In a move that will raise a few hackles, Britain’s Inland Revenue last
month announced the arrival on the Internet of Hector—a cartoon character
that gives a human face to the male stereotype of the taxman
(http://www.open.gov.uk/inrev/sa/hector.htm).
Bowler-hatted Hector’s bluff countenance is
designed to reassure. The only thing that jars is an apparently panic-stricken
goldfish, trying to jump out of its bowl.