Dean Martin (Opinion Extra, March 22) hasn't done the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, any favours by inaccurately saying he has imposed on the public 43 sneaky back-door stealth taxes since taking office. And if Mr Martin's miscalculation were to be taken as gospel, it would seriously jeopardise poor Gordon's prospects of entering the Guinness Book of Records as the chancellor who raised more tax by stealth than any minister before him.

By my reckoning, Gordon has hit the taxpayer where the bruising will not be noticed (below the belt) on no fewer than 46 occasions since taking office, not 43.

As for the nameless wonders mentioned by Mr Martin increasingly appearing on the letters page, kick them all into touch, I say, unless name and address is withheld for some sensible, logical reason.

-Eric South, Glenfalls Avenue, Brighton