Point taken papercut but it was in response to the original remark about 'ruining the lives of honest people'. The date is, I presume, because the budget is for 2010 so I think that makes sense. The seven years is also probably from the precedence of the original timescale. The point I'm making is that you have to pick some date in which you feel NE may start to be a factor. 2004 is not a bad choice but that, of course, may change totally. My point is that the dates are selected and that is the benchmark. We cant decide to change around and make exceptions and any persons whim. To put into perspective, I was born in December but when I played under age football I had to play with people who were a year older than me i.e. say I was 14 in December, I was deemed to have to play under fifteen for the whole of that year despite being eligible for under 14 for 11 months of it. They couldn't make exceptions which is the way the cookie crumbles.