Star comment: The Treasury and all of us need to get money smart

Two new reports shed a light on the situation we are in.

Around £268 billion of households’ money is sitting in accounts paying zero interest, according to analysis by a building society in the West Midlands. That is money that is being whittled away by inflation, when it could be earning at least a little interest elsewhere.

Meanwhile billions of pounds that could be spent on public services is being lost through unpaid tax, according to MPs. The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that an “eye-watering” £42 billion is outstanding in unpaid tax, with around five per cent of tax owed each year failing to be collected by HMRC.

Both are examples of bad financial management. The first comes through our habit of keeping money in the same account - and it suits banks to keep hold of our money without having to pay a fair rate of interest. As inflation soars, interest rates on savings are only crawling up. It means that those who have worked all their lives to save are now seeing those savings lose their value in real terms.

Meanwhile, as we suffer under the economic crisis, billions of tax is going unpaid. While most of us pay what we owe in taxes, many do not, both personally and in business. It makes sense both financially and morally for the Government to go after that unpaid tax and improve the nation’s coffers along the way.

The Treasury must do its job better while citizens must take responsibility for managing their own finances more effectively.

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Football is about hopes and dreams. It brings communities together. It makes grown men cry, both in joy and sorrow.

Andrew Morris was just eight when he decided to write to all top-flight clubs asking for merchandise in exchange for his support. He was overwhelmed with the response, with a stack of autographed items landing on his doorstep. The only disappointment was Arsenal, who sent him a club shop catalogue.

His memories of that time – together with pictures of his football treasure chest – have become an online sensation with more than 60,000 hits.

It is a recollection of a time when money had yet to dominate the sport and also a touching snapshot of the excitement football can bring.

Andrew’s young daughter, inspired by her dad, is now going to replicate the exercise. It will be interesting to see how today’s Premier League clubs respond.