Listening to the radio in the bath (non sequitor: the three things that S claimed were my most irritating characteristics : baths that last too long, not driving, smoking....it seems that I can only deal with one of these at a time, as the driving lessons coincided with starting smoking again) I heard a program called Shoptalk on whichLETS schemes were being discussed...interestingly enough, the presenter, comparing LETS with a barter system operating in Argentina pointed out that professionals such as doctors and lawyers accepted them, and asked letsman if they could be exchanged for real services here..."yes", he replied "you can get counselling, psychotherapy, aromatherapy..." 17 years on and still no plumbers then.
New Scientist this week have an article about Sealand, the gun platform/free state/data haven featured in Accidents aren't naughty a few months ago (sorry - too lazy to go and look, and also too lazy to have sorted out a search function). Apparently Havenco, the company running the data haven, are going to be hosting DVD copy-protection-destroying software soon which will precipitate a major legal battle which will almost certainly end with the courts ruling that Sealand isn't a soverign state at all. Still, it was kind of nice while it lasted.
