Martin’s Blog…

Now there’s something you have to understand. The website isn’t just my baby, I sort of feel linked to it. Today after doing Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show on mobile phones, the traffic was huge and the site crashed.

Yet it didn’t just crashed, it got damaged and it’s been down all afternoon on one of the busiest possible days. For me this is dreadfully frustrating, lots of new people wanted to save money for the first time, are getting nothing, thinking the site doesn’t exist. And the problem is very few will come back.

I left Money Saving towers this afternoon both because there’s nothing I can do, and because I’d kicked the kick box so many times, and sat in the corner making grrrrrrrr noises. Very very very annoying. As I write the site is still down, it makes me want to despair!

I’ve just had to record some fart noises (made with my mouth). I can’t yet tell you why… all will be revealed in a week. Yet I have to say, if you’re ever in a bad mood there’s nothing like having to make farty noises in an office to make everyone just sit there and laugh!!!!!

Listen to the Farty noises

Discuss this…. and suggest why….

Not fair. I just got asked onto my first ‘celeb’ type programme. My agent called up and asked me about doing BBC1’s ‘Star Spell’. Yet I am abysmal at spelling, truly apaling, and I would embarrass myself tremendously. So I had to say no. Gutted. (Why couldn’t it be a numbers one? Or even a spelling numbers one - e.g. spell 109, that I could do?)

(PS., we were discussing the spelling of diarrhoea afterwards. Did you know diarrhoea is hereditary? …… it runs in the jeans)

Andrea’s note: PS., when I proofread this for Martin I had to correct 4 spelling errors but I’ve left “apaling” as I think this may have been deliberate!

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TV is a strange business. ITV news came round to my house this morning to interview me on Child Trust Funds. As I’ve recently moved in, I’m a little short on movable seating (big sofa yes, spare chairs not yet). This meant that while they asked me to sit, the producer had to stand.

Now when you do a TV interview, eyeline is very important. If I looked at her face I’d be craning my neck and look bizarre. So instead you have to look at the right height. In this case we agreed it was a point on her stomach. So if you watch the interview today and see me animatedly talking, you’ll know secretly I wasn’t talking to a face but to a belly!

In the naive world of pub drinking this weekend the conversation turned to ‘how to get a good seat on Easyjet?’. Now of course famously the airliner doesn’t allocate seats, so it’s a rush and grab job.

The analysis done resembled chaos theory and The Prisoner’s dilemma intertwined. Yet by the virtue of blogging, I thought I would give you my own theory. Obviously the best solution is to be on first and get the long leg room seats at the front. Yet due to the ‘children and people with mobility issues’ first policy, this is tough to do (though I did once make friends with a guy who had a walking stick and got him to save me a seat in the front!).

So my theory, unless the flight is obviously crammed to the rafters, is hang back. Don’t get in the queue but wait to the end. As everyone knows, if you can’t get long leg-room the next best thing is an empty seat by your side. By hanging back you can spot the empty seats, safe in the knowledge that no-one else is going to rush in and take them.

The last two times I’ve travelled my ‘hang back till last’ strategy has produced an aisle seat, with an empty middle seat and someone in the window. On Easyjet that’s positively first class!

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Lots of site users contact me saying “can you use your media power to….”. The requests are endless… ‘punish Barclays’, ‘have a national nit-check day’, ‘tell everyone about this scam’ (often something I’ve told people about 20 times already).

Yet even if I had time to deal with these things, I’m afraid to say I can’t actually affect change. Getting a story on the news isn’t easy. It isn’t a quick phone call and they say “OK Martin, we’ll get Trevor to interview you”. The only time I have a chance is if it’s on MoneySaving, and even then more often than not, I do interviews when they call me not vice-versa.

This can be quite frustrating at times. The control isn’t there, even on things I’m intimately involved in. Often I’ve written a newspaper or magazine article, only to have the headline detailing something different to what I actually wrote about. Or I’ll do a TV programme and the editing or title goes against what I spend my life talking about.

