already towering above us right now.
The Watershed Moment We Cannot Ignore
The Coming Crisis of Agency & Survival
The answer to the question so many wish to avoid is that, if we continue on our current path, ordinary people will be left with no means to provide for themselves. They will have no income to pay others to do so, and neither government nor business will exist with the resources or the intent to supply even the basic essentials necessary for the masses to survive.
Everything we know – whether or not we recognise its connection to our current reality – has been moving in this direction for as long as most of us have been alive.
There has been a steady erosion of agency, independence, and self‑resourcefulness for ordinary human beings, first through the transfer of all forms of wealth, and now, taking place through the progressive takeover of every aspect of working life and function by both existing and rapidly emerging forms of AI.
Whilst many today spend quiet moments fearing the apparent opening of immigration floodgates and the erasure of Western culture, society, and life as we know it, others, for reasons seemingly unknown, appear to have embraced a suicidal empathy that insists the only correct behaviour of Western society is to destroy itself in order to prioritise all others.
AI’s Encroachment on Everyday Life
Yet everyone fails to see that the impending and critical threat to everything we hold dear has already been welcomed into our governments, our businesses, our technology, and the very functionality of daily life, and is so deeply embedded that it now resides in our computers and our phones.
The Myth of Effortless Utopia
AI, along with the robotics and technology now emerging to support it, is becoming the option of choice for carrying out the majority – if not all – tasks across what we currently understand as life.
This development will soon mean that, for the majority of us, there will soon be no reason for work to continue to exist.
Exploitation and Systemic Transformation
Whilst many of us hear talk of the AI takeover, the reduction in new hiring and training opportunities across numerous professions and industries, and the replacement of jobs of all kinds, we fail to connect these developments with the rising welfare bill as people find themselves with no choice but to accept a life of unemployment.
The New Divide: Inclusion and Exclusion
Nor do we pause for a moment to consider the pressing question: What does it mean when there is no job left for you?
The Last Chance for Human Agency
Yes, many truly believe the stories openly shared by members of the elite community driving this change – that in no time at all, life will become cheap and effortless for everyone because AI and machines can do everything.
The Value of Effort and Contribution
People really do believe we are about to step into a new and previously unrecognisable utopia, where the system has eliminated the need for human industry, effort, and value in the form of contribution, and instead provides everything we can imagine, free of charge and experienced as if life were one giant, permanent holiday for us all.
Historic Patterns and Systemic Endgame
Such benevolence, hinted at in the form of words from these few, and the feeling it inspires about our future, is one that few can fail to imagine.
Indeed, the words and the ease with which life now comes at us makes it very easy to accept the disproportionate levels of wealth for the few that has been encouraged by the progress of this new technical revolution.
People are taking for granted that once the evolution of everything needed to perform every task that human beings carried out across all functions of life is complete, these are the very same few who will then happily smile and sit back while everything they own and have developed works and provides for all of us in return for absolutely nothing. All whilst we continually maintain an ever‑improving standard of life and receive a universal basic income that covers every requirement beyond the luxurious permanence of 24‑hour leisure, which is somehow ever present and that we somehow believe we would actually enjoy.
In truth, we do not need to understand how or why we arrived here to see the situation for what it really is. The fundamental truths are already available for us all to observe, consider, and comprehend, hiding in plain sight: the masses have been used and exploited to create the very means that will ultimately be implemented to destroy humanity as we know it.
As this has all progressed, we have all been fed and indoctrinated with stories, technology, forms of easy wealth, and advances convincing us that things can only ever improve along this path and that a golden age awaits.
At the same time, we have given our consent to puppet politicians who have willingly changed and enforced every rule necessary to facilitate this under the veil of progress -driven not by principle, but by submission to those with power and self‑serving agendas, lured by promises of glory and gain that appeal to their true, hidden selves.
