The Occupy movement needs some clear, simple ideas to champion. Debt cancellation is a clear, simple idea – but how can it be done in a way that is not chaotic and is fair to all, eg to the people who were never in debt anyway? And can it help us to start to work on our “ecological debts” too?

In this article Brian Davey explains the rationale for setting up a group called “Cafe Economique” in Nottingham. Following a similar group in Leeds a Nottingham group has been set up, one of whose aims is to give non-economists the confidence to participate in economic discussions. It is high time that non-economists feel able to challenge the baloney that most economists preach and are armed with the ideas that will allow them to do so. In this piece, Brian attacks the status claim that economics makes when it describes itself as a “social science”.

In this article I argue that theories are often used as justification to push people around and to bully them – particularly economic theories. If the future is one where we “grow people” rather than “growing economies” we need very different kinds of arrangements and skills – and we should start in our own movement.

This article is not primarily about economics. It is meant to be more philosophical, but philosophical in a sense that has political and economic implications for action. As the markets plunge and economic turmoil engulfs the global economy I’ve noticed that amid the many interpretations, there are quite different attitudes to what is going on in regard to the propensity to explain or to blame. I have described these two attitudes perhaps in an exaggerated form to bring out their differences.

The group organising the newly formed ‘Cafe Economique’ in Nottingham wanted an introduction to basic money theory for their first public event on Thursday 30th June and this article, written by Feasta member Brian Davey, was the result. The extended version of the talk, with notes on sources and for further reading, relates basic concepts to what is happening in the world right now, inclusive of the Greek financial crisis, and what should be done about it.

The availability of fresh water and the energy use associated with it, particularly in agriculture, is not thought about much in Britain and Ireland. Nevertheless it is a major issue – as a recent paper by two academics at the University of East Anglia demonstrates.