Sorry, I never expanded on the money thing before (and the thread will be full before long!)
Just the fact that only about 3% of money is actually money as we know it and the rest just exists 'in theory'. it used to be backed by gold reserves, but that has long since fallen by the wayside. Originally, the banks would have sufficient gold ingots in their vaults with which to repay their depositors on demand (hence the promissory declaration written on bank notes), but they came to realise that only a small percentage of people were ever likely to request their deposits back at any one time, so they could 'back' several ingots' worth of gold with just one ingot. Why would a run on the banks cause such a catastrophe, if they held enough reserves to repay all investors at all times, as most people assume is standard?
Now, we've come to a point where money is just an abstract concept based on confidence. For the banks and governments, that is - we ordinary folk get no part in that for our own benefit. If you go to a bank and borrow £100,000, you are not borrowing from the funds held on behalf of their investors, but (and this is the bit that is so hard to comprehend), that £100,000 first comes into existence, having been created as a direct result of your application to borrow it. The bank is then allowed to register the rights to a debt in its favour, and you then have to repay it to them with real cash and real tangible work. If you default, they can take your house from you in exchange for having lent you something that they invented on the spot.
Following the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 (shortly after the tragic deaths on the Titanic of a few powerful people lobbying against it), the Fed was established as a private company, which then lends money to the government at a rate of interest, for the government to put into circulation. The government doesn't have the power to invent money in its own right - it must borrow it from the banks. People scratch their heads at why PFIs even exist, but if you understand the crazy way in which it works, the government is actually just co-investing and sharing the risk - and saving themselves some interest.
I think they may have changed it now (at least in name, whether in actuality or not), but the Bank of England used to be a private company.
If I understand it correctly, 'The Crown' is also a private enterprise and technically separate from the government and the royal family.
Also, the City of London (like Washington DC) is technically a separate country and not actually officially a part of the UK. The Queen and Parliament doesn't officially have any jurisdiction over it.
If anybody is interested in looking into it at all, search online for 'money as debt' for a very enlightening start.