Many struggle to believe that those we have elected, and those who have grown rich or benefitted so greatly from the rewards of leadership in a modern world and society, could truly be so cruel. Yet does it matter whether we – or even they – accept that as truth, when the outcome fast approaching, without a change in our direction, will inevitably be exactly the same?
Within the world and its structures – The System as it operates, functions, and controls every part of life today – the true divide of them and us lies between those whom the system will continue to carry and cater for once the concept of human independence no longer exists, and the masses who have no further use, whom the system will either choose to exclude or find some means to remove.
This is neither a horror story nor a work of fiction. The only uncertainty – without a change in direction – lies in when and how events will unfold that bring about the critical period of transition.
Today, humanity still possesses agency, choice, and the power to pursue an alternative pathway – even though so many of us are sleep‑running toward the end of freedom’s existence, actively embracing and welcoming the very tools that will soon replace the need for us within our own lives.
The fundamental truth of any life worth living is that there can be no reward without effort, and that effort itself is the pathway to reward when life is grounded in truth.
We hold no value to anyone or anything if we do not contribute or participate when we are able. There are no free rides for anyone or anything, unless they come in the form of charity – or unless we ourselves assume the role, if deemed desirable, of pets.
History repeats this truth time and again. We need only look further to see how power is abused by the powerful—how they seek to control everything they find useful, and how quickly they dispose of it when they do not.
Everything about the moneocratic, money‑centric, top‑down, centralised, hierarchical, and patriarchal system was ultimately designed to end this way.
The arrival of technology – and finally AI – has brought humanity to a genuine watershed moment, an endgame in which we must either abandon the unsustainable way of life to which we have become addicted and embrace one that restores balance, fairness, and justice for all, or continue living the lie created by those who profit from our subservience.
If we choose the latter, we will participate in it until the moment we realise we no longer hold any value, and the destiny imposed upon us by others has arrived.
The Alternative Pathway
The temptation for many, upon realising what has happened and what is happening, is to believe that all we need to do is step back a few years and remove the most corrosive technological advances that have entered our lives.
As simple as the removal of AI might seem – even if we were able to overhaul politics and replace politicians with those who agree – the real damage to society and culture has not come from technology or its advances themselves. It comes from the reasoning, motives, intent, and forms of control behind them.
These forces have long been at work, reshaping how everything functions across society – manipulating and redirecting life so that what we have already become is accepted as normal.
The way we live, work, conduct business, relate to others, and even relate to ourselves must return, rediscover, and recreate a way of being that transforms our system of values.
Our entire value set must shift so that we understand and expect meaning from life in ways that, by today’s standards, may seem counterintuitive or even alien.
The Human Value Imperative:
We must embrace the reality that everyone is equal, and that the only difference between us lies in our roles, functions, and contributions within society—roles that are always dynamic and open to change.
We all need to accept that differences do not make us different when it comes to what is ethically, morally, and fundamentally right.
We all need to accept, understand, and embrace that no person should be advantaged over another by circumstances beyond their own efforts or control.
We must accept that deviation or allowances beyond these principles will always lead to growing unfairness—even when special circumstances seem justified or privileges are believed not to be abused.
We must accept that hierarchies are not a natural system of order, even though the need for order in society means that some will naturally take the lead.
We all need to share responsibility and take part in collective choices that shape the aspects of life we share.
We all need to contribute to the community in whatever ways we can.
We all need to work and actively contribute to shared life whenever we are genuinely able.
We must live by the principle that the responsibility we have toward others is the same responsibility we owe to ourselves.
We all need to accept that once our needs are met, nothing is gained if any one of us seeks to have, take, or control more.
We must accept that true abundance means having as much as we need, not everything we want.
We must accept that people are the greatest source of value, and that real economics should be centred on that value.
We must embrace the reality that full employment is both natural and normal when employment is defined by all forms of contribution, not just financial return.
