Dear listener

I mentioned a sesquicentennial celebration a couple of weeks ago, and promised to update you. It is nothing to do with money. And if this newsletter gets to you on time (gremlins, stand down!) you can hear more about it on The Strand on BBC World Service at 1530 this afternoon. Or check out the i-player for Front Row a couple of Fridays ago.

Now for the big sell. Nights are getting longer, so what better than to settle down on the sofa with a cup of tea and a good Victorian novel? And if you find them a bit long – though in fact they are no longer than many contemporary novels see Dan Brown for example! – why not read the finest of them week by week as Victorians did exactly 150 years ago?

The project to reissue The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins in its original weekly parts is up and running now and parts 1 and 2 have already been distributed. I am doing it to celebrate the 150th anniversary – sesquicentenary – of its original publication. It is all free, of course, and you can find out more and how to join in at www.womaninwhite.co.uk If you do join then Part 3 will drop into your inbox around 0800 on Monday morning and another part every week until August. Hundreds around the world have already joined and are enjoying the best book ever (did I mention that before)?

I also had a call from the Treasury this week. Would I go on standby to advise the Government what to do about the banks? The fee was £200,000 a month and I would be joining Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, both on the same fee. I didn’t actually have to do anything, just be ready in case I was needed. If I actually gave advice then I would, of course, be paid for that separately. Credit Suisse has already been paid £15.4 million and Deutsche Bank £5.3 million. And if my advice was considered particularly good then there could be a success fee on top. Either £1.5 million, as would be paid to Credit Suisse, or £110,000 a month which was the deal with Deutsche. I could choose. I replied that the pay was ludicrous. Solicitors Slaughter & May had been given £32.9 million. And if the Treasury did not think I was up to that level then thanks but no thanks. Never been so insulted in all my life. So on Saturday I will be back to present…

…THE BEST RADIO PROGRAMME (Voice of the Listener and Viewer), FINANCIAL PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR (ABI Media Awards) and the winner of PERSONAL FINANCE BROADCAST PROGRAMME (Santander Media Awards)…

A week’s a long time in how you pay for an airline ticket. Within hours of our item last week about Ryanair and its only-free-with-a-Visa-Electron-card policy, the airline has grounded that payment method and another is soaring into the clouds – the prepaid MasterCard. And like the string of planes on the flight path down to Heathrow other airlines may soon follow suit. But unlike Visa electron, prepaid cards are not free. So what is the cheapest?

When does 50 days turn into 180? No it’s not the start of the Christmas Quiz (though there will be an announcement about that shortly). The answer is: When you apply too late for a Warm Front grant to improve the energy efficiency of your home. Not only has the scheme in England spent all its money for this year, it has raided the money box labelled 2010 as well. So there is barely half the money left for 2010 and waiting lists will grow and grow.

Last week’s Supreme Court decision aroused strong feelings among listeners. One group were shocked and dismayed that the banks had won. The other group was dismayed and shocked that people who went overdrawn did not expect to pay for it. Some even suggested that going overdrawn without permission was tantamount to stealing money from the bank. Others replied that it was easy to slip into the red and that could start a downward spiral of debt. Two listeners on opposing sides of the case slug it out on Money Box. Access radio or what!

If Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (Conservative) Zac Goldsmith can do it, can all of us? No, not be the son of wealthy financier. It’s too late for that (unless you are of course). But be a non-dom. In other words live and work in the UK, call yourself British, but somehow, like Macavity the Mystery Cat, just not be there when the self-assessment form arrives. And when you are asked say you are ‘domiciled’ – as the Revenue calls it – in another country. So ya-boo to your UK tax demands thank you very much! We get professional and very expensive advice on how to avoid tax like a multi-millionaire.

And we will squeeze in a mention of the latest merger as Chelsea gets a YO postcode. That’s not a quiz question either!

Anyway, that’s the plan. But as ever the breaking news slot is still there waiting to elbow out one of these carefully prepared items. Check out what happens on Radio 4 Saturday at noon, or the repeat Sunday at 9pm, or the website bbc.co.uk/moneybox where you can listen at any time. More than 100,000 listened to Money Box and Money Box Live that way in October. But apologies to those who tried it last week and had the rare pleasure of hearing the previous week’s programme again! Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. The glitch was mended around noon on Tuesday. Sorry again.

And at www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox you can also read stuff, watch videos, follow up items, download transcripts and documents, and send us things you want us to look into. And of course Have Your Say on this week’s topic – not confirmed yet.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS Don’t forget the programme preview on Breakfast BBC 1 soon after 0845 on Saturday.

e-mail Paul Lewis