Today is April 6, the beginning of the tax year in the UK.

Odd that the fiscal year should run from April 6 to April 5. Such apparently random dates. But there is a reason.

The government stole 11 days.

A 🧵 2/ Once upon a time, the new year in England did not begin in the middle of winter on January 1. The year was aligned with the seasons, and new year came with spring on March 25, spring equinox (when day and night are the same length), Lady Day.

1/ The Great Conflation

I didn’t get involved in the Lineker wars, mainly because I had other stuff on, but the affair triggered a moment of realisation in me. That is: how conflation is used as a political weapon.

A 🧵 2/ In the Lineker wars, Team Gary conflated the issue of free speech with that of impartiality.

In his offending tweets, he meanwhile conflated illegal migration and people trafficking with legal migration, refugees etc

Why do houses cost so much?

Will you ever be able to buy one?

A 🧵 2/ A house need not cost a lot of money to build.

The timber-framed home in this pic is yours for just £55k. 3D homes are already a thing. The build cost of most homes has long since been paid anyway.

The are the heavy costs of land and regulation to add, but ...

1/ Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey has blamed #inflation on everything from companies putting up prices to old folk retiring.

He has not once pointed the finger at the bank itself nor mentioned its system of money. With #fiat inflation is inevitable. A short 🧵 2/ This table shows the price of various items in 1970 compared to their price today (actually 9 months ago when I put the table together).

Average wages have gone up 22x. Houses 69x.

If wages had gone as much as houses, the average salary would be £100k. More in London.

1/ In your time bestriding the narrow world like a Colossus, you might have heard the term, “bearer asset”. That would be an asset that you take physical possession of - cash or bullion, for example - an asset that is effectively owned by whoever has possession of it 2/ You can transfer it from A to B by just handing it over. Unlike money in the bank, it does not reply on or carry a promise from a third party.

Ownership is not registered, so that makes it vulnerable to theft or loss, but it also means, it is nobody else's liability.