Martin’s Blog…

Dear Treasury Press Office,

I’d be surprised if you’re reading this, because its on the internet. To help you, the internet is a not-so-new phenomenon where people communicate with each other, can launch campaigns and share information - it even has journalists working on it! I hope I’m not going too quickly for you, as I wouldn’t want the shock that you’re in the 21 Century to be too damaging – to help I’ve bolded the important bits.

Last Tuesday, on GM-TV (it’s a television programme, a bit like the wireless with pictures) discussing the Northern Rock issue I mooted the fact that the Chancellor only said ‘existing deposits were safe’ which could be read to mean that new depositors or those who’d withdrawn money and put it back weren’t protected. At 8:31am I called your switchboard and was told the press office was ‘closed’ and there was no out-of-hours number; so I waited and called back at 9:02, when I was told I’d be called back soon.

At 11 o’clock I called again, and was told it’ll be any minute. Then again at 12, and this time someone did return my call, but when I told them my question they said “sorry I don’t know the answer, I’ll find out”. By now I had five national newspapers waiting to get a quote from me on the answer. Newspapers are something I’m sure you do understand - after all, some have been running for 100s of years.

Of course I realise my mistake. I called saying “I’m Martin Lewis, from MoneySavingExpert.com” - not clever was it, as each time I was met with “Who?” and “What’s that then?” And of course, being a small publication with only 3 million direct users (never mind the other media outlets the website and I feed), I can’t really expect there to be one person in the Treasury press office for whom it rings even the slightest bell; after all, you’re the treasury and we cover money – it’s not like we’ve anything in common – perhaps the Foreign Office may know…

During the course of the day I rang six times in total, yet only ever heard back once. At 5:30 I got quite irate; call me picky, but the discourtesy and sardonic response I was met with did start to wind me up. And again I was told ‘I’ll get someone to call you back now’. But when I called again at 6:10 the press office was suddenly closed. It’s now three days later, and I’ve still not received a call, let alone an answer.

Rather strangely, when I’ve called before doing stuff for one of my other ‘proper outlets’, and said I’m from GM-TV or Tonight with Trev or the Sunday times or Radio 2 etc, my calls have been returned promptly. If, bizarrely, you’re reading this, it would be great if you could let me know whether that’s the best route for next time. I know it’s a small thing, and it makes me rather sad, but I actually do care about getting clarification on such an important situation for people desperate to know what the score is – and don’t you have some remit to try and help people? Would it help if I changed the name – Guido Fawkes or something? Just what would it take?

Kind regards,

Martin Lewis

PS. You may be interested in a study by those whiz-kids (they can actually use the inter-webby thing) at the Cabinet Office called the Power of Info. It actually explores how Government can interact better with the web. Funnily enough, in the report, this site is cited as one of the key new institutions that the Govt should be trying to engage with. When they contacted me on the ‘telephone’ they acted how best the Government could interact which such sites.

They were shocked that my first answer was “Ensure Govt press office’s return our calls and actually know there are websites out there which have a reach similar in scale to traditional media”, those whiz-kids laughed and said “Surely they do?” Seems not much has changed.

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One of those moments that just make you laugh. I was sitting in make-up with soon-to-be-former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq this morning. And I could hear her telling the make-up guys she was having trouble keeping her top up properly. Then I heard her utter those immortal words, “do you have any double-sided sticky tape?” It seems you can leave the job, but the job never leaves you!

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I was in a studio filming links for a new ‘Tonight’ on Supermarket Shopping Secrets yesterday. As I was there “asking for water” because I was so hot under the bright lights, and wired up to the mikes so I couldn’t move, it reminded me of the first time I was what is known as ‘the talent’.

It was my first day on Simply Money TV back in January 2000. I’d just come from being a producer/reporter at the BBC; and now I was a ‘presenter’. After the first programme there was a meeting of all the crew, on-air team and output editors. There were very few chairs in there and the big presenters, Angela (Rippon) and Jan (Harvey), were rightfully on the sofa. There was one chair left and I offered it to Maggie, the production assistant, who (sorry for snitching Maggie) was in her early 50s at the time; she was clearly uncomfortable about taking the seat, but to me it seemed the right thing to do.

