Peter Etherden

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Biographical Information

"Peter Etherden was brought up in Eltham in South East London and is a UK citizen currently resident in Rye, England. He was married to Ingrid Lundell from 1969 to 1984 and has two children, Linda (30) and Nicholas (28). From 1993 to 2002 his partner was the Finnish artist Connie Lindqvist. He is bilingual in English & Swedish. Peter Etherden attended Christ's Hospital 'Bluecoat' school in Sussex, England from 1957-64, read engineering at Churchill College, Cambridge University from 1965-68, business economics at Stockholm University in 1970-71 and development economics at Uppsala University in 1974.

"In the 1970s Peter Etherden worked on World Bank feasibility studies in Africa and the Middle East and taught business and finance at the University of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya before returning to the UK to work under Geoffrey Mulcahy integrating the British subsidiaries of an American transnational corporation with its European operations from 1975-1979.

"In the 1980s Peter Etherden lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Business assignments included a proposal to the US Energy Department on soft energy systems and a study of innovation and future shareholder value in high-tech/high-growth corporations for Smith Barney of Chicago. Following graduate studies at MIT Sloan School in industrial & economic dynamics, Energy - a Long Wave Perspective, was published and papers on Energy Flows, Energy Needs, Energy Policy and Energy Strategy presented to the 1981 Convention of Eastern Economists in Philadelphia. A sequel, Energy Wars, was published in Fourth World Review in 2002.

"In the 1980s Peter Etherden taught organisation and human scale economics in Boston; created a course for teachers on the ecology of learning; and founded the Human Scale Institute with Dr. Edgar Klugman of Wheelock College and Anna Edey of Solviva Gardens on Martha's Vineyard. In 1988 Peter Etherden moved to Canterbury, England and in 1989 authored a book on the future of European politics entitled The Rise & Fall of The Swedish Green Party (1982-1997). Other publications in the 1980s were Education for a Virtuous Society; Birmingham as Number One; Green Houses or Blue Moon Waves and The Canterbury Papers.

"In the 1990s Peter Etherden worked as publisher & editor of The Cinque Ports Letter, a weekly broadsheet designed for web distribution; created The Private Papers of Crocodile Uppsala and The Return of The Ancient Mariner; and wrote The Troubadour Papers and The Wealth of Villagers.

"At the 1997 Westminster elections Peter Etherden stood as the Referendum Party Candidate for Oldham West & Royton and had the dubious distinction of watching New Labour's Environment Minister Michael Meacher amass more votes than all the other candidates put together. The six issues of his 1997 campaign newspaper Fortnightly Update and other writings against European Federalism are available on the web.

"In 1998 Peter Etherden moved his main base from England to the Baltic where he took over his daughter's apartment in Stockholm while she was away in India travelling. During this time he added a further 25 credits to his 78 university credits from the early 1970s putting himself within striking distance of the 120 credits needed for a Swedish Fil Kand. The subjects of his studies were economic history and sustainable development in the Baltic region. Peter also began his researches into large organisations, privatisation and information technology firms while continuing his work on globalisation and monetary policy development for the European alternative movement. In 1998 he joined Miljöpartiet de Gröna, the Swedish Green Party and in 1999 was an unsuccessful candidate for the party's list for the 1999 Strasbourg Assembly elections.

"Following the death of his mother in 1999 and his partner Connie Lindqvist in 2002, Peter Etherden moved back to the UK and based himself in Rye running Academic Inn Books, a confederation of publishing partnerships owned by its authors & illustrators; working with John Papworth, Kirkpatrick Sale, Anton Pinschof and Tom Greco on organising the Radical Consultation in September 2001 where he took direct responsibility for web and manuscript services; and integrating The Good Yacht Guide business (acquired in 2002) with his other maritime and publishing interests. During this time he also took on the jobs of Magazine Editor, Webmaster and Honorary Treasurer for the Rye Harbour Boat Owners Association and Finance Director for REB Limited, a Rye-based boat-building company, while continuing to work with Cultura Communications, a Stockholm-based media firm working with Swedish film makers.

"Peter Etherden is currently Managing Partner of the Cliff Edge Signalling Company (cesc) and Managing Director of William Franklin & Sons Limited, a new form of family owned firm registered in England as a private limited company. In November 2001, cesc published England's Landed Property followed in June 2003 by The Politics of The English Pound which includes some additional biographical information.

"Since 1988 Peter has written articles, essays, reviews and letters as a contributing editor to the London-based political journal Fourth World Review under his own name and the pseudonym William Shepherd. His current political work involves development of the global human scale movement and working with colleagues in Brittany and Arizona on the theory and practice of parallel currencies."

From 1987 to 2006 he was a regular contributor to Fourth World Review and the author of The Rise & Fall of The Swedish Green Party (1982-1997) published in 1989 under the pen name of William Shepherd.