Now you may be wondering why I’m writing this. A couple of reasons really. The first to vent and say - I really can’t help most of the time, my influence in the world of health warnings for nits is very limited. And secondly to say, don’t assume I’m happy with all aspects of everything that has my name to it. Sometimes one has to compromise. The only thing I genuinely have complete editorial control over…. is this site!

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Well this afternoon’s been a distraction and thankfully we’ve just heard no one was injured in any of the attacks. MoneySaving towers is based in Sheperds Bush, just a few hundred meters from the station. Now the talk has turned from fear to transport, how will everyone get home.

My strongest personal bomb memories centres on three. The Warrington bomb, when I was growing up in Cheshire’s Delamere Forest, was very close to home. Before that terrorism had always been in big cities I didn’t visit. The Tottenham Court Road bomb in 1992 (I think) was about 500 metres from my University hall of residence, I remember the noise and the shake of the building. The final one was the BBC bomb, audible from my old Shepherds Bush home.

The disparate nature of these dangers and attacks has given me a sanguine view. There’s no point in being fearful or changing, if someone is going to bomb, it could be on the tube, at work, at home, on holiday, on the bus, visiting parents - anywhere. Therefore its random, there’s no way to protect yourself and therefore the best thing to do is live your life, and not change because of these evil beasts. After all they want to hurt our lifestyle. I’m not going to let them ruin mine.

This blog entry was delayed by three weeks until I was officially allowed to talk about the series. I wrote it at the time, but didn’t publish it.

I found out last night I’ve got my own TV series for ITV1. I’m gobsmacked. I’ve always wanted my own series, with the freedom to talk about the stuff I’m passionate about. Plus of course, its great for my career.

It was a funny way to find out. I went for a quick drink with Stephen Andrew the Commissioning Editor (off-peak) for ITV1, for a general discussion. The production company for the programme itself, ‘Make Me Rich’ had already told me it’d made it through the process and had finished ‘audience testing’, but we’d been told the report wouldn’t be ready for another two weeks.

Anyway I sat down for the drink (at a pub in Ealing) and he said ‘oh before I forget, we’ve decided to commission Make me Rich, you’ve got your own series, congratulations’. Boy does that take the wind out of your sails. I tried to have a conversation, but inside was going ‘woooooo hoooooo, yesssssssssss’. After about 20 minutes he went to the bar to buy another drink (I was on the cranberry juice, as I was driving) and I sneakily got out my mobile phone to text my dad and let him know. Quickly shutting it off again afterwards.

As for the practicals, I don’t know all yet. The programme is a 45 minute money makeover programme for daytime, which’ll be half about ‘cutting your bills without cutting back’, and half about ‘cutting back where necessary’ and we’ll be looking for families. (P.S. it wasn’t my choice of title, the idea is not me promising to make people rich, but people asking me to make them rich. It’s a good title for TV, but of course I’m really about saving people money so they have more to spend than actually making them rich).

As for when we’ll start, who knows. It’s all a bit daunting, as I already work a good 70/80 hours a week, and I have no idea how i’ll fit it in, but what the hell - woooooooooooo hoooooooooooooo!

Click here for more details and how to get a makeover
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Just received an email from Rosie Millard (ex-BBC arts correspondent, and now presenter/buy to let columnist). I’m really pleased about it. As many of you will know from past blogs on 25 April and 24 May I did a makeover on Rosie a few months ago for Tonight with Trevor MacDonald.

The show itself was mainly about the social issues around debt, and there were clips of me doing the makeover. In actual fact I gave Rosie a ten point financial plan, made her budget properly and told her some home truths. I’ve just received an email from her which starts

Dear Martin
Here is how I am getting on. You will be very proud of me.
1. Have put £5K onto Texaco card, off another 0% card which was going to expire. etc. (I won’t print it all here for the sake of confidentiality).

After that there are a range of different things on the list of 10 items - a mix of following the interest rate reduction programme and stabilisation I’d set out, as well as cutting back on her spending.

Yes Rosie. I am proud of you.

