Being with my very conservative family in Dorset , I am enduring the Daily Telegraph which arrives each morning – courtesy of a pleasant lad called Alex who delivers it on a bicycle.

I am surprised that so much money is wasted on this absurd paper, but it reinforces what my sensible brother calls “provincialism” and my less sensible brother’s rampant xenophobia.

My mother re-uses the paper for a wide variety of household tasks, this morning I was happy to find it having been reappointed to wrap up the debris of Christmas Day.

Her frugality has reached a new height this morning , with my discovery that she attaches used matches to the matchbox for  recycling (they being so very long).

To my great surprise, the Daily Telegraph does not want to recycle Manchester United’s Theatre of Dreams, suggesting instead it would be more economical to build a new theatre next door and then pull the old one down.

In a staggering 7 pages of reporting on Jim Ratcliffe’s partial acquisition of Manchester United, we gather that the place is simply not fit for either the prawn sandwich brigade or the loyal non-Mancunians who flock to the place week after week – generating revenues of £4.1m a game.

I have been there once to watch a reserve team game mid-week. It was fun but I did feel like I was in a 1980s theme park (and that was 10 years ago).

My mother’s matchbox, complete with reusable matchstick will serve as a reminder to me that frugality is not always in the interests of all stakeholders. I suspect that at 91 , my Mum is in as much need as a convenient alternative as Manchester United.