Martin Lewis: What makes us human – the sharing of ideas and knowledge

I was invited on to BBC Radio 2 Vine's 'What Makes Us Human' programme. The brief: "Write then read out an essay on one unique element of humanity, interspersed with some autobiographical notes". That was followed by an interview with Jeremy. That didn't go where I expected to, and I found it emotionally tricky at times, but we discussed important issues, so feel free to listen to the full

BBC Radio 2: Martin Lewis: What Makes Us Human interview

Is the BBC costing Brits a fortune when they go on holiday?

I’ve recently come back from my sabbatical and you’ll be unsurprised to hear that I was abroad for part of it – and that was during the Olympics. As an Olympics lover and more specifically an athletics fan geek (to show off – I recently fulfilled a lifelong ambition of infield presenting at the London Anniversary Games), I...

Quote, misquotes and the truth about my appearance in the ‘Stronger In Europe’ leaflet

Arriving home a few days ago, I picked up the Stronger In Europe leaflet that had dropped through my letterbox, and almost dropped my wallet (and you can imagine how tightly I cling to that) to see my picture at the top of it. After all I’d not been asked, nor had I given my permission, nor...

It seems an ISA is nicer than a NISA – so we’re going to call them ISAs

Last March in the Budget, the Chancellor announced ISAs were to become new ISAs, or NISAs. The main changes were a bigger £15,000 limit, the ability for all of it to be cash savings (so more than doubling the tax-free savings cash limit in effect) and the ability to convert old shares ISAs into cash ISAs. The...

Do I really look like that?

Daybreak has asked me to shoot a short promo film for my new 7.40am Deals of the Week slot I’ll be doing every Thursday. I agreed, but I was then slightly shocked to be sent the storyboard below. I have to admit I laughed out loud when I saw it – do I really look like that?...

MoneySavingExpert overtakes M&S in UK’s best brands

I can hardly believe I’ve just written that title. Yet I’ve just seen it in the papers (here’s the Guardian version) from YouGov’s newly-released annual Brand Index. Wow! It’ll only be the site’s 10th birthday in February. Frankly, last year I’d already smacked my gob writing that we’d overtaken Apple as we hit 5th spot. Yet to be...

Is it wrong to work at a cinema or be a binman?

Picture the scene. It’s a TV talent show on one of the big channels. A talented young person’s fought through to the finals and is desperate to sing or perform. The producer doing the talking in the head interview finds out the person used to work at a cinema / McDonald’s / a bar… We all know...

The Hitwise awards for money information websites reveal that no.1 isn’t MSE or FT it’s….

The 2010 Hitwise awards for the most visited websites have jusst been released, and the results are an interesting one for us to read…

My minute-by-minute (political) day in the life…

It’s been a while since I blogged one of my days (see the ‘It’s a typical day’ blog)… Yesterday was a tough one, as I was hardcore tired after Tuesday (which is always a long day as I get picked up at 6:40ish in the morning to do GMTV, then focus on the weekly email for the...

Record 878,000 web visits in one day – a billion hits a month

Last Wed (27 July) was the biggest single day the site’s ever had; a monster 878,000 people came to the site (inc. Main site, forum, tools etc) beating the previous record of 854,000 set in January. While it mightn’t seem it, overtaking a January record is important; the site’s constantly growing, but like all money sites seasonal...