From the Age of Exploitation to the Age of Empowerment

By Steve Conley, Founder – Academy of Life Planning For two thousand years, humanity has lived under the long shadow of the Age of Pisces — the age of empire, conquest, and control. It began with the Romans and spread across continents through systems of colonisation that divided spirit from matter, body from soul, and … Continue reading From the Age of Exploitation to the Age of Empowerment

The Exploiters’ Playbook

How UK borrowers’ payments are routed through a web of orphan companies in London and offshore SPVs — tax-written to minimise leakage and shield investors from insolvency, while borrowers are kept in the dark Banks tell customers: “We’re still your lender.” Behind the scenes the credit has already been sliced, shipped and securitised. The industry … Continue reading The Exploiters’ Playbook

Lloyds Says Hoarding Capital Slows Growth — But Whose Growth Are We Talking About?

Charlie Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group When the chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group — the UK’s largest retail bank and one of the biggest recipients of post-crisis bailouts — calls on government to “go further” in deregulation, it’s worth pausing to ask: for whom? Charlie Nunn’s latest comments frame prudence as a … Continue reading Lloyds Says Hoarding Capital Slows Growth — But Whose Growth Are We Talking About?

💣 When the Bank Runs Dry: What Lloyds’ 2011 Meltdown Reveals About the Hidden Mortgage Machine

In 2011, Lloyds Banking Group — the trusted black horse of the British high street — was secretly broke. Its CEO, António Horta-Osório, discovered too late that the bank had been surviving not on depositor cash, but on borrowed money — “hundreds of billions of pounds from other institutions,” as the Financial Times later reported. … Continue reading 💣 When the Bank Runs Dry: What Lloyds’ 2011 Meltdown Reveals About the Hidden Mortgage Machine

How AI Is Helping Ordinary People Find Their Voice – and Why the Judiciary Is Catching Up

“Hi Steve,Just wanted to say a big thank you again for introducing me to my GPT – Co-pilot 🧑‍✈️.It’s honestly changed everything for us.”— John Galajsza, citizen investigator and survivor advocate When Joshua Rozenberg recently revealed that “every judicial office-holder in England and Wales now has access to Microsoft Copilot,” it marked a historic turning … Continue reading How AI Is Helping Ordinary People Find Their Voice – and Why the Judiciary Is Catching Up

The Next Lloyd’s of London: How Structural Untrustworthiness Still Destroys Lives

“History doesn’t repeat — it compounds.” In 1993, thousands of wealthy professionals opened letters from Lloyd’s of London demanding sums that made no sense.£300,000. £1 million. £3 million.Not what they’d invested — what they owed. Doctors. Farmers. Aristocrats. Widows.All ruined by a system that told them they were special. They were called “Names.” They pledged … Continue reading The Next Lloyd’s of London: How Structural Untrustworthiness Still Destroys Lives

🏛️ From Swindle to Structure: Decoding The Great British Mortgage Swindle

How Citizen Investigators Are Turning Outrage into Evidence-Based Reform By Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning & Get SAFE Fellowship 1. A Folk Tale That Struck a Nerve A decade ago, a film and lecture series titled The Great British Mortgage Swindle swept through online communities of disillusioned homeowners. Its creator, Michael of Bernicia … Continue reading 🏛️ From Swindle to Structure: Decoding The Great British Mortgage Swindle

Judicial Ambiguity & Structural Collusion: Evidence from the Get SAFE Fellowship

Judicial Ambiguity & Structural Collusion: Evidence from the Get SAFE Fellowship By Steve Conley, Academy of Life Planning Introduction: When Justice Becomes a Maze For over a decade, Britain’s financial victims have been told that justice exists — they simply need to follow the process. But as the Get SAFE Fellowship has shown, those processes … Continue reading Judicial Ambiguity & Structural Collusion: Evidence from the Get SAFE Fellowship

Key lessons for Holistic Wealth Planners

Here are the key lessons for Holistic Wealth Planners drawn from Essays on the Economics of Human Capital (Lucia Rizzica, UCL 2013) — translated from academic economics into the context of AoLP’s human-centred planning philosophy: 1. Aspiration Is an Economic Asset The UK “Widening Participation” study showed that raising non-cognitive traits such as aspiration and … Continue reading Key lessons for Holistic Wealth Planners

Lessons for the Chancellor #5: Human Capital — Britain’s Hidden Engine for Growth

(Insights from Dr. Mahesh U. Daru, “Human Capital: The Tool for Economic Growth and Development,” International Journal in Commerce, IT & Social Sciences, 2015)* As Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares her second Budget, she faces the same constraint haunting every modern economy — how to fund growth when debt is high and productivity is low. Yet … Continue reading Lessons for the Chancellor #5: Human Capital — Britain’s Hidden Engine for Growth