12 highlights from 2022

December 31, 2022

2022 has been a big year for Positive Money – whether it’s promoting solutions to our housing crisis, running our first local participatory democracy event with a local Council, or exposing the extent of influence big banks have over some of our politicians. We’re working together to reimagine money and banks for the wellbeing of communities and our planet so here are our 12 highlights from 2022

Explaining how banks are making homes unaffordable

In March, we released our groundbreaking housing report to expose the systematic drivers of the housing crisis. Watch our 2-minute video of solutions, or our launch event in parliament here. Our findings have been picked up in loads of media outlets this year, including this recent comment piece from our Co-Director Fran in the Guardian. 

Pushing banks to protect our planet

We kicked off the year by helping hundreds of people around the world call on international finance regulators to set strong rules for banks on climate. We then responded to the UK government’s Green Finance strategy in our thousands, to show the huge public support for a more ambitious plan to align the financial sector with net zero aligned. Last month, we released the 2022 Green Central Banking scorecard – our report that ranks central banks’ climate policies. Check out the international coverage it’s getting further down. 

Standing up to the government’s plans to let bankers loose

The government wants to loosen the rules put in place to stop banks’ reckless behaviour after the 2008 financial crash. So we’re campaigning to stop them. We also exposed how the government is quietly handing bankers tens of billions of public money over the next two years, and called on Jeremy Hunt to stop this – nearly 12,000 people have already signed our petition. We’ve also been asking our local MPs to support a windfall tax on banks.

Empowering a community with participatory policy making

In October, we partnered with Cheshire East Council to run our first local participatory democracy process. Applying the democratic principles of a citizens’ assembly but on a smaller scale, 24 residents came together to form “The People’s Panel on the Cost of Living”. Over two weekends, they deliberated solutions that will boost community wellbeing. Their 15 policy recommendations are now shaping the Council’s cost of living strategy. Look out for a video telling the fuller story of this exciting event that we’ll be sharing in 2023.

Exposing the cosy relationship between banks and our politicians

In June, after months of scrolling through data, we launched The Power of Big Finance, our report that reveals the influence financial firms in the City of London have over some of our politicians. Our research found that MPs and political parties received £17.6 million from the financial sector between 2020-2021. Check out our key findings in this 2-minute video.

Making connections

We interviewed Last Mafuba, CEO of mental health charity Innini, that provides a safe space for asylum seekers and refugees in Coventry. Last discusses how our financial system denies participation to different groups. For Mental Health Awareness Week, we wrote about how our broken economy has exacerbated the mental health crisis in the UK. In the summer, we visited picket lines in Hitchin and Bristol to show solidarity with striking RMT Workers.

Building alliances at festivals and conferences

In June, we had a stall at Glastonbury Festival. We spoke to thousands of festival-goers about our ideas for an affordable homes strategy.. We spoke to loads of people about the government’s dangerous plans for deregulation at The World Transformed Festival in September, and invited people to sign our petition calling on Rishi Sunak not to loosen the rules on banks. In the autumn, we had stellar lineups at our events on the future of money at the Labour and Conservative party conferences, in partnership with the Post Office. 

Making waves on the airwaves 

We were mentioned 140 times by the press and did 32 broadcast interviews throughout the year. Here’s just some highlights from the last few months:

• We discussed the cost of living crisis with John Stratford and Darren Adam on LBC, and the housing affordability crisis on Times Radio, LBC, GB News.

• Our reactions to the ‘mini-budget’ were on the Evening Standard’s ‘Leader podcast’, BBC Scotland, BBC Radio London, BBC News and BBC Radio Manchester.

• Our 2022 edition of the Green Central Banking Scorecard got international coverage in French, Swiss and Turkish publications, and in specialist outlets in the UK.

Positive Money US and Europe

Positive Money US got off the ground in earnest in 2022 with their first member of staff and report launch event. Their first report calls for solutions to inflation that put workers and communities first (rather than blunt interest rate hikes by the Fed). Check out this short educational video about the key findings. Positive Money Europe is still going strong – you can check out what their team’s been up to this year by skimming their colourful blog.

Starting big on TikTok

We launched our TikTok presence last month🎉 Our first video that debunked the government’s self-imposed ‘fiscal black hole’ got over 20,000 views! Watch this space for more explainer videos in 2023…

Positive Money moves to a Co-director leadership model

Positive Money strives to improve democracy, distribute power and build resilience, so moving to a co-director model this year has helped align our ways of working more closely with our values. Check out this blog all about how and why we made this step.

Local groups still going strong

Our local group network is still going strong, with some groups around the country continuing to meet online whilst others have been hosting in-person talks and events again. Positive Money Solent were busy over the summer, with a stall at TriFest Festival, a Financial Film festival and helping set up a tenant’s union! Find your nearest local group here.