INSPIRED by our PM and with a burning desire to be a fiscal conservative, I approached my children with a household version of an AWA. The offer? In exchange for a slight increase in pocket money they would sign away previous "childhood" award conditions including tooth fairy bonuses, Easter egg allowances, Christmas presents and all current birthday "fringe benefits".

They were sceptical that this arrangement was going to be a winner for them but then I explained the regime of "user-pays" that I had devised for our shiny new economic rationalist household. From their slightly increased "pay packet" the kiddies will be expected to fork out for extras like DVDs, trips to the movies, sporting equipment, music lessons and non-essential food items. It's a radical change but I am confident that in a couple of years we will have eradicated household debt and be the proud owners of a healthy budget surplus.

My wife has been polling the family since the introduction of our domestic AWAs and she reports that my popularity is sliding. The latest poll reported that the vagrant who inhabits a nearby park has achieved a 62 per cent rating as "preferred father figure", a lead of 62 percentage points on me. But this isn't a popularity contest - it's about the bottom line!