A Taxing Time for the HMRC
I got a letter from the tax office back in September. It said I hadn’t paid my monthly PAYE and CIS deductions for August. I sent them a copy of my bank statement (they won’t accept emails) proving I had paid it and forgot about it, thinking it was an oversight they would put right. In December, I got a further letter saying I still hadn’t paid it and the debt was accruing interest. I tried calling them but, because of Covid, amongst ...
Captain Tom and a Nation Told to Mourn!
One of the most curious things about the death of Captain Tom Moore, is the enforced grief that is put upon us. I didn’t know Tom, but I will go with the benefit of the doubt and assume he was a nice chap. His laps around the garden caught the public eye and a lot of money was raised. That’s good, that is. However, here are few of the things I heard regarding Tom Moore, yesterday. “He bonded a nation in our darkest period”. ...
Sliding Back into Alcohol Dependency
One of the things that I have found to be a test of my resilience during the pandemic is alcohol dependency. Before last spring, I was barely drinking and not touching a drop in the week. It seemed that I had lost any dependency and broken all the habits of an adult lifetime. I was feeling cleaner for it too. Breaking these habits had come from watching a documentary by Adrian Charles called ‘Drinkers Like Me’. It turned out I was a ...
Procrastination that Failed a Nation
When I am working, I have had to get myself into the habit of dealing with boring matters as they come into my email box before they become an escalating problem. I have this terrible habit of ignoring the uninteresting, yet vital things, until it is almost too late. I’m a bit like the kid at the breakfast table frantically doing his homework on its due date a full three weeks after it has been set. Proactive Satisfaction The funny ...
Can Science Stamp out the Covid Fires?
Ever since I became an amateur epidemiologist last March, I have been following the Coronavirus epidemic with morbid fascination. The amount I have learnt is negligible, but I can say with confidence, I know more than I did a year ago, when I didn’t even know what a virus was. If, like me, you have (*rapidly taps wooden desk*) avoided these things over the years, it is understandable not to know anything about them. The reason I took an ...