Fans of George Orwell might see this as part of his uncanny ability to predict the dark course of society. But Members of the current adminsitration seem to have got over excited and treated his writing as some sort of “how to” guide.

City AM revealed this morning that HM Revenue & Customs has launched a new website to help people snitch on businesses they believe may be dodging tax. Financial secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms said the system is confidential: “Reporting your concerns online is quick and easy.”

Trans: “we’ve made it nice and easy for the vindictive to grass up their colleagues, neighbours and families to the man.”

Nice going. We wondered what all the people working on Big Brother would do once the series was ditched.

Taxman launches snitch site [City AM]