Berate bookmakers over punter restrictions but not for paying huge tax bills

Moira Stuart was an extremely good newsreader but almost certainly wrong when regularly repeating in television advertisements that tax does not need to be taxing.

Over the last few days, in offices and homes across the United Kingdom, people have no doubt cursed Stuart's otherwise good name as they furiously battled to complete self-assessment tax returns before the January 31 deadline.

It can be a fraught experience, made all the more stressful by knowing the job could have been safely completed many months earlier. Yet, as flawed humans, we so often leave things to the last minute, which is why so many anxious souls will have spent hours searching through drawers for that piece of paper with their 12-character Government Gateway account details.