Heroes of the Sovereign Professional, Work

The Sovereign Individual, 30 years on

The Sovereign Individual, James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg’s 1997 classic, is nearly 30 years old. I bought and read it when it was published and, along with a couple of other books, it shaped my thinking about work and employment. It also inspired this blog, The Sovereign Professional. But does it stand up to scrutiny three decades later?

The book is famous (infamous?) as a libertarian call-to-arms and for correctly anticipating the rise of cryptocurrency, remote working and the (often tax-driven) international mobility of capital. As the cover blurb said,

“Economic responsibility will be shifted to individuals who will become completely responsible for their own destinies, arranging for their own welfare through their own pension schemes, medical insurance investments, etc. The individual will become more of an entrepreneur, a private contractor, in complete control of his or her finances with easy access to enormous computing power – in fact the Sovereign Individual.”

Continue reading “The Sovereign Individual, 30 years on” →
Tools & kit

The Hunter Gatherer 21C on the Cafetière

Like Nicholas, I’m a big fan of the Cafetière for fresh, rich, deep coffee and I use a single-mug-sized one every day.

From clarinet factories to the perfect grind and skimming the surface, here’s everything you need to know about the perfect cup…

It is full-immersion brewing, which means the grounds sit in the water rather than having water hurried past them. The filter is metal rather than paper, so the coffee oils survive the journey and you get a heavier, rounder cup with more body and none of that faint wet-cardboard note.

Read the rest, here.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

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Enfilade

The simple joy in discovering a new word.

Enfilade: a suite of rooms with doorways in line with each other.

I didn’t know. So, here are some enfilades borrowed from Tumblr…

https://www.tumblr.com/buccierostefano
Residenz München, Raumflucht der Reichen Zimmer vom Miniaturenkabinett (R.62) bis zur Grünen Galerie (R.58), Blick nach Osten. From https://www.tumblr.com/livesunique
Screenshot. From https://www.tumblr.com/thesixthduke
https://www.tumblr.com/thevirtualbuilder/824188413385293824

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No bond market vigilantes

Here’s an essential reminder for these strange times (courtesy of the Adam Smith Institute):

No one at all is looking at UK government policy and deciding that oooooh, no, we don’t like that, we’ll punish them into not doing it. … There are no vigilantes, just people trying to decide what your promises will do to the value of money and thus home in on the price at which you can have some of their money.”

Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash

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An overdue de-cluttering

Only slightly mixed feelings last Friday as I said farewell to five of my guitars.

I haven’t played properly in a few years and, for most of those years, I had been telling myself, “You’re a writer. You could weave the most compelling story for each and sell them on eBay or Reverb.” Instead, they hung or lounged around my office collecting dust and muttering at me with their dead and unplayed strings.

Then, three things happened. I tidied and redecorated my office, resulting in the instruments huddling all together in one corner, looking at me ever more balefully. They deserved to be played. They deserved a better home.

Then, my old guitar tutor popped up on email. We hadn’t spoken in years and, in the course of the exchange he said “you only need two guitars: an electric and an acoustic.”

Now, in my dreams, once I had started to play again and reached some level of passable competence, I have (not had) always promised myself a 1964 Fender Stratocaster. Not investment grade, a well-loved “player’s” guitar would do as long as it’s original in the important places. So I regularly receive emails from No.Tom Guitars, a vintage specialist on London’s Denmark Street (and, in fact, the shop that features in the TV detective series Strike).

This time, their monthly mail of delicious objects had a footnote: “We want your old guitars.”

The upshot is that I sold five to the very nice Mr No Tom, and kept two; my 1981 Tokai Springy Sound ST-80 (if you know, you know – it’s a dream of a guitar with all the classic Strat bark and jangle) and my Yamaha APX electro-acoustic. What’s more, because I didn’t want to be embarrassed on collection day, I braved the ouchy fingers and managed to pull together a half-passable Sweet Home Alabama, just in case.

And I have new strings.

I feel lighter in every way (except my bank account).

And, if you feel you missed out, four of the guitars are here:

1980 Tokai Springy Sound ST-60

1982 Tokai Springy Sound ST-50
2004 Fender Classic 60s Stratocaster in Lake Placid Blue

2007 Fender Classic Players 60s Stratocaster

Work

Old School – Nicholas Bate

What is it about “old school”? It sounds like it should be an insult, but it almost never is. Old School is professional, it’s standards, it’s a lot of things we’ve been told before (as children?) but somehow most of us have forgotten.

I’ve just finished Nicholas Bate’s latest Compact Guide, Old School: Future-proof yourself, and it is excellent. An easy, fast, first-read but a guide you’ll come back to time and time again.

Of course (because it chimes so readily with “old school”), there are plenty of Stoic principles within, but there’s lots more, too.

Now, I wish I’d purchased the full series.

Check it (or them) out on Amazon, here.

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Pilate’s Magician – Michael Wade

Fascinating. I’ve just finished Execupundit Michael Wade’s new novel, Pilate’s Magician.

Julian Fabius is a prominent Roman lawyer living in self-imposed exile from the Emperor Tiberius. The novel explores the dilemma he faces when summoned to support the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. How do you make sense of an unlikely local tale? And, how do you tell the powerful prefect an unpalatable truth? A lawyerly mind strips away the impossible to arrive at an unlikely truth.

I suspect the book draws as heavily on Michael’s experience as an adviser on sensitive issues as it does on his extensive research. A fresh and entertaining perspective on a familiar tale.