Dear listener,

Chew, bite, slurp, hic! Pardon. Except that gremlins do not ever say pardon. Even when they have indigestion, in this case from gorging themselves on last week's newsletter. Yes, they ate the lot. I wrote it as normal. And then thousands and thousands of copies were sent, as usual, to all of you. But not one appears to have arrived. No-one knows why. That's the thing about gremlins. They never explain. And they never apologise. And they never ever say pardon.

If you want to read last week's newsletter – and the extraordinary revelations about my expenses – you will have to find it in my archive on my website. And you can find that by putting my name into any search engine and try not to get distracted by the concert pianist, the American rock singer, and the Guardian journalist of the same name.

*** IN THE BEST RADIO PROGRAMME THIS SATURDAY ***

So on with the show. As we say in the glamorous world of radio. Cue music. Specifically Chopin's Piano Sonata Op 35 no.2. Better known as the Funeral March. You'll know it when you hear it. This week two more panels were nailed in place to form the sides of the coffin which will one day hold the body of Mr F. S. P. Schemes. First names - Final Salary Pension.

Three more company schemes have died or shown symptoms of a fatal disease this week. First Barclays. The process began 12 years ago when it stopped any new employees joining its final salary pension scheme. This week it went to stage two and announced it would close the scheme completely for the 18,000 employees left in the scheme from before that 1997 change. Their pension will now be a lot less than they were expecting, related to their salary at the date – due soon – when the scheme closes rather than their salary at the date they retire. Staff at rival bank Lloyds have now demanded an assurance it will not follow suit. Meanwhile BP has gone to stage one and closed its scheme to new employees. It says it has "no plans" to move to stage two and close it to existing employees. Also this week the supermarket Morrisons said it would downgrade its final salary scheme to one based on average pay. So are we witnessing the final death throes of Mr Final Salary Pension Schemes? Outside the public sector anyway? Cue Chopin. Just in case.

Insurance companies are accused of bullying blameless victims of traffic accidents to settle for too little.

The FSA stepped in this week in with urgent regulation of the sale-and-rent-back market. But is it enough to protect desperate people trying to stay in their homes when they can't pay their mortgage? And why is there no compensation?

Finally – probably – are thousands of widowed husbands and wives being denied bereavement benefits worth at least £2,000 because the coroner does not tell them they can claim?

And then we have a new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, possibly a new Pensions Minister and various other items jostling to get air time.

Find out what's in and what's not by listening to Money Box, Saturday at noon (repeated Sunday at 9pm). Never miss a show again by subscribing to our podcast. Do that through our website bbc.co.uk/moneybox where you can also listen again, Have Your Say, watch videos, read why we are the Best Radio Programme and find out more about all the items covered this week. In April our web pages and stories hit a new high with viewings now well over half a million in the month.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS Don't forget the programme taster on BBC Breakfast between quarter to nine and nine o'clock. If you miss it, you can watch it on our website.

e-mail Paul Lewis