I then duly took my place sitting on the floor with everyone else. The floor manager, Alec, then came up to me and told me to get up and sit in the chair. I was embarrassed and said “I’m fine, don’t worry.” He then asked me if he could have a word and took me round the corner out of sight and said “I know you’re new and well-meaning. But you need to understand, you’re the ‘talent’; it’s our job to look after you and make sure you’re ok on air. This isn’t a personal thing - you’re a part of the set like everyone else. You’re sitting on the floor in the suit that we’ve got to do more filming with, possibly cramping up, and being uncomfortable – that makes us look bad, so please go back and take the seat.”

It was an important lesson; being ‘talent’ may sound like a compliment, but it’s actually more like saying ‘product’. Of course after doing this for a long time, you get used to it. It’s not about being privileged, but understanding your role – so avoiding sweat patches, dirty clothes, spills on your clothes aren’t just my responsibility – they’re the whole teams. Strange job!

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A sizeable proportion of my professional career as MoneySavingExpert has been spent disabusing the notion that you should trust a bank. In fact when doing the Teen Cash Class for ITV, lesson number one was that “a company’s job is to make money from you, not to help you; you need to understand this to be a good consumer”. Not that making money is wrong, just that it means the company and consumer shouldn’t automatically assume they’re on the same side.

When people wrongly trust a bank

If you trust your bank, you end up getting its ‘best product’ rather than the market’s best; or it gives you a ‘money check-up’ with a salesperson remunerated on commission disguised as an adviser; or it says “and you’ll need protection insurance with that” or “borrow more because the rate’s cheaper” or even, “why not consolidate your debts in to one easy repayment.”

Banks and, surprisingly, many building societies too are sales based institutions, with target driven staff, and most of the population sadly still miss out on that fact; and make abysmal financial decisions based on it.

When people wrongly mistrust a bank

And now we’ve had the Northern Rock fiasco, where a solvent bank got an additional borrowing facility and media hype started a panic. Suddenly now the bank’s “we’re safe, you’ve got protection from the Government, and regulatory regimes” wasn’t to be trusted. My hypothesis is that many of those queuing outside Northern Rock are the same people who take up “money check-ups” from banks in the first place.

Why does it work this way?

So why no trust this time, the one time, ironically you should trust a bank is when it’s following hard and fast rules laid out by a regulatory regime? I must admit I’ve no answer to why. I’d love your thoughts on it. Sadly I wish I could applaud the lack of trust as a step forward, but I don’t believe it, I think things will return to normal…. “of course sir, we welcome your new savings with us, and don’t worry we’ll give you a great rate…..” The shivers run down my spine.

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So here we have the biggest banking crisis for a decade. Yet actually there was nothing substantially wrong in the first place (for more on this read Northern Rock Crisis article). So what should’ve happened last Friday when people started to queue outside branches?

There should have been two main aims 1. Explain the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (again see Northern Rock Crisis article) and 2. Let people know there wasn’t a problem. Of course Northern Rock itself tried to do this… but who’s going to believe a bank? So who could’ve persuaded people there was no crisis. This is my panel. Imagine on Friday a giant press conference with the following as the cast.

1. The Chancellor (or even better Gordon Brown)
2. The Shadow Chancellor (to show this is a unified action in the face of world financial events)
3. The head of the FSA (well you’ve got to have the officials there, haven’t you)
4. The Chief Exec of Northern Rock
5. The Chief Exec of another big bank (after all, this proves it’s an industry issue)
6. A bank charges campaigner, someone on the opposition side to say this is everyone together, this isn’t a polemic issue. (I would’ve happily done it; I’m not creating a role for myself – any senior journalist/commentator/independent expert would’ve done)
7. The National Consumer Council and/or Consumers Association

This type of unified action of all sides would’ve done a lot to restore public confidence… done earlier, before there was any panic and the whole thing may just have been averted.

Is my panel wrong? Who would you’ve had on it to restore confidence?

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I’ve just got back from The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV, where I was debating the Northern Rock crisis. Marc Almond was also on the show, and we were chatting behind the curtain (it’s at the back of the set, as this is a programme with an audience). He was telling me how he loves singing on shows, but gets nervous doing the chat bit, especially as he has to remember the concert dates to plug them correctly.

So, flippantly I said to him “Tell you what, if you plug my website, I’m good with remembering numbers so I’ll do your concert!”. Then, bowl me over with a bag of feathers, I’m watching him be interviewed live and he says, “Now I should just plug Martin Lewis’ website, then he’ll be plugging my concert in a minute.”

