After six years of studying psychology, philosophy and sociology at university I dropped out of academia to become a builder, designer and artist. Still I kept reading social science books and when in the late 90’s I found myself “in the money” I got interested in it as a topic. I read Simmel and gave up on it again till the 2009 crash reawakened my interest. Once all my friends and family told me not to talk to them about money any more I started this Gaia blog to find some other people to engage with. But there was no reaction apart from the Queen who kindly responded to a letter I sent her. I had forgotten that you need to work very hard to attract attention and hard work is something I prefer to do as a builder rather than as a publicist. Nonetheless I periodically feel the urge to share and debate my readings and insights with others. Hence the recent launch of a local discussion group on the “next economic paradigm”.