COURSE: Stepping out of the Moneybox: Liberator or Liquidator? What is money?
31st May - 2nd June 2024
Stepping out of the Moneybox: Liberator or Liquidator? What is money?
Led by Katie Barron
Book now for Friday 31st May-Sunday 2nd June on 01244 532 350
Stepping out of the Moneybox will draw on history, anthropology and philosophy to question our assumptions about money, debt and fair shares. Through talks, extracts and discussion, we will explore how money has sometimes been a force for liberation and sometimes wrought upheaval and dislocation; while at other times it is much more passive, a ‘neutral veil’ over human desires for love, belonging, status, power. Personal and literary stories will enliven discussion and bring insight into money-driven personalities such as the spendthrift and the miser. By the end of the course, we hope to have clarified our ideas on what might need to change, and what does not. Participants will have guided access to the library’s extensive Faith in Capitalism collection at Gladstone’s Library.
Katie Barron worked as a financial journalist with Investors Chronicle and the Financial Times in the ‘bull market’ years of the 1990s, before moving into education. Katie has facilitated learning and reflection in groups with diverse experiences. Having started adult life as a Classicist, her abiding interest is in trying to understand the structures underpinning our lives, where possible cultivating an ‘outsider’ view. Her quest has led her to farming, finance, the Quakers, the Lib Dems and now the Faith in Capitalism collection at Gladstone’s Library. She would be very grateful for company on her journey.
Katie will be joined on the course by one of our Readers, André Winter, who helped assemble the ‘Faith in Capitalism’ Collection and authored the catalogue. Prior to retiring, André spent his career in corporate finance working as a venture capitalist and a fund manager responsible for investments in public companies. He was a trustee of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and is an active member of a Credit Union and supporter of Shared Interest, Since retiring, André has been researching Tolstoy and his works, including Tolstoy’s approach to money
Residential rates (includes breakfast, two course lunch with tea or filter coffee on Saturday and Sunday and a two course dinner with tea or filter coffee on Friday and Saturday)
One delegate in a single ensuite: £400 (or £304 with a student, clergy or Society of Authors discount)
Two delegates in a twin or double: £620 (or £500 with discount)
One delegate in a double or twin occupancy: £460 (or £360 with discount)
One delegate and one non-delegate guest in a twin or double: £550 (or £450 with discount)
Non-residential rate: £220 (including breaks, lunches and dinners)
Programme:
Friday 31st May
5pm Welcome and introductions
6pm Dinner
7.30pm Session 1: Illumination from literature and film. Social outliers such as the spendthrift, miser, speculator, or thief shed light on the differences between social and financial capital.
Saturday 1st June
8am - 9.30 Breakfast
9.45am Session 2: Money. What is money? Is it neutral or is it political? Economists disagree on the answer to this question, and their differing standpoints lead to very different policy recommendations. We will look at historical and cross-cultural perspectives from the library’s collection, to gain insight and make up our own minds.
11am Coffee break
11.30am Session 3: Debt. Forgive us our debts – forgiveness and debt forgiveness from pre-history to the present. What are the alternatives to debt?
1pm Lunch followed by time off.
5pm Public Lecture with André Winter: Faith in Capitalism at Gladstone’s Library. At first sight, Faith and Capitalism might seem poles apart and most unlikely companion topics for a book collection here at Gladstone’s Library. André who is one of our Readers will explain the history and evolution of the collection and share some of the bridges it offers between the world of money and various faith traditions. Separate tickets are available to people not already on the course. Click here for details.
6pm Drinks in the Gladstone Room for all
6.45 Dinner
Sunday 2nd June
8 - 9.30 am breakfast. Please check out before the next session.
9.45am Session 4: Banks. What do banks do really? Do they create money? Do they help us or oppress us? Whose crisis was it in 2008? Are there alternatives?
11 Coffee break
11.30am Session 5 Better Finance and reflecting on the course: What might we want to change in our lives or in our communities? Katie and André have some ideas but are willing to be contradicted!
1pm Lunch and departure
(cover image released under CC license. By Negative Space)