THE fact that Angela Rayner is now able to be in the running for Labour Party leader because she settled the tax bill she was either too corrupt or too stupid not to have paid in the first place says everything, doesn’t it, because neither covers her in glory.

A housing minister not knowing the rules about the stamp duty on a second home? Not making sure you’re whiter than white in that position – come on, love, you pulled a fast one and it blew up in your face.

This, of course, is old news but what isn’t is that the HMRC have decided she wasn’t ‘careless’ and hasn’t hit her with a penalty.

They ALWAYS hit you with a penalty – at least they would thee and me. I am still very sore with the HMRC who decided I owed them thousands more than I did, hit me with a penalty and daily interest payments.

It was scary how much compound interest was mounting up. ‘Don’t pay it, you don’t owe it’ said my accountant. I paid it because they harassed me daily and it scared me because I WAS whiter than white.

It took two years for them to admit I didn’t owe it. But did they refund the penalty? Nope. Or the interest. They refused. Work that out. And yet they don’t give a penalty to her. It seems that the Two Tier Keir effect spreads outwards to his mates, doesn’t it?

Also, I wish I could stick to a diet the way Keir Starmer is sticking to his job. He’s like a limpet with a backside made of superglue.

I expect he’s hoping for a recovery so that there is something more positive that, in time, historians can write about him other than, ‘Wherever he went – and wherever he didn’t go for that matter - he was pilloried by chants of ‘Keir Starmer’s a w-----r’.

I have been watching the Jordan Gray food reviews of cafes and takeaways in the local area. I don’t think my friend Jay Rayner will be looking over his shoulder at the competition anytime soon, but it is fun. Especially the latest instalment where he and his two mates are sitting in a car eating chicken. The verdict? ‘It’s f----g waaaarm’.

But what had us in proper paroxysms of laughter were the local shop names in New Lodge – in particular ‘Planet of the Vapes’.

I’m a great collector of shop names to put in my books. In my notebooks I also have – from real places – Amy’s Winehouse, I Believe I Can Fry (chip shop), Bonny Tiler, MacBet (Scottish betting shop) among many others. And when I once lived in Haworth there was a Kilmeny Surgery nearby. Judging by their very low public rating, I think they might as well.

It is GCSE time and lord that took me back a bit thinking about my own. Forty-six years ago I sat mine (they were ‘O’ levels in those days).

I hope I never have to revise anything ever again! And they were terrifyingly important because it felt as if our whole lives were dependent upon them.

They determined the A levels, then the degree, then the job. I couldn’t even decide what socks to put on never mind the rest of my life.

In the end, I didn’t land the career I wanted until I was 40. Some pals changed the course of their lives in their 50s and 60s.

Never too late if you’re not happy with your lot. Just saying…