This week's opinion: 6 August 2020

Ihad a few days off last week and had the pleasure of visiting Norfolk the county of my birth. I was there mainly to see family members who still live there but also to do more research into my family tree.

While there I was delighted to discover that I had tax blood in the family: William Hubbard born 1855 was described on one document as an ‘independent tax collector’. I assume that he was one of the individuals engaged by the local commissioners to collect taxes rather than a centrally appointed collector for the Inland Revenue but I need to do some more work on this. I certainly hope that the phrase was not a euphemism to describe somebody who went round demanding money with menaces from local farmers.

My pleasure at the discovery was slightly diminished when I realised that this particular William Hubbard was not my direct...