“They are the chief instruments used by political and corporate elites to create today’s unjust, destructive global economic order,” says the group which is organising the protests. “The World Bank and the IMF have been quietly writing the rules that keep the world safe for multinational corporations while economically depriving billions around the world.”The protests may, in the short term, cause the IMF a lot of headaches, disrupting the meetings. The police and law enforcement agencies have been holding frequent meetings to prepare, and they will try to learn from the débâcle in Seattle. It is also likely that – with so many high-profile targets around – there may be more damage than in Seattle, and that the police will respond more aggressively.The short-term effect of the current crises is likely to be containable. The demonstrations will not shut the organisation down, and there is no prospect of the kind of damaging internal disagreement which paralysed the WTO from within in Seattle.But longer term, the omens are worrying. As with the WTO, there is no consensus on the operation of the IMF between the leading members, within the developing countries or between rich and poor states.

The pace of globalisation in the last decade has put increasing demands on the organisation and there is little agreement about how, or whether, it should address them.Defenders of the IMF comfort themselves with the knowledge that the critics are attacking from opposite sides. But the result is that gradually, the consensus case for the institution is being undermined. The next time that the Fund badly needs friends in high places – when it needs more cash, or faces another high-profile international emergency – it may find it harder to generate support.These are not problems of the IMF itself – they are problems of the infrastructure of global governance erected over the past 50 years. They have much in common with the difficulties faced by the European Union, the UN and, to some extent, Nato.

In each case, organisations that could once be sustained through intergovernmental agreement, diplomatic exchanges between ambassadors behind closed doors, are now struggling for a broader legitimacy, and failing to find it.. The secrets of musical talent may indeed lie in the length of a person’s fingers – and those with the longest fingers are the most successful, according to scientists from the University of Liverpool. The secrets of musical talent may indeed lie in the length of a person’s fingers – and those with the longest fingers are the most successful, according to scientists from the University of Liverpool.
It has long been believed that good musicians needed long fingers to be able to play a full range of notes. However, the new research shows musical ability may be linked to high levels of the male sex hormone testosterone when the foetus is developing.Dr John Manning, who led the research at the university’s School of Biological Sciences, measured the ring finger of every male player in a symphony orchestra. The findings, based on 54 men out of the70-strong orchestra, showed that all members had “exceptionally long” ring fingers compared with a control group, and the higher up the orchestra’s ranks, the longer the players’ ring fingers were.Dr Manning said: “If your ring finger is long in relation to your index finger, it indicates that when you were in the womb, you produced higher levels of testosterone. Male and female foetuses produce testosterone, but in men the doses are much higher. Our study suggests that the more testosterone a foetus produces, the better his musical ability.”The findings showed that highly placed players within the orchestra, for instance section principals, had the longest ring fingers.

This was also seen on a descending scale through the instrument groups – from strings to brass, wind and percussion.Dr Manning found men tended to have longer ring fingers compared with their index fingers, whereas women’s fingers were about the same length.. They say never meet your heroes. Margaret Ryley, a genteel 66-year-old relationship counsellor from Cheshire, learnt that lesson the hard way at yesterday’s Archers Addicts 10th Anniversary Convention

They say never meet your heroes. Margaret Ryley, a genteel 66-year-old relationship counsellor from Cheshire, learnt that lesson the hard way at yesterday’s Archers Addicts 10th Anniversary Convention.
Descending the stairs of the Peacock Theatre in the West End of London, her jaw dropped and eyes bulged as she noticed Colin Skipp’s badge announcing himself as the character Tony Archer.

“I was expecting somebody a lot younger,” whispered the horrified fan of 49 years. “Don’t tell him will you? I shall forget what he looks like when I listen to the programme.”The svelte Mr Skipp admitted: “People do get disappointed. They expect somebody who’s dark and satanic and a bit of a roly-poly.”About 600 members of the official fan club of the Radio 4 soap came to the event, attended by 19 of the actors. The well-behaved slice of Middle England rustled quietly in Barbours and tweed, forming orderly queues for an audience with their favourite cast members.