Who does the British government owe its debt to?

Most people would say pension funds, insurance companies, foreign investors, or the banks.

And yes — all of those matter.

But the single biggest lender to the British government is the Bank of England. At its peak, it owned around a third of all government debt in existence, and even now it still holds hundreds of billions of pounds of it. The strangest part? It didn’t buy that debt with money that already existed. It created the money first — and then bought the debt.

In this episode of Taxed & Taken, I break down how that system actually works in plain English.

We go through:

* how government debt really works

* why banks are allowed to create money

* what quantitative easing actually is

* why asset prices soared after 2008

* why wages didn’t keep up

* and why the losses ultimately fall back on the taxpayer

This is the second part of the central banking series, and by the end of it you’ll understand how money is created, who gets it first, who benefits most, and who ends up carrying the cost. The episode also sets up the next question in the series: once inflation is loose, who gets chosen to pay for bringing it back down?

If this episode changes how you see the financial system, share it with one person.

Stay informed, stay independent, and stay free.

Central banks were not originally created to control inflation or protect your savings.

They were created because governments needed a reliable way to borrow enormous sums without defaulting, debasing the currency or provoking revolt.

In 1694, the Bank of England lent £1.2 million to the Crown. Parliament guaranteed the interest using future taxes, while the government’s IOU was transformed into an asset against which new banknotes could be created and lent back to the public.

The same debt now produced two streams of interest: one paid by taxpayers and another paid by borrowers.

In Part 1 of this three-part series, we uncover:

* Why kings needed a new way to finance war

* How government debt became the backing for money

* Why ordinary people became the permanent guarantors

* How a £1.2 million loan became a national debt that has never been repaid

* Why the system has survived for more than three centuries

This is not a story about a hidden conspiracy. It is the documented history of a machine built in public view — but rarely explained in plain English.

Listen now and discover where money really comes from.

Stay informed. Stay independent. Stay free.

Most people are told to follow the same financial formula:

Invest regularly.Buy a diversified portfolio.Hold shares and bonds.Ignore the headlines.Wait.

That advice worked exceptionally well during the economic environment that dominated much of the period from 1980 to 2020.

But what happens when the environment changes?

In this episode, I explain the four economic environments that determine what happens to your savings, pension, property and investments:

1. Good WeatherEconomic growth is strong and prices rise gently. Shares, property and growth companies tend to thrive.

2. The HeatwaveThe economy is still growing, but inflation is accelerating. Energy, commodities and other real assets begin to matter more.

3. The Long StormThe economy weakens while prices continue rising. Shares and bonds can fall together, breaking the traditional 60/40 portfolio.

4. The FreezeGrowth collapses and prices stagnate or fall. Cash and high-quality bonds can provide protection—and create opportunities to buy assets cheaply.

The biggest investment mistake is not necessarily buying a bad asset.

It is owning the right asset in the wrong economic environment.

You do not need to predict every market movement. You do not need to beat hedge funds to the news. You simply need to recognise when the weather has changed—and stop dressing for the world that existed five years ago.

In this episode, you will learn:

* How to identify each economic environment without complicated charts

* Why shares and bonds sometimes collapse together

* Why gold, commodities and infrastructure perform differently from financial assets

* When holding cash becomes a strength rather than a failure

* Why the advice that worked for forty years may not work for the next ten

* How to avoid losing an entire decade by remaining trapped in the wrong portfolio

Most investors are still positioned for an economy that may no longer exist.

Listen now—before the weather changes again.

This episode discusses general economic ideas and is not personal financial advice.

Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear

Subscribe, share the episode, and send it to someone who still thinks investing is only about choosing the right share.

This week a man walked into Number 10 having told the TUC that our economic model “doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.”

I want to be fair to him. He probably means it. That isn’t the danger. The danger is that we’ve heard those exact words before — and I can show you where they led.

In this episode I explain, in plain English, the real difference between capitalism and socialism. Then we go and look at what happened the last time Britain picked the second one.

Inside:

* Why nobody on earth knows how to make a pencil — and why that’s the whole argument

* The 83% tax on earnings and the 98% rate on savings. Not a typo.

* September 1976: the Chancellor turns back at Heathrow as the pound collapses, and Britain borrows more than any nation had ever asked of the IMF

* The winter the rats took Leicester Square and the gravediggers of Liverpool went on strike

* The strongest arguments against my case — made properly, then answered

* What Thatcher actually did, and the real price communities paid, which I don’t dress up

* “But what about the sewage?” — the statistic almost nobody knows

Nobody who built the 1970s wanted coffins stacked in a warehouse. They all meant well. Good intentions are not a policy.

🎧 Listen now — 40 minutes.

🔒 Paying subscribers get The Receipts: every figure sourced, including the Budget speech where a sitting Chancellor calls the 98% rate “an absurdity” that raises almost nothing.

Think for yourself. Keep what’s yours.

Gary Stevenson has become one of Britain’s most influential voices on inequality, arguing that the rich are getting richer while everyone else falls behind—and that a 2% annual wealth tax is the solution.

In this episode, I take Gary’s argument seriously and examine it from first principles.

We explore:

* Why house prices and asset values exploded after 2008.

* How Quantitative Easing and government borrowing changed the financial system.

* Why savers were punished while asset owners benefited.

* Whether billionaires really take your money—or whether government takes far more throughout your lifetime.

* A detailed worked example of a £100 million business under a 2% annual wealth tax.

* Why many European countries abandoned wealth taxes.

* What Britain can learn from countries such as Ireland, Estonia, Switzerland and Singapore.

* And finally, my alternative vision for reducing inequality—through lower taxes, greater ownership and a smaller, more focused government.

