Pass Go and Collect £200 | The Friday Update

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Friday Update, in which I give a little insight into what I’ve been up to for the past seven days.

What have I been up to this week?

At time of writing, I’m wrapping-up a *massive* week of research. These past few weeks have involved a great deal of searching, reading and note-taking. However, it’s in the last few days that I’ve begun to feel the (perhaps misplaced!) level of confidence in my knowledge of a topic that I like to feel when I begin to the heavy lifting of the writing.

And that topic is going to be…

The history and secret politics of Monopoly!

Last year, I had what I thought was a really great idea for a fun festive special. The idea was to delve into the “secret” history of Monopoly as a broadly anti-capitalist board game and teaching tool. Nevertheless, as happens with 90% of my video ideas, other topics eclipsed that one and I didn’t get round to it.

But the idea’s stuck with me throughout the year and so I decided to dust it off for the Christmas!

In truth, this isn’t the biggest “secret” to politics/economics nerds. But I think it’s a fun tale as well as a good opportunity to talk about land ownership, Georgism and the enclosure of the ecological and intellectual commons.

After some slightly more viscerally-felt topics this year, it’s also hopefully a way to round-off the year with something a little more chill!

And outside of work?

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to reengage in some real-world politics stuff. So, I’ve been going along to some climate action meetings. A few years back, I got a little burned-out with regard to activism and so I’ve been out of the game for a little while. It’s been really great to feel the buzz that, regardless of the actual projects and actions that are being planned, comes with sitting with a bunch of people in a room who all recognise the same problems in the world that you do!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

The past week or so, in prep for my next video, I’ve been reading Mary Pilon’s excellent The Monopolists. It’s a pretty decent retelling of the story of the history of Monopoly as a folk board game and how it got “stolen” by Parker Brothers. It gets a bit lost in the weeds of some legal stuff in the second half and is a bit light on actually explaining the political and economic ideas that inspired the game. Nevertheless, the first half makes for some really great social history.

If you want to get a little ahead on the next video, then I’d definitely recommend.

That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of the Friday Update. I hope you’ve found it mildly insightful.

Thanks as ever for your generous support and I’ll look forward to updating you more next week!!