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The Inland Revenue To Pension Off Its Lovable Hector

Jeremy Hetherington-Gore, Tax-News.com, London

11 January 2001

Gasps of shock rippled through the ranks of the UK's tax professionals and tax-payers on Wednesday as the news broke that Hector, the public face of the Inland Revenue, is to be retired.

The Revenue is to hold Hector's retirement party on a riverboat on the Thames today at which the media will be invited to see Hector walk away into the murky afternoon to begin a life of enforced idleness - he probably lives in Cheam, like Tony Hancock. You can imagine them chatting in the pub after work, or on their allotments at the weekend. Would Hector have told Tony about his job, though?

It is said that the Revenue has a new Marketing Director, who feels that the Revenue's image needs updating. We all know that new Marketing Directors inevitably change brands, images, logos and anything else they can uselessly spend money on.

Expect a Project Rebrand at Somerset House. The 'Inland Revenue' isn't a very good name, is it? Sounds old-fashioned. How about Fiscalite? And mytax.gov.co.uk for the web-site?

When Tax-News.com asked its technical department for suggestions, they said 'Money-grabbing old b*st*rds', and therein lies the truth about the awful mistake the Revenue is making - to throw away the one and only positive image they have shows a blinding disregard for reality. Everyone hates the Inland Revenue, however hard they try to be soft and cuddly, but Hector has a been an utter and surely unrepeatable triumph of public relations.

Anyway, Hector won't die, he is too good to kill. In fact we venture to predict that he will outlive the new Marketing Director. Tax-News for one will continue to use Hector to deliver appropriate messages about the Inland Revenue alongside news stories.

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