We must welcome and protect the truth that locality, and the transparency it brings to every kind of relationship, is key to maintaining and benefiting from a system we can trust to be fair, balanced, and just.
We must ensure that AI and all technologies are used only to support human life and enhance working practices—not to replace jobs or create circumstances in which any human being is considered useless.
When we commit to all of these principles, we can begin to envision a society and way of life that truly functions as it should with equity, equality and accountability for all – one that is transformed in almost every possible way.
The Turning Point: Choosing Freedom and a Better Future
For many of us, the uncomfortable reality we must face is that passive inaction – or continuing to accept life under the control of others, believing things will simply carry on as they are – poses an existential threat that is all too real. It is a danger that extends beyond the confines of Orwell’s 1984 and, for those who truly value their lives, could mean something far worse.
The choice – while we still have one- is to not only accept but to embrace an alternative path.
This path, though carrying forward some familiar aspects of the world around us, demands that every part of our lives be lived in a fundamentally different way: a way where people, community, and the environment come first; where power rests with the individual, their freedom, and their personal sovereignty; and where the whole experience of life unfolds in a completely new direction.
The Local Economy & Governance System Framework: A Path to Empowerment
Exploring the Local Economy & Governance System
Visualising a different world – how it operates, what it requires of us, what we must give, how we work together, and how frameworks of rules function (rather than laws that micromanage every part of life, as is increasingly the case today) – may sound simple. Yet their adoption, interpretation, and our response to them within a system centred on empowering every person, rather than controlling them in every conceivable way, will be fundamentally different.
This shift will inevitably provoke resistance, not least because we have become addicted to the unsustainable, money‑centric way of living that dominates our lives today.
The Local Economy & Governance System provides a detailed picture of these frameworks, showing how this new people‑centric model will look and how it can be implemented.
Perhaps the most important element of this new world is that it will be built upon direct, participatory democracy – a system entirely unlike the hollow or pretend democracy that defines the moneyocratic world we currently inhabit.
Participatory Democracy: Power in the Hands of People
Participatory democracy means that everyone takes part in the decision‑making processes that shape public policy.
It ensures that we all hold the power to change or remove the public representatives we choose and appoint.
This requires a level of accountability and participation that is not only regular and personal, but far greater than the limited choice we currently have – voting every four or five years for candidates selected by someone else.
There is much to consider about the processes that enable true participatory democracy and how it can work effectively and diligently.
One of the most striking differences between this future system and what we have today is that there will be no political parties.
Instead, public representatives will be chosen directly by the community – respected individuals with proven commitment to serving the best interests of everyone involved.
From Possibility to Reality: A System That Works for Everyone
The Local Economy & Governance System will work because it prioritises people, community, and the environment in ways that may seem inconceivable today.
It places value on personal sovereignty and the freedom that comes from living lives defined by who we truly are, rather than by external factors and reference points that remain under someone else’s control.
Yes, the practical mechanics of LEGS will work – and they will work well – if we choose to embrace them.
After all, the dysfunctional world we inhabit today has appeared to “work” only because we came to believe in it, even as it has harmed so many of us.
We must not underestimate the ability, ingenuity, and creativity of humankind to deliver and implement solutions that succeed under any circumstances, when motivated and convinced it is right to do so.
Together, we can reclaim power and value and build a new world and system that functions with equity, equality, and open accountability for everyone – just as a truly civilised society always should.
Together, we can turn possibility into reality and create a society that truly works for everyone.
The Choice Before Us
We stand at a decisive moment in human history.
The turbulence we feel, the erosion of agency, and the encroachment of systems that strip away our independence are not distant threats. They are realities already shaping our lives.
The arrival of AI and the technologies that support it has brought us to a genuine watershed: either we continue down the path of dependency and control, or we choose to reclaim balance, fairness, and justice through new systems built on empowerment, community, and sovereignty.
The Local Economy & Governance System, grounded in participatory democracy and people‑centric values, offers a practical and principled alternative.
