Editor's Blog

In the final quarter of 2014, the editorial team of Cash Is Cool will be investigating the manipulation of the Media by vested interests in Financial Services. Too often, stories are printed in support of vested interests, not the Public Interest. We will be examining why this happens and, especially, whose hands are on the purse strings. Readers who have stories to tell of their own experien....

The  media, lead by the Daily Telegraph, have decided that Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, must be removed from her post. Is this about honesty, integrity, decency, any of those good things? NO, IT IS ABOUT WINNING. There is a war on between the media and politicians concerning press regulation. Elements of the press, fearful that they cannot win the debate fairly, are prepared to do an....

The UK Payments Council has rushed out an announcement about "Paym" to create a monument to the departing Chair Richard North. Of course,with the role of the Payments Council about to be rendered redundant by the advent of the Payment Systems Regulator,the monument has been constructed in a graveyard - but ,never mind, don't let the facts get in the way of a good press release. Paym allows peo....

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is following in the footsteps of the Crown Prosecution Service. Instead of seeking results which are genuinely in the public interest, it is chasing headlines. On BBC Radio 4 this morning some expert for KPMG said the FCA is showing courage in trying to deal with issues.I beg to differ. The FCA is in reality mostly training its guns on easy targets. Take....

Politicians of all colours are offering their support to decriminalising the non-payment of  TV Licence Fees. This is completely wrong-headed. Not paying for a TV Licence is theft. Those who fail to pay are criminals and must be treated as such.It really is as simple as that. Many of those suggesting that decriminalising is appropriate appear to have a hidden agenda. Their real motive is ....

There has been extensive media coverage of George Osborne "cleverly" saving £1 Billion from public sector pension contributions to fund infrastructure development aimed at pleasing his political supporters. However clever Mr Osborne might be, the saddest part of the story is that all pension & National Insurance receipts in the UK simply drain into the same septic tank that houses taxation ....

Good to see Royal Bank of Scotland partnering more closely with the Post Office. Of course, it was already possible for most bank customers to withdraw cash at a Post Office counter, using a LINK card. Now,Royal Bank customers will also be able to deposit cash and cheques at their local Post Office. This is a very significant service improvement for customers of the bank.There are over 11,00....

Last year, Transport for London (TfL),who mess up virtually all Public Transport in London,announced that they were going to conduct a consultation process regarding their idea to stop Londoners using cash on the buses. Of course,the so-called consultation was a farce. TfL received many objections to their daft proposal BUT these have all been ignored. The ban on cash payments for bus fares wi....

It is quite astonishing how much publicity Bitcoin has been getting recently. Just in case you don't know what Bitcoin is,I will recite the Wikipedia definition."Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency.It is a cryptocurrency,so-called because it uses cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money". So now you know! Since Bitcoin was created in 2009,the va....

The Times Newspaper gave over almost a whole page on 23rd December to promoting a device which attaches to a mobile phone and allows traders to accept cards. The main example quoted of a company benefiting from this thrilling innovation sells Christmas trees.The owner imports them from Denmark (hard to find trees in the UK,no doubt?) and says they are too expensive to buy using cash! Well,....