Speaker 1 Kevin is very quick to think negative things about people. Even when he talks about his best friend, he always tells you about his faults. And if somebody hasn’t got any faults, he invents them

3

Interviewer

Welcome to Money Concerns, the programme

that deals with money issues. Today we’re 

looking at moneyless issues, namely the 

online organisation ‘Streetbank’. Our resident 

economist today is Patrick Barlow. Patrick, 

can you explain to us what Streetbank is?

Patrick

Streetbank was set up by two friends in 

London as an online community project. It is a

website that allows people to offer skills or 

items to others in their neighbourhood. 

Interviewer

In their neighbourhood? Do they really need 

to go online to talk to their neighbours?

Patrick

Well, actually, yes, they do – especially in 

places like London where a lot of people live 

in the same space, but without actually 

knowing anybody else. As Sam Stephens, 

one of the co-founders, says, the idea is to 

‘bring neighbourhoods closer together and 

make the world a little bit nicer’.

Interviewer

That’s certainly a splendid ambition. How 

does it work in reality?

Patrick

It’s similar to Freecycle, the website where 

people post things online that they want to 

give away. But here, people also offer things 

they can do for other people, like gardening, 

dog walking, computer lessons, all sorts of 

things. And more importantly, people can go 

online to ask a favour – to borrow a vacuum 

cleaner or a lawnmower, ask for help with 

moving, anything really.