The Flying Frisby - money, markets and more

Campbell Smyth, Chairman of Fitzroy Minerals (FTZ.V) , joins me to talk about the state of mining and metals. Lots of interesting insights in to copper, gold, lithium, oil and other essential commodities. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Bitcoin is off on one its runs, it seems. Congratulations to all who bought and held. It is now trading at all-time highs in 30 different currencies around the world, currencies representing more than 60% of the world’s population. How about that for a thought? From China and India to Congo and Sudan, it’s like a Noel Coward song. In US dollars, we are flirting with $60,000, still roughly 15% from...

You might have seen in the news a couple of days back that, to make Britain’s unaffordable housing affordable, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the Treasury are considering a scheme whereby people can buy homes with a deposit of just 1% and get a 99% mortgage. Thus, in theory, you could buy a one million pound home with just a ten-grand deposit.(I expect they will cap it below that level, but you get th...

The self-improvement industry is just enormous. It’s worth $41 billion worldwide says this report , but, by the time you factor in everything from health and diet to training and education to media, I think it’s much, much bigger than that. We are almost all of us looking to improve ourselves in some way. We might spend fortunes and hours getting fit, strong or supple. We might spend ages making o...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com Russia has been buying military drones from Iran and it has been paying for them with gold .  This story seems to have gone largely unnoticed, but for those of us interested in the developing narrative that is de-dollarisation, this story has ramifications.  A quick word about gold and national currencies We all...

In his book Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, Matt Ridley argues that Homo sapiens overtook the stronger Neanderthals and, indeed, the rest of the animal kingdom, to become the dominant species on earth, by doing something no other animal does – by exchanging things. “There was a point in human pre-history,” he says, when “people for the first time began to exchange things with each other...

I’ve had it beaten into me from an early age how important it is to write clearly and simply. My father, himself a writer, drilled it into me. In my teenage years and into my 20s, we used to work together like mad on things I had written, trimming them down, rephrasing, editing, and he would always talk about the importance of clarity, as he taught me the craft of writing. “Make it easy for the re...

I have been in California - Riverside, LA and Palm Springs - for the last month, helping out with a family issue over there. I wanted to share a couple of thoughts I had about the golden state, where, as wealth and poverty collide, there are two very different realities. My first wake up call was in the supermarket - Stater Bros. Just how expensive has the US has become, especially for a European...

(If you prefer, you can watch this article in video form here ) The youngster setting out on life in the west has a major problem. We live in a society that penalises hard work. Punitively and relentlessly. As Daylight Robbery readers will know, over the course of a life, half of everything a typical worker earns will be taken from him by the government. More if you factor in inflation.  People th...

If you prefer to read this piece, you can do that here . Live shows coming up If you have not seen my lecture with funny bits about gold, we have two more dates in London lined up for Feb 14 and 15. Please come. And I am taking my musical comedy show, An Evening of Curious Songs, on a mini tour in the spring with dates in London, Somerset, Hampshire, Surrey and Essex. This is a really fun show. He...

If you prefer, you can read or listen to this piece here . Live shows coming up If you have not seen my lecture with funny bits about gold, we have two more dates in London lined up for Feb 14 and 15. Please come. And I am taking my musical comedy show, An Evening of Curious Songs, on a mini tour in the spring with dates in London, Somerset, Hampshire, Surrey and Essex. This is a really fun show....

It’s that time of year again.  Time to get out the crystal ball and tell you precisely what is going to happen in the next 12 months.  Here are 15 predictions for 2024. Remember the rules of the game: I score 2 points for a direct hit, 1 for a good call, zero for a miss and minus one for a “David Lammy on Mastermind” fail. As I do every year, I shall come back and mark my homework next December. N...

Shortly after my father died, I remember saying to my eldest daughter: where do thoughts go? What happens to them? My father was a writer, so many of the thoughts he had he wrote down and preserved in some way. But what happened to all the ones he didn’t record over the course of his life? Is that it - they are just gone? Studies suggest a typical person has 7,000 thoughts a day. Others put that n...

I am very happily surprised by the success this Substack, the Flying Frisby, is having, and by the way it is growing. I’d like to say it’s all down to you. A lot of it really is: for reading and supporting this letter. Thank you. A lot of it is down to me too for writing it. Aren’t I wonderful? But a lot of it is down to the platform itself. I think Substack is great. I have encountered some of th...

Here are all the links mentioned in the vid: * An Evening of Curious Songs on Tour * Show about gold in London Feb 14/15 * Buy gold - Pure Gold Co * Bitcoin guide . If you prefer to read this article, you can do that here: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

As long-time readers/sufferers will know, at the beginning of the new year I like to make some predictions for the 12 months ahead. The bolder the prediction, the more entertaining the copy, though the less likely it is to actually happen. Herein lies the eternal conflict at the heart of so much market commentary. What is more important: getting lots of eyeballs or being right? Today we mark our o...

You can, if you prefer, watch this article in video form here: I was having a coffee with an Anglo-Italian friend of mine the other day, and he began telling me about his grand-parents. They were “contadini”, which translates literally as “peasants”, though the term peasant does not have such pejorative connotations in Italy as it does here. They called themselves “mezzadri” or “sharecroppers”. A...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com It is now almost 15 years since Satoshi Nakamoto announced his new invention, bitcoin, to the world. Since then it has grown and grown.   Like most things online, bitcoin has divided people. It has its admirers and it has its detractors. They argue with as much vitriol as the political left and right. But the adm...

Good Sunday morning to you, Today’s piece is all about decision-making and the decline of family in the west. Before I crack on, I just wanted to flag a couple of things. Wearing my comedy hat, I’m taking An Evening of Curious Songs on a mini tour in the spring - shows in London (Crazy Coqs), Somerset , Surrey , Essex and Hampshire . Tickets make great Christmas pressies, so please take a look . A...

This post now in video form This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

This post in video form This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Good Sunday morning to you, Last week’s thought piece on the inexorable rise of the Far Right has become my most read Substack ever. Check it out, if you haven’t already. Today we continue on a similar theme. Enjoy! I’m currently working on a new book about gold , and, as gold often leads to war - or is it the other way round? - I’ve found myself reading rather a lot about conquerors and conquest....

Good morning to you, Sunday’s piece on the inexorable rise of the far right and what to do about it has struck quite a few nerves. Check it out here , if you haven’t already. In today’s piece - considerably less political - which was first published in Moneyweek last Friday, we consider the sorry state of junior mining. Enjoy! Dominic Mining is infamously cyclical. But if ever there was an industr...

I was never particularly interested in politics growing up. My father was an active social democrat, and I remember him jumping up and down with excitement when the SDP was formed, as David Owen, Roy Jenkins, and Shirley Williams broke away from the Labour Party. Even as a student, I never got interested beyond having a feeling that something wasn’t right. I felt I should be left-wing - that that...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com Good morning to you from sunny California, where I am visiting my dear mother. If you missed them last week: * Check out my interview with Lyn Alden . * As well as the silver stock with a 47 million ounce surprise. * And, if you are thinking about buying gold in these uncertain times, be sure to speak to The Pure...