With four teenagers who over the next couple of years are going to be leaving education and seeking their fortune in what is likely to become a decade of high employment, I am still bloody angry about the bloody bankers and their bloody bonuses.

To compound my frustration, Cathy and I received a cheque last year that was the result of a ten-year savings plan that was tied to the stock market. Unbelievably the result of our ten years of labour was actually less than the total amount we had deposited over the life of the plan.

I have resolved to do what little I can about it and over the last twelve months we have slowly moved our money away from the city and into safer hands.

First up was our Halifax current account. Their determination to stick with bonuses even after the Goodwin pension debacle as made me very glad we switched to the Co-op, who pride themselves in their ethical structure. I wouldn’t say that the change was painless, but eventually all of the wrinkles caused by swapping so many direct debits and standing orders were ironed out and we happily no longer contribute to Sir Fred’s retirement fund.

Next up was to find a home for the cheque from the last (non) savings plan. This we invested into an ISA with Triodos Bank. These guys are well known to most organic farmers and the bank was set up in the early seventies in Holland with the express intention of finding a way to see how money can be managed in a socially conscious way. Their ISA had a reassuringly low rate of return (a sure sign of ethicalness in my book) and when Cathy then ticked the box to donate the puny interest to Amnesty International I know we had struck ethical gold. OK so we will only get out exactly what we put in – but hey that’s still better than the city boys and it doesn’t leave a bitter taste!

Finally we needed a new savings plan and here I have found a real winner – not only morally unimpeachable but with a healthy rate of interest too.

Zopa.com (Zone Of Possible Agreement) is an Internet based credit union. You put your hard earned cash in and they distribute it to other poor souls needing loans. The loans are made up of £10 chunks from various members so that if it all goes pear-shaped each of the members is only exposed to £10 of risk. Because they are not-a-bloody-bank-with-bloody-bonuses there are no hidden charges and both the lender and the lendee get a favourable rate of interest. Any charges are totally transparent and they use the same credit checks and balances as any high street bank would.

Over the last three months we have lent £10 to fifteen different people so that they can buy a second-hand Volvo, or redecorate their house, or consolidate their credit card debts and everyone is a winner. You can even read their little notes of thanks on your monthly statement. A truly inspired use of the Internet and one that I urge you to look into if you have any cash under the mattress – the peoples revolution starts here!

For the last ten years now we have been paid as commoners to reduce the amount of grazing with cows and sheep on the open moors. This has been under the governments flagship conservation scheme Countryside Stewardship, and is aimed squarely at improving the common land for wildlife and allowing the heather to regenerate wherever possible.

It has been a bit of a bumpy ride with the farmers bemoaning the loss of agricultural ground and Natural England dissatisfied with the rate of recovery of the dwarf shrub cover. However one element of the moors has been completely happy with the scheme and flourished over the decade – European Gorse.

The lack of livestock and a milder climate has enabled this tenacious plant to build on its foothold and spread and grow at an alarming rate.  Within the uplands it is now recognised as an invasive species and there is funding under the scheme available to deal with it if you can.

It is a known fire-climax plant, which means is readily catches fire but re-grows from the roots afterwards, and the seeds are also adapted to germinate after slight scorching. So you can burn, but unless you introduce livestock again afterwards (to nibble off the fresh shoots) it only reinvigorates the plant and will re-grow very quickly, using the ash of the fire as plant food.

Mechanical flailing will hammer it if you are brave enough to risk your machine, but this tends to scatter and spread the seeds ever wider, and so with each passing year you end up with a wider and thicker mat of fresh gorse to deal with.

Natural England’s preferred method is the good old slash and burn. You pick an area and clear with bow or chain saws and then remove and burn in large stacks. While this undoubtedly works it is to my mind a criminal waste of a valuable resource.

In my humble opinion, the best way to tackle the gorse is to cherry pick and only cut and remove the older (say fifteen to twenty year plus) bushes. Once they have reached this age they do not seem to have the energy to regenerate and the roots will rot into the ground. This coppicing will not only give the livestock greater access to all areas in the summer, but their thick tree like trunks also provide you with a usable fuel for your biomass burner (kitchen stove to you and me).

There is nothing startlingly new or original in this idea. Two hundred years ago, farmers would actually plant a field of gorse (or furze) for winter fuel and many farms still have fields call Furze Park. Once again I find we are relearning what was once commonsense sustainable agriculture.

Now, so long as I don’t lose any fingers using my lethal new tractor mounted saw bench, we should all be warm and cosy this winter.