The other two on the panel, John Gaunt and Carol Malone, were in stitches; after all, getting a pop concert into an interview on the banking crisis isn’t easy! So then, in a heated debate on the subject, as I saw the floor manager indicating there wasn’t much time – I simply announced, “Oh, and by the way, do go and watch Marc Almond at the IndigO2 (Greenwich) on December 8″. Bizarrely I got my biggest applause of the show for that!

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The UK has a huge problem with mental health and debt; I’ve blogged before (see ‘Should we stop people with mental health issues borrowing money?’) on my concerns over this under-addressed subject.

It’s something I’m ever more conscious of; it’s one of the reasons in the video attached to the Debt Problems article I talk about ‘catastrophisation’ which is a US term for turning everything into a ‘worst case scenario’. Debt is solvable; there is always a route, yet often it can seem impossible to somebody with mental health issues.

I’ve been trying to think of a way to help for a long time; so I’m rather pleased that this week I’ve commissioned a guide to Mental Health and debt - both for the person with the health issues and for their family/carer(s). It’s going to be written by two experts in the subject; we’ll be working with the mental health charity Mind, and I’ll be adding my input on the debt side.

Hopefully we’ll have the guide ready to download free from the site in Dec/January. The guide will show how to deal with debt when mental health or mental capacity is an issue, and also provide advice for the families and carers of those with issues.

This is such an important subject, yet sadly one that not many are interested in. I once broached a TV programme on it but the reply from all the execs I spoke to was “It’d only be interesting to those with problems; most people will switch off”. Hopefully this guide will help redress the balance and give some help.

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What a fantastic evening: food, fun, good company and entertainment. You even get to guess whether Paul Young or Barry McGuigan made your soup!

The MSG and I are big fans of the programme, so suddenly hearing at 3pm that a table had come free that night (it’s all booked up in advance, and we hadn’t asked, but luckily my agent got us on the reserve list the day before) made it all the more exciting.

The programme sends a car, so I left MSE Towers early to get changed, ready to be picked up at 6:15.

Buy a bag of crisps on the way; then prepare to meet the celebs

Having been warned by friends who’ve been in previous years that sometimes you don’t get any food, we stopped on the way. I had a packet of crisps and the MSG some rice-cake crisps; just to ensure there were no hunger pangs. As it happened though, we were served very promptly and got a full three courses.

While on TV it looks like a big restaurant, the whole thing is actually filmed in a studio lot in the middle of East-London. On arrival at 7:30 there’s a champagne and drinks reception; unsurprising as its much better telly if the guests are half-cut when they get there.

I always feel a bit of a fraud at such things - when there are real celebs around - and I’m always slightly shocked if anyone has the vaguest clue who I am. Luckily this time I straight away spotted the This Morning team (Fern, John, Denise, plus the Editor & Exec Editor), who I know from my time on the programme.

Then Emma B, the DJ, walked up to say how much she loves the site and how she’s saved a fortune! And finally, Michael Underwood of GM-TV and his girlfriend Francesca (another site user) came up to say hello.

Michael & I haven’t actually met before but our paths have often crossed at GM-TV, and he often chats to the MSG when they’re covering new film junkets for their respective programmes.

Do you want a romantic dinner in front of the cameras?

After a quick briefing, guests are shown in table by table, staggered throughout the night. The MSG and I had our own table. Now normally there’s nothing more lovely than a romantic dinner with the MSG; yet in this setting with TV cameras all over the place it was quite a relief when Michael and Francesca were shown to the table right next to us 20 minutes later, and we treated it a bit like we were all eating together.

From my angle I could see straight into the girls’ kitchen whilst the MSG peered into the boys’. And they really are working hard in there. It looked just like any normal restaurant kitchen, except with Anneka Rice cooking!

The Menu & The Food

After the waiter had taken the drinks order, the Maitre D’ brought the menu. We were eating food prepared by the blue team (boys), although the menus are identical whichever team cooks, with a choice of five starters, five mains and five deserts.

Of course, any menu prepared by Marco Pierre White is going to sound fantastic; the problem here is you’re not sure the quality will live up to it. Here’s our order and the scores we gave on the feedback paper.

• Starters:

The MSG – White Asparagus. Her Score: 4/10 (I didn’t think it was quite that bad and would’ve given it a 6/10).
Me – Mushroom & Truffle Consommé. My Score 6/10. Not bad although a little oily; and it was absolutely massive.

