Death race: New Labour is no stranger to allegations of authoritarianism, but things have come to a pretty pass when the government decides to legislate the date of one's demise. Barry Borman of Edgware in north London writes in to highlight a curious hoop through which one must jump to take advantage of the Chancellor's transferable inheritance tax nil-rate band. Specifically, that the 'surviving spouse... must die on or after 9 October 2007' (see [2007] Gazette, 25 October, 24). Mr Borman says: 'One wonders whether there has been a recent spate of murders in order to comply with what appears to be such a mandatory requirement.'