THIS is just a friendly warning to those who, like me, are rather protective of their privacy, and in particular our personal phone numbers.

A new directory inquiries service for mobile phone numbers, 118800, has been launched in the UK. Here’s how it works: you dial 118800 from your mobile and give the name and address of the person you want to contact. The service will try to connect you to the person you want to contact, but they won’t give you the other person’s number. You’re charged a 69p connection charge plus 14p per minute during the call. Alternatively you can log onto the 118800 website and key in the details of the person you want to contact. Again the service won’t give you their number (you’d have to go to the News of the World for that — ba-boom! I’m here all week, try the veal…), but they will send a text mesage to him or her with your contact details so that they can call you. This service costs £1.00. 

I only mentioned this because I’ve already used the ex-directory service to opt out and you may want to as well. Everyone who needs to call me on my mobile already has the number.

I’m sure it’s going to prove a useful service for some, but I doubt if many of us consented to having our mobiles on such a database (at least, not explicitly).

Tom Harris: always with the useful advice.