It really is a huge change from where she was before.

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“In accordance with Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, notice is herreby given that proceedings are contemplated against the driver of”

I’ve just received this in the post. How ridiculous. I’m a careful driver, I don’t take risks, and I don’t speed. So why did I get this letter, which reads like I’m about to lose my licence, but I suspect just means points. Let me continue

“for an alleged offence of EXCESS SPEED (40 MPH LIMIT) of 53 MPH at A4 Gt West Road”

OK so at quarter to two in the morning on a large wide, empty road, in the middle of a non-residential area, protected at both sides, I went 53mph. The road is like a dual carriage way. It’s absolutely ludicrous. There was no danger to anyone. The speed limit is unrealistic and damaging.

Of course residential areas need protecting.
This isn’t. Children need protecting. This was 2am.
Other drivers need protecting. There weren’t any.
We need protecting from our own driving. This is a large dual laned area.

What nonesense. I believe in speed cameras to be honest, they do a good job. What I don’t believe in is ridiculous, misplanned speed limits. Surely a variable limit at night for cerain roads makes sense. Speeding regulations are currently punative where there is no fault - no basis in natural law.

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I’m on my way back from Nottingham. I’ve been filming a quick 5 minute stint on Tonight with Trevor about shopping and am now heading back. My 3G data card that allows me to work on the move is flipping off and on but I’ve managed to grab hold and download my emails.

One of them was from ING Direct, a personal note from the head of the press office telling me its rate is dropping from 5% to 4.75% in August. Now you may wonder why the headline of this blog says I’m clapping it if the rate is dropping. Of course, the cut is poor, and takes it out of the real top notch of current accounts for the first time since it launched, so that definitely isn’t worth applauding.

However the clap is for transparency, I get flung many product emails from press offices every day touting their new improved wares, usually which aren’t competitive. ING direct specifically e-mailed to make sure I didnt miss its rate cut. Whilst not favourable to it, this type of communication is helpful, honest, and adds trust. There’s often duplicity from companies trying to hide the bad news.

ING direct is taking an honest line and playing fair. At least this way no one can accuse it of a sneaky cut.

I’ve never written a ‘best mobile tariff’ article. The reason? It’s a nightmare. I did some quick maths and worked out you’ve a better chance of winning the lottery than picking the right mobile package.

Yet the bloody Jeremy Vine programme (I love it really, actually it’s my fave thing to do) have asked me to do a phone in on mobiles. Whilst before I could do roaming, contracts, overriding, and others, the actual tariffs wasn’t there.

After five days I’ve finished my first draft of ‘mobile phone cost cutting’ - it’s 3000 words long, double the next longest on the site - but I’m really pleased with it. The next step is to cut the monster down and make the prose more readable. The first draft is always the ‘theory and results’ stage, just getting everything down in one go. Next is ‘the edit and polish’ to make it easy to read and workable.

However with this article, I’m breathing a sigh of relief that I’ve done it. The final version(s - as there’ll be an extended feature and quick read) will be on the site next week!

Well I’ve been doing it in secret, but finally it’s finished. Over the last three months I’ve spent much time doing a full update of the Money Diet, due to be published in December. I have to be honest with you I detest writing books. The Money Diet is the book I always wanted to write, but even the first edition was tough to do, updating even more so.

I’m an instant type of chap, when writing an article or doing a programme, the final result is always quite soon and obvious. With a book you can sit down and write 7,000 words in a day and still feel like you haven’t got anywhere. Then once its finished there’s endless re-reading to do.

Of course the final result is great. Seeing it in the bookshop is very cool (and this time the publishers want a big pic of me on the front which is going to be bizarre). Yet it really is a wrench to write it, the book never leaves you, I’m constantly scribbling and putting ideas in.

I thought a rewrite and update would be easy, but when I read it, I want to add to it, and ended up writing whole new sections I hadn’t planned to!

