Dear Listener

For various reasons up to - but not including - total idleness on my part this will be a briefer newsletter than usual. That's it. On to the agenda…

…well almost. Via a brief mention of the Supreme (in power if not humanity) Court decision which effectively prescribed incontinence pads for a woman who was not incontinent but could not get from bed to toilet without help. To cover her long nights alone the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea withdrew the 24-hour care and left her a supply of the pads to last until the day shift turned up. By a 4-1 majority the Supreme Court ruled that RBK&C was within its rights to do so - and, as important, the decision did not breach Elaine McDonald's human rights. Sad day.

I also did a little twitter survey in light of a story in The Guardian that banks were planning a further round of branch closures <http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jul/06/bank-branch-network-faces-hundreds-of-closures>

Who had used a bank branch recently? I asked. And what for? Lots of tweeters said they used them to pay cheques in or pay bills. @Elixir_WFC went so far as to say "while there are cheques there need to be branches." @Justjill52 wanted drive through branches to solve problems of parking near a bank. @mlittlec concluded that because there are always queues "of all ages" in his branch they clearly were needed. But @Lostprophet never used a bank branch now and just said "close them."

So now onto….

***IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

A working week on from Andrew Dilnot's radical ideas about paying for care in old age we look at two aspects of the story. 1. With care costs (sort of) capped at £35,000 will insurance companies really step in to provide a way to insure against having to spend even that amount? And if so what will it cost? 2. we have a live debate between a vicar who says if people have housing wealth they should spend it on their care in old age. And on the other side a pensioner campaigner who believes that if people have paid taxes all their life they should get care free in their final years whatever their resources.

Inflation: we hear a warning from a top fund manager that the inflation forecasts by the Bank of England (a) have been wrong for two years and (b) are likely to be wrong in future as inflation sticks fairly stubbornly around its current level of about 5%. And he warns there is an outside chance, based on very long term trends, that it may carry on rising for a decade.

We have good advice - after two deferrals! - for our 55-year-old listener who has lost his job and wants to release some cash from his pension fund. The law says he can. But the financial services industry is more cautious. Our advisers come up with creative options.

We also have a magistrate on the programme who claims that banks are mis-selling paid-for current accounts to people who cannot make use of the insurance products that come bundled with it and which are used to justify the price. The FSA warns that any insurance which is part of the package has to be sold within its rules on selling insurance.

Finally, we hope to squeeze in a brief item on energy costs after British Gas picked the day we were all watching a national newspaper collapse to announce it was going to put up its prices and another energy firm said it will stop doorstep selling.

So will those five items be what my grandfather referred to at teatime as 'an elegant sufficiency'? Or would he have accused us - as he sometimes did when my grandmother's cake was very good - of trying to cram in an 'elephant sufficiency'. Find out if we do serve up all that is on our plate or scrape some into the recycling bin by listening on Saturday just after noon or the repeat on Sunday at 9pm or any time to the podcast www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox <http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox>. Check out our website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox to follow links, download transcripts, send us stories or ideas you want us to look into.

Money Box Live on Wednesday takes your questions on consumer rights - on the High Street or online. Call 03700 100 444 when lines open at 1.30pm on Wednesday, or send an e-mail using the link on the programme page.

This newsletter is available at bbc.co.uk/moneybox/newsletter <http://www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox/newsletter> around the time it hits your inbox (tell your friends who don't subscribe) and you can also join more than 8800 people who follow me on Twitter to read my random but timely thoughts - and questions - on money and a few other things whenever I'm awake at  www.twitter.com/paullewismoney.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS Don't forget the trail for the programme on BBC1 Breakfast just after 0845. And I am back on breakfast on Thursday around 0640 and around 0820 talking about a news story but times can - and often do - vary.

e-mail Paul Lewis