Dear Listener

So. We are back. And the average price of a pint of beer has risen above £3 for the first time, the British beer & Pub Association says. My reaction – recently back from Crete – was ‘bargain’. There I routinely paid €3.50 for 330ml which works out at around £6 a pint, with the tourist Euro almost at parity with the pound. In one bar I even paid €5. I daren’t work out what that was per pint.

I know VAT in Greece is 23%. But that really does not explain why it is such an expensive place, at least for tourists sitting in the harbour in Chania.

All very different from my youthful holidays in Greece when a small bundle of drachmas would pay for good eating and drinking for a week.

And it is bundles of euros you need as Greece is still a cash economy. When I did make the supermarket or petrol station accept a credit card I was asked to PIN and sign. Why both? “This is Greece” I was told with a shrug. I hope I wasn’t charged twice. And yes petrol was more expensive than here €1.78 a litre.

I had an interesting conversation with the Italian owner of a restaurant – who served wonderful Italian food and wine. ‘How is the Greek economy?’ I asked him. He looked at the ceiling and shrugged. ‘Corruption’ he said. ‘No-one pays tax, they bribe the tax inspector.’ It’s a story I have heard before though I have no way of knowing how true or common that practice is. And he insisted that, as an honest northern Italian, he would never do such a thing – though he couldn’t say the same for his more southerly countrymen. It was, he explained, a Mediterranean approach.

***IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

The Government plans to cut council tax benefit by 10% and pass the job of deciding who gets what to local councils. But it will protect pensioners who account for nearly half of all recipients so the £480 million cut will fall on working age households. For them the average cut will be more like 20% - though some could lose the lot. We get an expert view on how the new scheme might work when it begins in 2013. And Housing Minister Grant Shapps explains why he is making the changes. You can say what you think – to us or to the Government.

Three weeks after the riots many people are still waiting for compensation. We look at how you claim, who from and what you can expect. And if your home has been damaged will your lender give you a mortgage holiday until it is sorted out?

Gold soars, gold plummets; shares ditto. What is going on? We get some explanation of the volatile world – and UK – markets.

And with the markets in a bit of a state is there anywhere decent to put your cash? We round up the latest offers.

RBS decides its poorest customers can no longer get their cash out of cash machines belonging to other banks. It says the cost (around 20p a withdrawal) is not worthwhile for customers who have little money in their account.

Oh dear. First week back and already there is probably too much to fit our 330 ml of time which we get out the full pint of half an hour. Find our what ends up soaking into the beer mat and what is actually sent out to the waiting world by tuning in to Radio 4 at midday, or at 9pm on Sunday or online anytime or get the podcast at www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox. Check out our website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox to follow links, download transcripts, or send us stories or ideas you want us to look into. And Have Your Say on council tax benefit cuts.

This newsletter is available at bbc.co.uk/moneybox/newsletter around the time it hits your inbox (tell your friends who don’t subscribe). And you could join more than 10,400 people who follow me on Twitter to read my random but timely thoughts on money and a few other things whenever I’m awake at twitter.com/paullewismoney.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS Don’t forget the trail for the programme on BBC1 Breakfast on Saturday just after 0845. And I will be on Breakfast usually on Thursdays usually around 0640 and around 0820 talking about a money story and answering emails and tweets. But the time, and occasionally the day, can vary.

e-mail Paul Lewis