WHILST I agree wholehearted with the comment about council tax rates varying across the country I can?t let Jim Goodwin?s letter (Times, January 19) pass without comment. He wonders if the two pensioner protesters would have got away with not paying all their council tax if they?d used the same excuse as the Deputy PM, John Prescott. The whole point about their protest was that it was too expensive to pay all of the tax, and claiming they forgot would have negated that very protest and much reduced the publicity received by going to jail. As occurs regularly with Mr Goodwin?s fundraising quiz nights in the King?s Arms, South Zeal, he seems not to have double-checked his facts first. He can tell mother that he can have a star for effort, but the silver and gold ones will remain elusive until he learns not to make such glaring mistakes! Dave Goodwin (Son) 2 Cleave Cottage Sticklepath