From ....Offputting Manor
Dashed inconvenience this freezing of the inheritance tax, you know.  I was down at the Surfeit of Lamprey talking with our near neighbour, The Colonel (that's Col. J. Arthur Somewhat-Vague for those of you not already familiar with the residents of Hogenroast Malpractice.) was fretting about what will happen when he tries to pass on Crumbleigh Towers to his eldest while still trying to preserve the family silver and, of course, the hunting lodge in Kenya. 

And it's not just us nobs that are likely to suffer, you know.  There's plenty of ordinary people who've paid their tax once over, already and would like to hand on what they worked hard to put together to their families. So why do we have to pay tax again on what we bought with wages that have already been stripped down by those ghastly fellows at the HMRC as they call themselves these days? 

The Colonel soon descended into his cups and I left him mumbling something about his collection of cricket bats that were used in test matches before 1923 but I did agree the point.  Perhaps it is time we put pen to paper and contacted our MP. 

I'll mention it to Maddy. (She writes all the letters for our house).  Just as well I didn't sell some of the manor house land for them to build a golf course on.  I wonder if that means the family membership to the old course counts as a benefit.... It's enough to make the old Baronet, my ancestor, Lord Hugh De Grincheaux turn in his grave.