Courts, Currency and Control: From Robin Hood to CBDCs

Paul hosts a free‑wheeling Monday night chat with co‑host Gary that ranges from tea, weather and a brief disappearance for a glass of water to bigger questions about power, law and money. We reflect on Friday’s show with “Robin Hood,” whose courtroom‑focused activism sparks a debate about practical action versus systems thinking. From the Bank of England’s historic role to today’s tech platforms and central banking, we explore how currency, courts and compliance culture intertwine, why open tools matter, and why asking better questions is a civic duty rather than a nuisance. We also kick around the climate debate, digital ID pushes, and the politics of “net zero,” before turning to data integrity, CBDCs and why some see Bitcoin (and BSV) as a route to transparent settlement and more honest markets. Along the way we detour through computing history (Macs, NeXTSTEP, Linux), media moments, and the uncomfortable truth that restoring what works may matter more than merely resisting what doesn’t.'Substack': https://substack.com'Google': https://about.google'Amazon': https://www.amazon.com'Facebook': https://www.facebook.com'Netflix': https://www.netflix.com'Federal Reserve (US)': https://www.federalreserve.gov'Microsoft': https://www.microsoft.com'Apple': https://www.apple.com'Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)': https://www.sri.com/research/future-concepts-division/'IBM': https://www.ibm.com'NeXTSTEP (operating system)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTSTEP'Linux Kernel Archives': https://www.kernel.org'Long-Term Capital Management (history)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-Term_Capital_Management'AIG (American International Group)': https://www.aig.com/home'Executive Order 6102 (full text)': https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102'Bank of England': https://www.bankofengland.co.uk'Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)': https://www.fca.org.uk'United Nations: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development': https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda'Tony Blair Institute for Global Change': https://institute.global'Keir Starmer – Labour Party': https://labour.org.uk/people/keir-starmer/'The British Library': https://www.bl.uk'Bitcoin.org (Bitcoin information)': https://bitcoin.org/en/'BSV Blockchain (Bitcoin SV)': https://bsvblockchain.org/