Despite the fanfare when the urban white paper was launched, there was nothing for the cities in the Queen's speech. Between them, the government intends to make it less likely that people will quit metropolitan centres and more likely that those who live in rural areas will be happy. The Office of Public Accountability would monitor the NHS Fund and ensure that it was only used for the purposes for which it was set up It would also assess the performance of the NHS against the government's own targets - to the ultimate benefit of both the NHS and the government. Mr Hague rightly worries about falling police numbers since 1993. Mr Hague is also right to be concerned about the rise in crime figures over the last four decades.
Scientists are great at shooting the messenger.
It's never their fault when the media make overblown claims about new results. Journalists are never guilty of dumbing down or climbing on bandwagons. SciBAr, organised by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, is open to everyone. Air your views or just listen to others - it's your regular pub debate just on a larger scale. Bruce Caldwell holds the Ludwig M Lachmann Research Fellowship for the 2000-2001 academic year.