Funny isn’t it, when you mention ‘risk’ and ‘information’ how little regard some folk have to the proximity of those two concepts.

I made a very early morning phone call to someone in the Inland Revenue today and explained that some (not all), but some of my tax was likely to be a few days late in being paid (and this because money that I’m owed hasn’t been paid to me yet).

The person I spoke to said that this would incur a penalty charge of £750.00 PER DAY. Gasping for breath I asked if he could check this. ‘I’ll talk to my supervisor’ (cue out of tune Vivaldi sounding as if it is being played in the bowels of a large ship). ‘Yes, that’s right, I’ve just checked’.

That’s £7,500.00 in 10 days; £75,000 in 100 days; its almost QUARTER OF A MILLION POUNDS in one year. No wonder Gordon Brown looks so smug. For a slight late tax return???

Eventually got through to another number, although the 20 minutes of waiting was painful. A very helpful person from the Inland Revenue helped me sort it all out.

But a big lesson here for me on the powerful effect of the wrong information being disseminated by the wrong person or people.