Funding the Future

We face crises on every front—climate, inequality, insecurity. The economic models we’ve been told are “normal” have failed. So what kind of politics could work for people and planet? In this video, Richard Murphy compares socialism, social democracy, capitalism, neoliberalism, and his alternative: the politics of care. Which vision do you want for our future? Watch now and vote in the polls.

Advertising tells you every day that you’re too old, too poor, too unfashionable. Why? Because unhappiness sells. In this video, I explain how advertising is deliberately designed to make you feel inadequate—so you buy things you don’t need, often with money you don’t have. It’s not about informing you. It’s about controlling you. So, what can we do about it? 

People say higher taxes will drive the rich away. But here’s the truth: most wealthy people stay put — and even if some do leave, the UK keeps their houses, pensions and financial assets.

This video exposes the hollow threat of ‘rich flight’ and makes the case for bold action on tax justice. Let’s stop being held hostage by a myth.

We’ve seen it before — 1929, 1987, 2000, 2008, 2020. Markets rise, then fall off a cliff. But this time, the economic damage could be worse. Trump’s tariffs, political incompetence, poverty, and debt are all tightening the screws. In this video, I explain why current policies are setting us up for collapse — and how we must rethink economics before it’s too late.

Everyone says the doctor's strike is about pay. And yes, doctors in the UK are being grossly underpaid. But this strike is about something deeper. It’s about a collapsing economy, systemic exploitation, broken housing, and a government – including the current Labour one – that just doesn’t get it. This isn’t just about the NHS. It’s about whether our society is even working anymore. 

We’re constantly told that the wealthy are society’s great entrepreneurs. Without them, we’re told, there would be no jobs, no business, no innovation. In this eighth video in our series on wealth, I explain why that’s a myth. The rich don’t create. They're not entrepreneurs. They preserve, protect and hoard instead. It’s time to stop believing their PR myths.

The foundation of modern economics is that resources are scarce. But what if that simply isn’t true? In this video, I explore how the assumption of scarcity drives inequality, stress, and unsustainability – and what a post-scarcity economics could look like.

As boomers retire, there simply aren’t enough young people born in the UK to replace them. That’s why migrants are stepping in — and why we need them. With US evidence and UK parallels, I show how migration supports our economy, pensions, and future security.

This video explores how the wealthy flaunt their wealth—not with numbers, but through displays of power, privilege, and consumption. From gold-plated cars to opera picnics and £50 notes burned in front of beggars, conspicuous consumption defines status in our unequal world. But what damage does that do to the rest of us—and to them?

Labour says it’s launching a pensions review to make retirement more secure. But dig into the detail, and it’s clear: this is about cutting costs, not helping pensioners.

• Higher retirement ages

• Forced private savings

• Risky stock market exposure

• Means-tested pensions

We are heading for a pensions crash. And the City of London will cash in before it all falls apart. We need a fair, state-backed pension system.

The rich aren’t just rich — they’re scared. Scared of losing face. Scared of taxes. Scared of change. In this video, I explore how the wealthy protect their status by opposing reform, hoarding money, and resisting innovation. And the cost to the rest of us? Enormous.

We spend £80 billion a year encouraging people to save – but it doesn’t fund growth, wages or investment. It just props up banks and financial markets. In this video, I explain why savings are essentially dead money and what a more effective economic strategy would look like.

Taxing the wealthy sounds easy. But what happens when we don’t actually know what they own or what it’s worth? In this fifth video in my series on wealth, I explore the complexity and ambiguity of wealth valuation and explain why taxing the income and gains from wealth might be the only serious route to taxing the rich more fairly.

Hyperinflation is the scare story threatened by those who want to stop government spending. But it’s just that: a scare story. In this video, I explain why the UK’s strong institutions, trusted currency, and sound tax system mean we can safely create money and why the real danger is believing the lies told to stop us doing so.

This video is the fourth in our series on wealth — and the second asking a crucial question: Why are the wealthy wealthy? In this episode, I expose the uncomfortable truth: extreme wealth in Britain has not been built on innovation or hard work, but on exploitation. Of land. Of people. Of law. Of monopolies. Of resources. It’s time we faced how the 1% really got rich — and what we need to do about it.

The UK’s CBI claims the London Stock Exchange is in crisis because of tax and regulation. But that’s nonsense. The real issue? London’s stock market has stopped funding business growth. It’s now a playground for speculators, failing our economy, our pensions, and our future. In this video I explain why tax cuts won’t save it — and what real reform would look like.