(Sorry) Have a great weekend! The 10 top Friday funnies EVER

Every Friday on my Facebook page, I do a funny. Well when I say funny, more of a terrible, tumbleweeding, shaggy dog of a pun. Yet for some bizarre reason, if I ever miss it, hoards of Facebookers – mostly women I may add – virtually attack me, demanding their weekly groan (oh, err missus). For newbies, the format’s...

Chart-Porn: my top 10 most read blogs of 2011

We’re nearing the year end, it’s a time for reflection – to look back and consider the past… who am I kidding, this is just an excuse for a bit of chart-porn.  It’s a chance for me to dig through some statistics and produce a table. Woo hoo… So here’s my top ten most read blogs in...

Unearthed video of my Comedy Characters – did I really do that?

I can’t quite believe they’re me – especially the ‘Costin Powers’ (watch it yourself below). All of these sketches were filmed in 2000-2001 as part of my ‘Deal of the Day’ piece on the then little watched, and now long defunct, Simply Money TV. I can’t blame anyone else for them, I had to research, present, write, occasionally...

Read letters from blind children to Santa

This blog is for all the soppy gits (like me) out there. Sit back and prepare for some bitter-sweet Christmas joy. The wonderful RNIB kindly sent us these beautiful messages as a thank you for supporting their special braille and other visually impaired-friendly letters within our Free letters from Santa guide.  Of course they don’t do this...

The MSE Christmas pub quiz 2011 results

Last week I challenged you to the pub quiz I’d given the MSE team at our Christmas party. Now as promised, it’s time for the answers…(and as in all good pub quiz tradition, I of course expect you to argue). Spoiler alert! If you want to have a go at the quiz before seeing the answers, see...

The financial education debate – in full

Below is a cut and paste of the Hansard transcript of last week’s debate (source: Parliament). For those wanting a quick summary see my financial education debate – who said what blog, as the transcript below came from five hours of debate. You can also watch a video of the session. Financial education Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon) (Con):...

Financial education in the House of Commons – who said what

Proof 100,000 people can make a difference. Yesterday I spent five hours in the gallery of the House of Commons on the back of the e-petition many of you signed about putting financial education on the national curriculum. Time and time again the MPs referred to the signatures and the copious letters MoneySavers had written and it seemed...

Parliamentary participation – I almost got myself kicked out

Yesterday was a privilege. I blogged earlier on the important meat of the financial education debate in the Commons. Yet I wanted to jot some notes down about the experience too. I’ve been to view the Commons debating before, but this felt different. Justin Tomlinson MP, who I’ve been working on this with for around a year,...

What do I do if my MP is the Speaker?

I was slightly stumped by this question yesterday. I had tweeted asking people to take 2 minutes to write to their MP to encourage them to attend the financial education debate in the Commons this Thursday, on the back of the e-petition hitting 100,000 signatures. This was one of the first replies I received and it got me...

The MSE Christmas pub quiz 2011…can you beat the team?

How good’s your general knowledge? Can you beat the MSE Team? Last Friday was the MSE Towers’ Christmas party and quiz, so now I want to invite you to take part too and see how you do… There was hair being pulled out, confusion, befuddlement and some painful moments, and that was just MSE Darren and I...