15 APRIL 2000, Page 30

Chancellors' luck

HE has certainly been luckier than a previ- ous chancellor who, less than a decade ago, was increasing the National Debt by a bil- lion pounds every week. By way of bolster- ing his revenues he proposed a tax on mobile telephones. They were a nuisance in restaurants, he said. With his luck, he might well have taxed them out of existence. Aunt Hattie would have known better.