Gosling's Grouse: Debt junkies

If someone has a drink problem, the worst place you could take them is a pub. If they have a drug problem the last thing you want to do is let them mix with other junkies. And the last thing you do with someone in debt is offer them more credit.

What is the current equivalent? A call for 16-year-olds to get a bank account at the same time as they get their National Insurance number from the government. The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) thinks it would be a really clever idea for kids to get a bank account because it would “help children understand personal finance at a much earlier age”. What a lot of old twaddle. By giving kids electronic money – because that is all a bank account is – we encourage them not to understand the value of real money. By real money I mean actual notes and coins, because a ...