However now its handed to the publisher for it to edit, tweak and send back for my final read through. The major new bit is about ‘the adversarial consumer society’ which is more in-depth thoughts about MoneySaving and the philosophy behind it. I wrote it on a bright sunny day while on holiday two months ago - sat down and let it flow (ok so I admit, I did like writing that bit).

The rest of the book is an update of the first version, with lots of new ways to save, stories, and explanations, but more importantly the book was originally written to have a shelf-life of 18 months, its done that, and now its time to redo and review the recommendations on the back of that. I hope, when it comes out, people will like it.

Now I’ve just got the battle with the publishers to try and arrange ‘advanced and cheap’ copies that people from the site can get!

Discuss this blog entry

Just had what I consider to be an interesting discussion with Dan (MSE Researcher), who has a degree in Maths from Imperial College, London. We were discusssing the concept of infinity, based on a question my Uncle asked me when I was 11 (and you wonder why I am the way I am?)

He said, if there are an infinite number of numbers betwen 1 and 2 (ie. 1.01, 1.001, 1.0001 etc) and an infinite number of numbers between minus infinity and plus infinity, then are there more numbers between -infinity and +infinity than between 1 and 2?

Whilst logic says yes. Mathematics says no, they’re both the same answer. Then comes the difficult part, trying to work out how they can both be the same. Eventually we came up with a visualisation. If you have one circular path around the world, which you walk on for ever, you still walk the same length as you would on a spiralling path that goes many times around the world, looping much more.

If you’re still awake and want to discuss this, please reply here

I’m sitting alone in MoneySaving towers in Shepherds Bush. It’s 11.26 as I write this. I’ve just heard that the whole team are safe, previously I couldn’t get in touch with Dan and Archna. So I’m breathing a sigh of relief.

The frustration is immense for all. The phones aren’t working nor is the mobile, it won’t text. There’s a temptation to keep calling all my friends to check they’re ok. Then again I don’t want to use up the lines in case others need the phone service more. Managed to get a message through to my Uncle to tell my father I’m ok.

The police cars and sirens are streaming past and can be heard, again and again and again. It’s a frightening moment. The people from the office next door came in to watch the TV for a bit as they don’t have one, first time I’ve met them, strange how these things happen.

I must admit my eyes are rimmed with tears, in a different way to yesterdays Olympics announcement. Now sadly like all the others I wait to hear the casualty figures grow.

I must admit to being genuinely excited at London winning the bid. I’m a huge athletics fan, in fact I’m off to the world championship trials in a week or so. So when they made the announcement - I literally jumped! Even though I’m from Manchester, this for me was the only chance the UK has of getting the bid - probably the only time it will be in the UK in my lifetime.

Next step - how to get cheap tickets, cheap accommodation, what to see, where to go. Ah the MoneySaving angle never stops. Although the depressing thought is I’ll be 40 when it happens!

PS GO LONDON

I’ve just had a weekend in Amsterdam. It’s a beautiful, fun city. Yet try finding somewhere to have breakfast on a Sunday morning. Within ten minutes I’d seen six prostitutes in windows, three bars full of boozers and a raft of open coffee shops. At one point I tried asking for a coffee. The reply? “No, sorry, no coffee only hash”. It was twenty five minutes before we found somewhere to eat. Now that’s consumer choice (though the bagel I had in the end was lovely!)

Last Thursday I got a call from Amex wanting to give me a special embargoed (i.e. before it’s allowed to go public) briefing on a new card. It turned out to be the new Nectar Amex card (you can see my view on it here).

During the meeting I spoke to a senior Nectar exec and asked ’so does this mean Barclaycard is dropping Nectar?’ After all, it’s already stopped offering it for new customers. “No, absolutely notâ€? was the reply.

Today I get a call from Barclaycard saying “on Monday we’re announcing we’re stopping the Nectar reward scheme”. What pointlessness from Nectar. It lied point blank. Why on earth? The exec could’ve said “yes, but it’s embargoed”. But to lie blatantly? I don’t exactly think much of Nectar anyway, yet this type of behaviour just adds to its untrustworthiness. Pathetic, and to the exec, who knows who he is, you should be ashamed!