oD support open standards:

About Peter Johnson

Peter Johnson has worked in technology companies and financial services and is a member and trustee of the New London Chamber Choir. He is also a consultant for KidStart and a trustee of Siblings Together. In 2010 he founded a parent group that recently applied to found a bilingual primary free school in South London.

Articles by Peter Johnson

Thursday 9th June

Who needs a bank?

Peter Johnson, 9 June 2011
Should we make banks better, or just make them redundant? Peer-to-peer currency schemes like bitcoin.org offer the possibility of networked money without banks. Should democrats embrace the possibilities?
Thursday 10th March

The Bank vs the banks?

Peter Johnson, 10 March 2011
The Governor of the Bank of England is making increasingly controversial and political statements about the way banking business is conducted. As he prepares to take responsibility for regulating banks, this is significant. And whilst he is not yet directly addressing the public, he has the reputation, credibility, and means to become the champion of the public interest.
Wednesday 26th January

Can we build institutions? a response to Rosemary Bechler

Peter Johnson, 26 January 2011
The search for purposes in institutions is meaningless. A body only becomes an institution when people start acting in ways other than those set down in their rule book or mission statement. We must be wary of the impulse to build institutions, and be prepared to recognise the importance of habits, feelings, and traditions.
Monday 3rd January

Is there a conservative in the House? In the clash over the UK's universities no party defends their historic calling

Peter Johnson, 3 January 2011
The higher education debate has failed to take account of the conservative perspective. The loud dispute over the reforms and their ability to support universities in their 'proper function' has drowned out the conservative argument that such criteria - of success, power and utility - should not be imposed on the education system.
Thursday 30th September

Double trouble again

Peter Johnson, 30 September 2010
Many economics commentators continue to prescribe policy based on accounting necessity. We should stop worrying about the bookkeeping and get to grips with the real value of different parts of our economy.
Wednesday 8th September

The Mate Market

Peter Johnson, 8 September 2010
Every online dating candidate is visible, in unsparing detail, to every other. The chances of finding the right person now look very high, and the risks of making a mistake vanishingly low. Where once we might have met some hundreds of potential partners during our life, now we can meet millions. Satisfaction guaranteed?
Friday 23rd July

What will the Big Society look like?

Peter Johnson, 23 July 2010
As the UK's new Coalition government launches its 'Big Society' programme, surely the emphasis should be on institutions even if these are not part of the state.
Monday 12th July

Pension reform and growth. Cui bono?

Peter Johnson, 12 July 2010
The UK government's decision to re-base pensions won't work, and even if it does, will be counter-productive. It's evidence of the inability of governments to think beyond the corporate view of economics and consider the economy as a whole.
Monday 28th June

Blame the Germans

Peter Johnson, 28 June 2010
Forget Capello, the ball, and the referee. The real culprit has got away with it again.
Monday 21st June

Double entry, double trouble

Peter Johnson, 21 June 2010
We hear that our national accounts should follow the rules of double-entry bookkeeping. But we can't manage the economy as if it were just a very large company
Monday 19th April

UK Election: be honest about being honest

Peter Johnson, 19 April 2010
In the current UK election campaign ‘honesty’ has become a byword. All the main parties proclaim their intention to ‘tell it straight’. Does their enthusiasm hide a deeper wish to deceive?

All that glisters

Peter Johnson, 19 April 2010
If banks really want to buy and sell insurance, they ought to be regulated like insurers. The US SEC's charges against Goldman Sachs bring this a little closer.
Monday 12th April

Reform we can believe in

Peter Johnson, 12 April 2010
I've re-published here the critical pieces of an uncompromising statement by John Mauldin, the prominent US commentator, on the financial sector reforms politicians must address if we are not to stumble into yet another crisis - one we will not be able to borrow ourselves out of.
Saturday 10th April

Insurance and gambling

Peter Johnson, 10 April 2010
When I buy a credit default swap, am I gambling or insuring?
Tuesday 23rd February

More bank for your buck

Peter Johnson, 23 February 2010
The UK Shadow Chancellor's proposal to offer the public a discount to buy shares in banks taken into state ownership over the last two years
Wednesday 3rd February

How banks make money

Peter Johnson, 3 February 2010
Banks make money. Literally, money is their output. But social guarantees are their input. Should they be the ones making money?
Thursday 3rd December

Not-so-private equity

Peter Johnson, 3 December 2009
Private equity firms are warning that economic growth will be jeopardized if governments do not press state-dependent banks to write off debts owed them by the leveraged buyout industry - so that the industry can start borrowing again. How can private equity be in need of government support?
Tuesday 1st December

Bentham and usury – a reply to Tony Curzon Price and Thomas Ash

Peter Johnson, 1 December 2009
In October Tony Curzon Price and Thomas Ash replied to Peter Johnson's piece presenting Karl-Heinz Brodbeck’s critique of the utilitarian defence of the charging of interest. Here, Peter Johnson argues that they approached the question from quite different angles and offers to set down a few thoughts in response to each
Wednesday 11th November

Is the next crash just around the corner?

Peter Johnson, 11 November 2009
Professor Nouriel Roubini believes we are already pumping up the next financial markets bubble, whose collapse will dwarf that of 2008. If he’s right, we face an unthinkable political and economic disaster. Why does he think this, and can we do anything to forestall it?
Syndicate content