does anyone understand what gordy is talking about?

Oh Gordon, you may be the next Prime Minister but you don't half complicate things.

Recently, like many people in Britain I've been trying to fill in a tax credits form...

There are two types of tax credit. Working Families tax credit and Child Tax Credit.

That's where the simple stuff stops.

Nowhere in the pages of forms we've been sent does it explain what exactly is a tax credit or why the Government thinks they are such a good idea.

And of course, the form itself is close to unintelligible.

"A child element may be paid for a child from birth until the day before September 1 following their 16th birthday. A single baby element is paid if at least one child is under the age of one.."

"A child element may also be paid for 20 weeks after a young person leaves full-time education provided they are still under 18 and registered for work..."

If nice middle class lads like me can't understand the forms, what hope for single Mums in grotty estates?

Anyone would think that the forms were deliberately complicated to stop people claiming cash from a Government that's far too busy attacking civil liberties - everything from hunting to smoking - and coming up with jargon-filled nanny state initiatives.

Does anyone understand what these people are talking about?

Keep it simple.

Will