I didn't take economics at school or college and the less said about my university days, the better.
I come to economics from a background in electronics and IT. All topics being on a par along the grey scale of exciting dinner party conversation.
You may ask, why the interest now? The answer to that lies with a cause that I have supported since 2008 - War Child.
War Child support children living in war zones. That these children suffer as a result of man's grievous folly strikes me as unjust and, in fact, it pisses me off.
I've undertaken a series of challenges to raise money and awareness for War Child. I'm proud of the amount I've helped raise that has funded projects to protect and rehabilitate child victims of war.
But one thing chafes me still; all the projects are after the fact; the wars happen, children suffer then War Child swoop in. What I want to do is help prevent wars and stop there being a need for War Child.
The question 'how do we prevent war?' is too broad to address here and for my tiny mind. But after some consideration it was clear that one cause of war is disparity of resources.
The have nots want what the haves, have. The fortunate haves consisting of individuals, corporations and nations. The top 5% of the world who own more than their share.
I'm not suggesting that financial equality would eradicate war but the evolution of the human spirit required to achieve such equality might.
Yet in our capitalist world we overlook the financial aspects of societies' ills. It is always the fault of someone, NEVER the fault of the system.
But the more I learn, the more I see that it is the financial system that needs reassessing and adjusting. The invisible yoke that has burdened us for 2 centuries needs removing.
Changing the relationship between politics and finance is key to addressing rampant injustice. That is why I am interested in economics, I hope that I can convince you that you need to be too.
