In September, one of these window-lickers had a laptop stolen from the boot of a car which had been left overnight.

Then last month, two CDs full of sensitive data were lost in transit between Newcastle and Edinburgh.

And now, these complete and utter incompetents have managed to lose the details of 25,000,000 child benefit recipients.

“Revenue and Customs says it does not think the records – names, addresses, date of birth, national insurance numbers and bank accounts – have fallen into the wrong hands.”

Thank goodness for that: I can rest now. Erm. Er. How do they know this? And given their evident monumental stupidity, why should any of us treat anything they say with anything other than complete contempt?

The Chairman of HMR&C has resigned, saying:

“But I am extremely proud of what all of you in the organisation have achieved during my time as deputy chairman and chairman.”

Good for him! He can indeed be proud of their fantastic achievements in being unable to do anything as simple as transport a CD or two around or keep a laptop safe…