ANOTHER day, another data blunder.

I gather HM Revenue & Customs has apologised after accidentally distributing private details about thousands of tax credit claimants.

Apparently one woman from Manchester received a letter that included her neighbour’s earnings and the bank sort code and last four digits of the bank account number of another claimant.

If the State insists on the right to demand people’s details, it should darn well take better care of the information that is stored by civil servants and quangos.

With ever more personal data being compiled by the authorities it seems we can only look forward to more of these errors and the inevitable hollow apologies.

H MACFARLANE

Oxford