Terry Prone: Nothing beats money as catalyst, controller, and social stimulant

Commodities tell us about poverty and privilege, their use marking the uncrossable line between peasant and aristocrat

Economist David Mc Williams would claim that coins and money have been doing that longer and more comprehensively than any other commodity since prehistoric times. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Dates, battles and betrayals. Those three just about summed up history when I was at school. 

The dates were a problem for me. Still are. I have to check by taking off my wedding ring to make sure I got married when I think I got married, and I have to ring my sister to find out when my son was born, even though — perforce — I was there at the time.