It is not a utopia promised by elites, nor a nostalgic return to the past, but a framework for living that restores meaning to contribution, accountability, and shared responsibility.
Human ingenuity has always risen to meet the greatest challenges. If we believe it right to do so, we can build a society that works for everyone – where equity, equality, and open accountability are not ideals but lived realities.
The choice is ours. To continue sleepwalking into a future where humanity holds no value, or to awaken and embrace the possibility of a new civilisation. One that honours freedom, restores dignity, and ensures that life itself remains worth living.
In recent years, mounting challenges have threatened not only the livelihoods of farmers but also the nation’s ability to control its own food supply.
As policies and industry practices increasingly sideline independent food production, farmers face a pivotal choice: continue operating within a system that undermines their independence, or take bold steps to reclaim control and rebuild the UK food chain from the ground up.
This article explores the urgent need for change, the systemic issues facing agriculture, and the powerful impact that farmers’ decisions will have on the future of food security, communities, and the environment.
Farmers’ Choice: Reclaiming Control of the UK Food Chain
Farmers in the UK face a critical decision: either take back control of the nation’s food chain now, or risk losing everything—including the freedom that comes from managing our own food supply.
Background
In the summer of 2023, I published The Glos Community Project, which later evolved into An Economy for the Common Good.
Originally written as a book, The Future is Local, this project explored localising the supply of essential goods and services when our current system collapses.
It offered a practical vision for local communities, emphasising business models that prioritise people, communities, and the environment over profit. The central idea was to shift away from money as the core value and put people first.
Food and food security have always been central themes since I wrote Levelling Level in 2022. Through examining food production within a localised, circular economy, I realised just how pivotal food is to our future.
Unfortunately, the UK food chain’s importance is being sidelined and overlooked today.
The State of UK Agricultural Academia
My focus on UK food security led me to postgraduate study at the Royal Agricultural University in late 2023, where my concerns about the establishment’s approach to agriculture were only amplified.
There are glaring contradictions in the current system – contradictions that academic institutions seem unwilling to address. This reluctance raises questions about the true purpose of agricultural academia if it won’t challenge the status quo.
However, this malaise isn’t unique to agriculture; it reflects a broader trend in UK higher education, which has shifted from providing world-class centres of learning to institutions focused primarily on turnover and getting every student they can through the door.
Challenges Facing Farmers
The experience at the RAU mirrors the state of UK farming today. There is widespread recognition that something is fundamentally wrong, yet calls for change are often muted and deferential to the establishment.
Many across the industry still believe that government, the public sector, and corporate players will prioritise the needs of small businesses and farmers. However, history shows that this is rarely the case.
While farmers, industry speakers, and advocacy groups continue to speak out, their efforts often amount to little more than noise. Many hope that politicians will eventually address the industry’s difficulties, or that a change in government will bring solutions.
But the reality is that UK food security is not being treated as a matter of common sense or urgency.
Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future
The Farm Inheritance Tax issue highlighted how every part of the UK food chain lacks the priorities that working family farmers and the public deserve.
The system is rigged against independent UK food production because the establishment resists any sector that could foster independence from the current system.
Sadly, instead of helping, advocacy organisations often reinforce the myth that government supports UK farming by prioritising the relationship they have with politicians and officials, even as policies make it increasingly difficult for independent producers to survive.
The reality is that no matter how they are presented, the changes are all designed to encourage the end independent food production in the UK.
Control over the food supply is power. Like other productive industries, UK farming has been systematically undermined under the guise of progress, innovation, and economic policy.
This process began with the adoption of the Neoliberal FIAT money system and the push for global business, and deliberately misled previous generations into believing that joining the Common Market and making increasing commitments to the EU methodologies would benefit everyone.
The Consequences of Inaction
For decades, we have been distracted by consumer culture and promises of continuous improvement, while key industries have been hollowed out.
