At least Dick Turpin wore a mask

THE FRIDAY THING: 

AT least Dick Turpin had the courtesy to wear a mask before he robbed rich and poor alike.

Not so the Inland Revenue and its latest ruse.

We used to believe (because it was true) that once our money was in the bank it was generally safe until we wanted some of it to pay for holidays, shopping or Friday night curries.

Now it seems it is not the bank robbers, train robbers or the enterprising thieves who dig holes under banks and work their way through dirt and grime to steal the safe and its contents. Now, we are told Revenue and Customs has somehow gained the power to grab our money directly. The taxman is the chap wearing the little black mask and shouting “stand and deliver”.

Anyone who hasn’t paid his or her taxes for the last few years could find the long arm of the taxman reaching in to raid their bank account to pay off tax bills.

I know that taxes have to be paid to help to keep the country going and not have us all living in mud huts and eating mud pies, but there is something pernicious and verging on government-sponsored criminality to be diving into someone’s bank account just because they can.



FINAL WORD: According to the Daily Telegraph, so it must be right, men can be nagged into an early grave by their better half.

Men put under pressure by their partner are two and half times more likely to die within 10 years than those with less stressful (ie, nagged at) relationships.

Danish researchers say there are 315 extra deaths per 100,000 people every year caused by the demands (nagging) of their wife.

I wonder if nagging will ever make its way into an inquest as a cause of death.

Real victims of the nagging might just, of course, be happy to be out of it, even if it means doom.