• Main Courses:

The MSG - Salmon with herb & tomato glaze; lovely, just right. Her Score: 8/10
Me - Dover Sole - hideous, undercooked, I couldn’t finish it, really and truly revolting. My Score: 2/10 (luckily my wonderful MSG shared her salmon with me).

• Dessert:

Together: There was a two person apple pie which we ordered jointly. Both of us loved it – I gave it 8/10, the MSG 9/10.

The highlight of the evening, Michael Underwood’s Pig’s Trotter!

Now, without doubt the funniest moment was watching Michael try to eat the pig’s trotter. He’d ordered it because, “it’s not something I’d ever normally risk, but as we’re not paying…”

And then it arrived. Long, with toes, and the gelatinous texture of the ducks hanging up in some Chinese restaurants’ windows; best of all, whilst they’d tried to burn the hairs off, they’d missed a few. The wretched, or should that be retching, look on his face as he attempted to eat it was priceless.

First he lifted the long flap of skin back to show the mousse underneath which was nestled up against the curled and broken toes. Then, encouraged by the Maitre D’ (and with cameras now firmly focussed on him, although it wasn’t shown in the end), he took a trepidatious bite.

My view was blocked by a camera at this point; but the noise he made gave the game away. It’s difficult to express in words quite how funny it was watching him gulp down the water and try to rid the taste from his mouth. The rest of us (me, the MSG, and Michael’s girlfriend) were crying with laughter – hopefully it’ll make an outtake show somewhere.

Luckily his girlfriend shared her salmon too.

The Show

There are actually two shows happening; you’ve the main Hell’s Kitchen, as well as “Holly & Fern go dating” , which is being filmed at the same time; so Angus Deayton, Holly Willoughby and Fern Cotton are also milling around with their various camera crews and directors.
For some reason, when Angus read his links on the night, he kept standing by our table, so I found myself in prime viewing position each time. Now, while both of us are used to being on the telly, there’s actually something a bit unnerving about being in the back of shot, being seen but not heard each and every time.

While you’re there you actually miss the show. There are no TV cameras or highlights of the previous night being shown; all you get to do is listen to Angus’ links (actually you can’t hear them, but you can read them off the auto-cue). So in many ways you get far less of a feel for the show when in there than you do when watching at home.

Guess what they asked me about?

When it came to the interviews for the guest vox pop, unsurprisingly there was only one line of questioning for me: “Would you complain? What did you think of the guy who complained and was thrown out? What are your rights?”

By this point admittedly I’d had a couple of glasses of alcohol, so wasn’t feeling the most coherent. I think my main answer was, “Of course you should complain if the service isn’t right and you’ve paid, but here with free transport, booze & food, you don’t exactly have consumer rights.”

Then home

We stayed for another 20 minutes after the show finished, but we didn’t get to see the summary and what comments were read out (seeing the programme the next day, neither mine nor the MSG’s appeared).

On the way out, we gossiped with our fellow diners about their experiences. Poor John Scott the This Morning stylist is a veggie and there are no veggie main courses. Still he didn’t complain: he ended up with double asparagus and double dessert!

Overall it was a memorable night; great fun; now I’d better be good and hope they ask us again next year!

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I’m excited. My agent has just called to say that they’ve got tickets for the MSG and I to go eat at Hell’s Kitchen tonight. It’s very exciting. A full report in my blog on Monday…

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I’ve been meaning to vent on this for years. Yesterday I walked in yet another culprite; why do shops often install escalators that go up; but you need to walk down the stairs? Of course, they want us in the store as easily as possible and the escalator helps. Yet to then rely on us to make our own way down, without any signage indicating that the only way down is to walk, is ridiculous.

While I’m luckily able-bodied and can easily manage the stairs; to have such one sided aid can’t be helpful to those with disability or limited movement. And whilst stores may have staff lifts which people can have access to if needed; to entice people up with easy access and leave them needing to ask for help once there simply isn’t on.

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As MoneySaving Towers was having new windows fitted on Friday I was working from home. And after returning from doing freebies on Radio 2 I was on the phone to the producer of my next Tonight with Trevor which is on Supermarket Shopping Secrets. One of the big issues we’re investigating is what the scale of difference is in supermarket branding and the impact of the downshift challenge. Thankfully, the moment he called to chat through it, I admitted I was in the middle of opening a can of mushroom soup for a quick lunch. He asked “Who made it?” It was Asda Own Brand!

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