What's mildly irritating you today?

[Carruthers]

The sole item in this morning's post was a brown envelope marked 'HM Revenue & Customs'.

Most Brits will be familiar with the feeling that the cold, clammy hand of the tax inspector has just gripped them on the back of the neck when such a letter lands.

True to form it seems that I owe them some money. They've kindly agreed to extract it from me over the twelve months of the next tax year.

There's a lot of taxation about the place, but representation seems in devilishly short supply.

Anyway, I'm not going to start dumping tea in a convenient harbour.

I do have some standards.