Whether you agree or disagree, this episode challenges one of the biggest economic debates of our time.

Why do homes feel more unaffordable than ever?

Most people blame greedy landlords, property developers, foreign investors or a lack of supply.

But what if they’re only looking at the symptoms?

In Episode 30 of Taxed & Taken, we take a completely different approach to the UK’s housing crisis.

Instead of asking “Why are houses so expensive?” we ask a much bigger question:

What happened to our money?

In this episode, you’ll discover:

* 🏠 Why rising house prices don’t necessarily mean homeowners have become wealthier.

* 📉 How the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971 changed the global monetary system.

* 💷 The impact of money printing, quantitative easing and fiat currency on property prices.

* 🪙 Why pricing houses in gold tells a completely different story.

* ⚡ How expensive energy, planning restrictions and regulation have dramatically increased the cost of building homes.

* 🏗️ Why simply promising more “affordable housing” doesn’t automatically make housing affordable.

* 🇬🇧 What Britain could do to restore genuine housing affordability for future generations.

This isn’t an episode about politics.

It’s an episode about economics.

Whether you’re a homeowner, a first-time buyer, a landlord or simply curious about why the housing market feels broken, this episode will challenge the way you think about property forever.

If you enjoy the episode, please consider sharing it with someone who is trying to get onto the property ladder or anyone who believes rising house prices automatically mean a country is becoming wealthier.

🎙️ Welcome to Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear — where we challenge conventional wisdom, question the policies shaping our lives, and explore the economics behind the headlines.

Most people think property investing is about buying houses. The wealthy know it's about building freedom, protecting wealth and creating opportunities for generations to come.

Over the past two episodes we’ve explored how to build a profitable property portfolio. But building wealth is only half the challenge.

In this episode, we explore how experienced investors think once they’ve built a successful portfolio. We discuss why many investors use limited companies, the impact of Section 24, how retained profits can accelerate growth, and why property should be viewed as a cash-generating engine rather than the end goal.

We also cover how rental profits can help fund pensions, diversify into other businesses, create multiple retirement income streams, and support long-term financial freedom.

Finally, we examine succession planning, inheritance, family businesses and why financial education may be the greatest asset you can ever pass to the next generation.

Whether you’re buying your first investment property or already have an established portfolio, this episode is about thinking beyond the next purchase—and starting to think in generations.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why many experienced investors use limited companies

* How Section 24 changed buy-to-let investing

* Retaining profits to accelerate portfolio growth

* Property as a cash-generating engine for future investments

* Capital allocation and how wealthy investors think

* Using property profits to build a pension

* Creating multiple retirement income streams

* Succession planning and protecting family wealth

* Frozen shares and growth shares explained simply

* Why financial education is the greatest inheritance

* The real purpose of property investing: freedom

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing, sharing it with a friend, and leaving a review. It really helps the podcast reach more people.

Welcome back to Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear.

This is Part 1 of a special two-part series on Property Investing.

In this episode I explain why property remains one of the most powerful wealth-building tools available to ordinary people and how successful investors think differently from landlords.

We discuss:

✔ Why property creates wealth

✔ The five wealth engines of property investing

✔ Why cash flow matters more than house prices

✔ How to calculate ROI correctly

✔ Why becoming an expert in one area gives you an advantage

✔ Why many Northern properties outperform Southern properties on cash flow

✔ The importance of stress testing investments

✔ Why every property should have a six-month emergency fund

✔ Why rent increases are essential for long-term profitability

✔ How inflation quietly reduces the real value of debt

✔ Why property is a 10–30 year investment

✔ How refinancing and compounding can turn one property into many

If you’re serious about building long-term wealth through property, this episode is for you.

What if everything you’ve been taught about money is backwards?

For decades, we’ve been told to work hard, get good grades, find a secure job, buy a house, and save for retirement. But according to Robert Kiyosaki’s bestselling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, that advice may never lead to true financial freedom.

In this episode, we break down the most important lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad in plain English and show how they apply to everyday life in the UK today.

We explore:

✅ Why employees are often the most heavily taxed group

✅ The Cashflow Quadrant and why the rich play by different rules

✅ The difference between assets and liabilities

✅ Why your home may not be the asset you think it is

✅ How the Rat Race keeps people working harder without getting wealthier

✅ Why schools teach you how to earn money, but not how to keep it

✅ The power of paying yourself first

✅ How to build multiple streams of income

✅ Why fear and greed drive most financial mistakes

✅ The real definition of wealth and financial freedom

Whether you’re an employee, self-employed professional, business owner, or investor, this episode will challenge many of the assumptions you’ve been taught about money and help you think differently about building long-term wealth.

As Kiyosaki famously said: “The poor and the middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.”

The question is: Are you working for money, or is money working for you?

🎙️ Listen now and discover the money lessons school never taught you.

Most people are told to pay off the mortgage, get out of debt, and save cash.

But is that always the smartest move?

In this episode of Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear, we question whether rushing to become mortgage-free could actually cost you long-term wealth.

We compare two people with the same mortgage: one invests £300 per month from the start, while the other overpays the mortgage first and invests later.

The result is surprising: the person who invested less ended up with more — because they started earlier.

This episode covers:

* Why mortgage overpayments give certainty

* Why investing rewards time

* How compounding changes the outcome

* Why inflation can punish cash savers

* Why being mortgage-free is not always the same as being financially free

* When overpaying makes sense

* When investing may make more sense

The real question is not simply: “Should I pay off the mortgage or invest?”

The real question is: “Am I using my money to feel safe today, or to become financially freer tomorrow?”

Listen to Episode 26 of Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear.