Thread

Sorry, I don't use Primal much apart from posting podcasts but I thought I would share some of the work we are doing here trying to fix Bedford. Beyond starting a football club and owning local businesses, I have become active in trying to fix the endless issues in the town. We have economic issues, in that businesses are under pressure from the economic climate as well as growing government red tape. This is being compounded by a massive rise in anti-social behaviour. We have a plague of addiction issues, with large numbers of crackheads, alcoholics and shoplifters in the town. We have a rise in crime, including assaults on women. This is not a good situation. Two months ago I threatened the police, that if they did not fix the issue then I will. During August I am funding a private security initiative in the town, where 10 security guards will be deployed across the town as scarecrows, providing a security blanket for residents and businesses. We have met with the local police and our activity will be coordinated with them. We are also trying to work with the local council too. I am considering establishing a shadow council in the town, outside of party politics, driving civic action. Alongside the private security, we are building teams for cleaning, events and marketing to drive economic activity in the town. I just thought I would share this. Bitcoin world has become a little stale to me, it is time to get out there and do things. The UK is pretty fucked at the moment so it is fight or flight time.

Replies (84)

This is badass Peter. I am curious how the private security will work there as in the US we often consider private security "rent-a-cops" to be powerless. I'll be very curious to hear how this experiment progresses if you're willing to continue posting about it. I am impressed by your dedication to your home town. I left mine due to state policies and taxes well beyond my influence.
Amazing what you are trying to accomplish. Kudos to you. However living in Argentina I have seen time and time again isolated initiatives with the best intentions rise and fade away when the subsidies stop. Bitcoin is not stale, it’s solving the core issue and that takes time… Fix the Money, Fix the World
who had Peter turning into Batman on their bingo card?
User's avatar npub14mcd...frlx
Sorry, I don't use Primal much apart from posting podcasts but I thought I would share some of the work we are doing here trying to fix Bedford. Beyond starting a football club and owning local businesses, I have become active in trying to fix the endless issues in the town. We have economic issues, in that businesses are under pressure from the economic climate as well as growing government red tape. This is being compounded by a massive rise in anti-social behaviour. We have a plague of addiction issues, with large numbers of crackheads, alcoholics and shoplifters in the town. We have a rise in crime, including assaults on women. This is not a good situation. Two months ago I threatened the police, that if they did not fix the issue then I will. During August I am funding a private security initiative in the town, where 10 security guards will be deployed across the town as scarecrows, providing a security blanket for residents and businesses. We have met with the local police and our activity will be coordinated with them. We are also trying to work with the local council too. I am considering establishing a shadow council in the town, outside of party politics, driving civic action. Alongside the private security, we are building teams for cleaning, events and marketing to drive economic activity in the town. I just thought I would share this. Bitcoin world has become a little stale to me, it is time to get out there and do things. The UK is pretty fucked at the moment so it is fight or flight time.
View quoted note →
Fight or flight time indeed. Most of your compatriots are choosing the latter it seems. Just having people as look outs and observers will go a long way. People behave differently when they know they're being watched. We should be more like eastern Europe with nosy old people who actually give AF about their community image
I’m not saying security isn’t necessary, especially when there are real threats like physical assaults, but I also believe violence and force are the lowest forms of communication. Too often we ask, β€œHow do we stop the crackheads, shoplifters, alcoholics?” when the better question is, β€œWhat systems allowed or even encouraged this behavior?” Other people aren’t the enemy. The real fight is against the systems of injustice that shape their lives and ours.
↩ replying to MoonKaptain
Idk if you've heard his podcast - sounds like you haven't - but Peter has conversations about the system all the time. He asks those kinds of questions and I've never heard him describe drug addicts as "the enemy." He is not responsible for national policy or global trends and the systems at play are far outside of his control. At the local level the actions he describes might actually help.
↩ replying to npub1kwk9...hx95
Pete’s a good dude. I’ve been listening to him since the early WBD days. The new pod’s decent. I don’t question his intentions, and I think it’s fair to say he’s not calling anyone β€œthe enemy.” He’s clearly doing a lot of good for his town. My only critique is the private security part. The only kind of security I can really get behind is when the community has buy in and skin in the game. When it’s just one person funding it, it starts to feel like a benevolent dictator situation.
When municipalities are captive not only to the fiat induced incentive system but also the growth Ponzi scheme development pattern, you eventually get to a point where it becomes hard to obscure the challenges faced in a community as it has less flexibility to respond locally.
Strong Towns Archive
The Growth Ponzi Scheme, Part 1
The underpinnings of the current financial crisis lie in a living arrangementβ€”the American pattern of developmentβ€”that does not financially sup...
 Just as finding Bitcoin opens your eyes, so does finding Strong Towns and understanding the development mess we have made for ourselves through the over-promising made by prior generations.
Fight or flight time...
User's avatar npub14mcd...frlx
Sorry, I don't use Primal much apart from posting podcasts but I thought I would share some of the work we are doing here trying to fix Bedford. Beyond starting a football club and owning local businesses, I have become active in trying to fix the endless issues in the town. We have economic issues, in that businesses are under pressure from the economic climate as well as growing government red tape. This is being compounded by a massive rise in anti-social behaviour. We have a plague of addiction issues, with large numbers of crackheads, alcoholics and shoplifters in the town. We have a rise in crime, including assaults on women. This is not a good situation. Two months ago I threatened the police, that if they did not fix the issue then I will. During August I am funding a private security initiative in the town, where 10 security guards will be deployed across the town as scarecrows, providing a security blanket for residents and businesses. We have met with the local police and our activity will be coordinated with them. We are also trying to work with the local council too. I am considering establishing a shadow council in the town, outside of party politics, driving civic action. Alongside the private security, we are building teams for cleaning, events and marketing to drive economic activity in the town. I just thought I would share this. Bitcoin world has become a little stale to me, it is time to get out there and do things. The UK is pretty fucked at the moment so it is fight or flight time.
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↩ replying to STERRY
If @npub14mcd...frlx wanted to β€˜fix the money, fix the world’ (more specifically, fix Bedford) and use his online presence to assist, using Nostr only would be dumbest decision he could make. Nostr has approximately ~20,000 daily active users. Most of these users are in the USA. How many people from Bedford actively use Nostr each day? 1 person? 3 people? 20 max? If you are someone like @ODELL being Nostr only works. His core audience IS every person on Nostr - Bitcoin phreaks and plebz internationally. Pete is trying to fix a town in the UK where no one uses Nostr. For everyone else trying to communicate a message to the masses being Nostr only is fucking retarded. You are quite literally preaching to the choir in one of the most potent echo chambers on earth.
↩ replying to The Bulgarian Pork Whistle
I see Peter as one of the most pragmatic voices to come through Bitcoin. He knows Nostr is not mega-scale mainstream. You clearly do as well but here we are. I'm not even sure we can talk about Nostr-only on X. Ultimately, audience size doesn't mean anything if the people you're trying to reach aren't there. He's come to the right place to address raise this "People fixes this" point.
↩ replying to STERRY
Audience size means everything. Peter is taking a hands on approach to remedying the issues of his hometown Bedford. The best way for him to drum up support for his grand solution is to use Facebook, IG, LinkedIN and X. Using Nostr only is like taking a butter knife to a machine gun fight in Peter’s case. @npub14mcd...frlx note about β€˜taking up the fight against the establishment’ got everyone riled up because it tugs on the heart strings of the boys and men within the Bitcoin / NOSTR echo chamber. Pete speaks about: - Seizing control - Taking law and order into your own hands - Running a shadow government - Financing it all through stacking stats - Taking personal responsibility - Leveraging the Bitcoin males saviour complex - Sticking it to the proverbial man! His note blew up because @npub14mcd...frlx successfully tapped into the collective Nostr / Bitcoiner wet dream themes that permeate through this ultra niche microcosm. If you want to lead a revolution you need to preach to the whole parish not just the choir.
Hey Peter β€” thank you for sharing this. I don’t post much either, but reading this really struck a chord. It’s clear you care deeply about your community, and you’re taking real action. That deserves respect. What you’re describing β€” the chaos, addiction, and institutional breakdown β€” it’s the entropy rising. And I totally get that β€œfight or flight” feeling. I’ve been studying Tom Campbell’s My Big TOE, which looks at all of this through the lens of consciousness evolution. It suggests that our way out isn’t just to fight decay with more force, but to lower entropy through connection, compassion, and constructive service. What you’re building β€” beyond the security guards β€” sounds like a platform for civic re-imagination. I think that’s where the real power is: not just suppressing symptoms, but cultivating conditions for regeneration β€” economic, social, even spiritual. You’ve taken responsibility in a way most wouldn’t. That’s leadership. And with the right energy β€” not fear or control, but grounded care β€” it can ripple far beyond Bedford. Keep going, mate. You’re doing more than fixing a town β€” you’re rewriting the script.
This is one way to take back control. πŸ‘πŸ‘
User's avatar npub14mcd...frlx
Sorry, I don't use Primal much apart from posting podcasts but I thought I would share some of the work we are doing here trying to fix Bedford. Beyond starting a football club and owning local businesses, I have become active in trying to fix the endless issues in the town. We have economic issues, in that businesses are under pressure from the economic climate as well as growing government red tape. This is being compounded by a massive rise in anti-social behaviour. We have a plague of addiction issues, with large numbers of crackheads, alcoholics and shoplifters in the town. We have a rise in crime, including assaults on women. This is not a good situation. Two months ago I threatened the police, that if they did not fix the issue then I will. During August I am funding a private security initiative in the town, where 10 security guards will be deployed across the town as scarecrows, providing a security blanket for residents and businesses. We have met with the local police and our activity will be coordinated with them. We are also trying to work with the local council too. I am considering establishing a shadow council in the town, outside of party politics, driving civic action. Alongside the private security, we are building teams for cleaning, events and marketing to drive economic activity in the town. I just thought I would share this. Bitcoin world has become a little stale to me, it is time to get out there and do things. The UK is pretty fucked at the moment so it is fight or flight time.
View quoted note →
Wish you the best in your endeavours. I expect, if your council is much like other Local Government Authorities worldwide, they will just debate the matter to death ardor put in place processes and procedures that make things harder for the good people of Bedford. Sounds much like a β€œBank of Dave” challenge. Glad I emigrated many years ago.
146 comments, loads of zaps... Thinks of nostr as Primal. No replies, no engagement with anyone here. Sad AF. :BIGSAD:
User's avatar npub14mcd...frlx
Sorry, I don't use Primal much apart from posting podcasts but I thought I would share some of the work we are doing here trying to fix Bedford. Beyond starting a football club and owning local businesses, I have become active in trying to fix the endless issues in the town. We have economic issues, in that businesses are under pressure from the economic climate as well as growing government red tape. This is being compounded by a massive rise in anti-social behaviour. We have a plague of addiction issues, with large numbers of crackheads, alcoholics and shoplifters in the town. We have a rise in crime, including assaults on women. This is not a good situation. Two months ago I threatened the police, that if they did not fix the issue then I will. During August I am funding a private security initiative in the town, where 10 security guards will be deployed across the town as scarecrows, providing a security blanket for residents and businesses. We have met with the local police and our activity will be coordinated with them. We are also trying to work with the local council too. I am considering establishing a shadow council in the town, outside of party politics, driving civic action. Alongside the private security, we are building teams for cleaning, events and marketing to drive economic activity in the town. I just thought I would share this. Bitcoin world has become a little stale to me, it is time to get out there and do things. The UK is pretty fucked at the moment so it is fight or flight time.
View quoted note →
In the latest episode of The Peter McCormack Show: #104, timestamp 59:53, β€œI used to get good engagement on Bitcoin content. Post solid posts about Bitcoin, thousand likes and good conversations.” β€œβ€¦fuck all now on Bitcoin.” β€”- yes, totally understandable why that would make bitcoin seem stale.