Dear Listener
After six glorious
weeks of freedom (from the BBC) I celebrated my return by going inside. Into Her
Majesty’s prison Ranby to be precise. There I spent a fascinating afternoon
talking to the prisoners about money and bank accounts and how they would cope
with both on their release. More on that later – it is featuring in this week’s
programme.
But what about the
summer? I have been trying really really hard to have a rest from finance and
money (though when you holiday in
Pension schemes –
they seem to be in worse trouble than ever as deficits soar, contributions are
raised, and schemes close. Spending cuts – we warned on Money Box around the
time of the election that cuts of 25% would be needed whoever won the election.
But now those numbers are being translated into services, jobs, and benefits
that will be cut it really does seem horrendous. And the new Revenue computer –
which cost £389 million and is designed to improve the efficiency and accuracy
of the tax taken from our pay and pensions – is actually making far more
mistakes than the old computers did and taking far more off us than it should.
Plus ça change, plus
c’est la même chose. Or perhaps it’s déjà vu. Well, I have been in
***ON MONEY BOX THIS
WEEK
Story one is about a
new financial product that offers a risk free and cost free way to make money
from your home. Or so its promoters say.
Research shows that
one of the best ways to stop people re-offending when they come out of prison is
to give them a bank account. I go inside – just for the afternoon – to find out
more.
Then we talk to the
woman who claims she has lost £66,000 because of bad investment advice and
faulty administration by one of the
If you make widgets
and the national association of widget makers votes you the top widgeteer of
2010 and gives you a cash prize of £500, is the money taxable? And what if the
cash is commuted to a crate of champagne? That question was asked of us very
publicly in his acceptance speech not by a widget-maker but by joke-maker
Russell Kane, the winner of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Comedy Award. Does he
have to pay tax on his £10,000 prize? The answer, sadly, is not funny.
Those fours stories are our plan – but remember the number of stories can go down as well as up. However, in our case past performance generally IS a good guide to the future. So you can tune in knowing it will be worthwhile and listen live at noon on Saturday, or repeated at nine pm on Sunday, or at any time on the website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox. There you can also read web pieces, download transcripts, follow links, and send us stories or ideas you want us to look into. And Have Your Say on financial advice from banks.
Best wishes,
Paul
PS don’t forget the programme trail on Breakfast on BBC 1 between 0845 and 0900 on Saturday.