Just as a matter of interest, I let a few flats and the Hotpoint
machines vibrate like hell on any spin, whereas the Hoover are almost as
smooth as silk.

Any ideas?

My current thoughts are that Hotpoint are crap, and I will never buy
anything else from them. It might also be because you spent 8 years
developing the Hoovers g


Mind you, Hoover has for many years now been owned by Candy (all happened after
my time)