A clutch of certificates for me, as the qualifier heats up...

I'm now well into my core assessments as the long journey towards becoming a real life Inspector of Taxes is finally underway.

The training is the same, regardless of background, so we start with some basic skills - analytical thinking, communication and teamworking - as well as some basic tax knowledge - how appeals are handled, how HMRC is structured, as well as some simple legal premises. As an old man, relatively speaking, I've spent my career doing these things, so the online assessments shouldn't represent a particularly high hurdle.

There is a catch though. The pass mark is 70%, and you only get two tries. Multiple failure means that you get a one way ticket back to oblivion, and I haven't sat an exam since 1986. And people do fail... Luckily, I've been in pretty good form, with only one score below 90% to date, and, although one can't get carried away, my confidence is higher than it was when I started.

The vagaries of timing haven't helped. My target was to complete all ten assessments by 15 March, but I've lost time due to our pre-arranged trip to Cuba, and a day to go to Brighton. All of this means that I will end up sitting a test every working day at 3 p.m. until next Wednesday, leaving me two spare days if anyhting goes wrong. It isn't ideal, but my ability to read critically has helped, it seems.

And yes, I do feel a bit under pressure, but after a quarter-century of almost unbroken lack of ambition, it does feel a bit like a zoo lion would if you realised it into the Serengeti - slighty scary but intriguing at the same time. Hopefully, it won't be me helping the vultures to grow fat.
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