very bright people. A single party system can lead to disaster - but if run intelligently can bring progress very quickly. For the moment I think that the Chinese are doing a pretty good job - given the very difficult position they find themselves in. The biggest danger is in it being taken over by nationalist fanatics. We need to engage positively with the Chinese in every way we can. Luckily for us all we have this financial problem, and the climate problem. Self interest will force us to work constructively together to solve these problems which threaten us all. "It is an economy that does not innovate - it is the great copier and counterfeiter of Western technology. This may change over the next 200 years, but not during the lifetime of most of the people reading this column." This comment casts doubt on how much we should rely on Will Hutton's prognistications and knowledge and interpretation of economic and industrial history. China is already innovating in for example open source approaches to manufacturing and development of components. Initial reliance on copying and reverse engineering has been a common feature in many newly industrialising countries. The progression to innovation has been uneven. But as a broad generalisation, like the overall pace of industrialisation, it has quickened. Even without its immense history and culture of invention, it is to be expected that China will be an economy that will very quickly develop and benefit from strengths in innovation. The consequences