This has allowed a small group of wealthy individuals and corporations to consolidate control over land, businesses, and resources, often through changes in rules and regulations that once existed to support people, communities and the environment.
While some may dismiss these concerns as conspiracy theories, the evidence is clear: the consequences of these actions have been real and damaging. Many still struggle to believe that such harm could be inflicted for the sake of control and profit.
The Reality Today
Food and our food supply are critically important, yet many fail to grasp this.
Some policymakers believe traditional farming is obsolete and that future food will be produced in factories, regardless of the health or freedom implications.
Reports on farming profitability are rarely taken seriously, as the industry’s problems are symptoms of long-term, deliberate changes.
Governments of all parties are invested in a collapsing system, unable or unwilling to enact meaningful change.
Their solution is now to tax everything in hopes of reviving that failing system, but this approach is unsustainable too.
The Choice for Farmers
Farmers now face a pivotal choice: continue operating within a system that works against them, or walk away from government and industry expectations.
By starting anew and rebuilding the UK food system from scratch, farmers can reclaim control and create a future that prioritizes people, communities, and the environment.
Key Points Summary
Urgency for Farmers: UK farmers must act now to reclaim control of the food chain, or risk losing their livelihoods and the nation’s food security.
Local, People-Focused Economy: We must shift from profit-driven business models to ones that prioritise people, communities, and the environment, as outlined in the newly published Local Economy & Governance System.
Systemic Issues in Agriculture: There are deep-rooted problems in UK agriculture and academia, with institutions reluctant to challenge the status quo, and a broader trend of prioritising financial gain over genuine learning and improvement.
Government and Industry Inaction: Despite widespread recognition of problems, calls for change are often muted. Many in the industry hope for government intervention, but history shows that politicians rarely prioritise farmers’ needs.
Control and Power: The UK food system is structured to prevent independent food production, consolidating control among a small group of powerful interests. Advocacy organisations often reinforce the myth of government support, even as policies undermine farmers.
Consequences of Policy: Decades of policy have hollowed out key industries, transferring land, resources, and businesses to wealthy corporations and individuals, leaving communities and the environment vulnerable.
Dismissal of Concerns: While some may dismiss these issues as conspiracy theories, most recognise that the negative impacts are real and significant.
Misguided Beliefs: Policymakers increasingly believe traditional farming is obsolete, favouring factory-produced food without considering health or freedom implications. Reports and studies on farming profitability and the problems the industry faces are rarely taken seriously.
System Collapse: The current system is unsustainable, and governments are unable or unwilling to enact meaningful change, resorting to increased taxation in a failing attempt to keep the system afloat.
A New Path Forward: Farmers are encouraged to reject the expectations of government and industry, and to rebuild the UK food system from scratch, prioritising independence, community, and sustainability.
There’s something very wrong with the AI story that we are all being sold:
Nobody seems to have noticed that the script of man’s pathway to the pinnacle of human intelligence is about to come to its end, by handing our ability to think, over to machines.
As I write, I’m wondering if the name ‘Artificial Intelligence’ was a deliberate way to hide the truth in plain sight, all along.
Not because the technological breakthroughs that are coming at us thick and fast aren’t very clever.
But because just like the surrender of our value set to an artificial, valueless and damaging world dominated by money that manipulates everything about the way we think, we are about to give away our ability to even do that, to systems and technologies that cannot genuinely benefit any human being – other than those who own and run them.
In my eBook Actions Speak Louder than Digital Words, I talked about AI only having the ability to look back at history and the past. Even where back meant what had been published or ‘sensed’ by the Internet up to the very moment when the system was responding to a specific command.
This overlooked or deliberately whitewashed flaw of AI echoes one of the greater faults in the Human experience, where we inherently look backwards to our past experiences to provide guidance for the future.
This should be troubling enough.
