New Traditionalist | Ian Thomas

Just ima­gine if one of the many fin­an­cial ser­vices brands or inde­pend­ent fin­an­cial advisers — reg­u­larly berated by self-proclaimed Money­Saving­Ex­pert Martin Lewis — broad­cast email con­tent that was so ambigu­ous that it required the addi­tion of an (ish) in the copy?

They’d be hung out to dry wouldn’t they? (In fact, they are hung out to dry and then fined by a regulator.)

So take a look at this week’s email from Mr Lewis and see if you can spot the ‘ish’-es pep­per­ing the copy.

In the interests of clar­ity and fair treat­ment of con­sumers, are the flights from Ryanair £5 pounds or not? Are ‘free’ Star Wars models worth £4 or not and — for that matter — are they ‘free’? And can you print 100s of photos for free or not?

Martin Lewis is sup­posed to be a cham­pion for the fair treat­ment of con­sumers and their rights, and good for him too.

But that is a priv­ileged plat­form and, if you use it as a means of deliv­er­ing aggreg­ated money-saving links, then you should adhere to the same prin­ciples that you insist others should apply to their own pro­mo­tional activity.

For instance, Mr Lewis could declare his inten­tion to vol­un­tar­ily adhere to the prin­ciples and rules applied to fin­an­cial pro­mo­tions in the UK that thou­sands of pro­fes­sion­ally qual­i­fied fin­an­cial advisers are expec­ted to abide by.

At the very least, con­tent pub­lished in Mr Lewis’s name should be crys­tal clear about the details of avail­able offers — and espe­cially the poten­tial costs.

Not to do so is misleading(ish).

No. Scratch that. It is misleading.