But what wasn’t apparent even when I published that book in June 2023, was that as AI began filling everything across the web and digital sphere with its own responses, muses and anything else we can give AI-derived content as a name, it would then begin leveraging just as much and increasingly more of its own diluted content as a source, which is almost certain to increase as human input or creativity dries up.
And the contribution of human creativity and intelligence to the smorgasbord board of information and data that the AI engines feast on is most certainly drying up, as more and more of us surrender to the narrative we have been fed that tells us AI is now the only way, and jobs are threatened by the accompanying suggestion that AI can do things that we can never do!
Dictating our future by using the past as our point of reference certainly holds us back and creates all sorts of difficulties at all levels of life that we didn’t ever need to have.
However, the one thing that makes that experience manageable and, in some ways, arguably beneficial too, is that our human creativity and ability to look at every new situation and make sense of it and its context in ways that allow us to build bridges into the future, means that we are making progress all the time. Even if that progress is slower, whereas a machine that is limited only to reading what has already happened simply cannot.
People – and many of them too – genuinely accept the stories and myths that we have and are now being sold.
They believe and, in many cases, have become fearful that AI can already or very soon will take over every function that humans currently carry out within any business or organisation. Despite the reality that anyone using their common sense or daring to listen to their inner voice will recognise a very big question, ‘Where in this future does that leave any need for me?’
AI is very fast at what it does and is able to look at potentially all the information that is available to us in digital form at the very moment in time that a question is asked or an instruction is given.
That – and only that – is the real magic of AI.
It is the reason that we are all just accepting the idea that AI is already infinitely cleverer than Humans could ever be. Just as those who benefit from us believing this to be true intend us to believe.
However, our acceptance that we no longer need to be creative or think for ourselves, means that we will not only increasingly become dependent upon a pool of ‘knowledge’ outside of ourselves – albeit a very large one of everything that has been recorded, spoken, considered and then committed to the internet and digital platforms up to some point in history before. But this pool of knowledge that we will use for everything will become increasingly diluted by the growing amount of poor and corrupt information, data and ‘understanding’ that our already burgeoning use of AI with everything is now spaffing out into the digital ether.
As you read, Humanity is literally giving up the ability to think and create for itself, to a machine-driven world that is incapable of doing any more.
What is more, Humanity is surrendering these cornerstone abilities for survival voluntarily. Because someone who benefits from us believing we are inadequate without technology has told us this, when a change of the kind that overreliance on AI could be about to usher in would have needed something akin to an extinction-level event to take place at any time in world history before.
This uncomfortable truth will not stop those who stand to benefit from the AI takeover from pushing and promoting this path. They will continue peddling the myths that the AI takeover will be in our best interests and will be inevitable all the same. When it is nothing of the sort.
The Technology we have available to us today will not live up to its greatest potential. Because the greatest potential any technology that man invents will have, is to help improve the lives and experiences of all men, rather than to replace any one of them.
We know this to be true, as this has regrettably been the way that technological advancements have always impacted Humanity since the ending of the Agricultural Age.
Technology has always been employed to make money for those who own and control it since then.
The rise of new technology has always been at the cost of all others at some level. No matter who they are or what their connections might be.
The reality we face is that it may already be too late to save the world we recognise from a fate that we have all unwittingly chosen. Rather than there being any kind of event or catastrophe at the heart of future change that no one person could have been responsible for.
However, if we are to address the slide towards universal ignorance, with the accompanying potential to take us back into the dark ages once more, we must reassess, reimagine and regulate the uses of every kind of technology. So that technology’s master can only be the public good. Rather than profit and the disaster that is following hard in its footsteps right now.
If we value the Human experience and wish to improve it, it is time to learn, share and then live the truth that there is no need for any technology to replace jobs, other than so just a few can increase their profits and control.
The best way for everyone and everything to live well, is without the complications and diversions that misappropriated technology imposes upon us, and the technology we do embrace should always be used for the greater good and for the benefit of everyone involved.
Adam Tugwell 