IF Gordon Brown gets his way, banks will soon be placed in a separate legal category from all other UK businesses. That is the main message of the Treasury’s new paper on financial capability and depositor protection, and it has serious implications for bank investors and customers.

A rerun of the Rock fiasco with the new fire engines in place would have had the Financial Services Authority hauling in that bank’s (now former) chief executive, Adam Applegarth, to explain why he was relying so heavily and riskily on money markets rather than depositors for mortgage finance.

McConnell U-turn on business tax pledge

Instead, ministers are understood to be looking at new ways to provide help. The move was seized on by opposition parties last night. Murdo Fraser, enterprise spokesman for the Scottish Tories, said: "They have been left with egg on their faces because it is very difficult to implement." The plan was put forward by McConnell as a way of tackling Scotland's historically low levels of research and development, which is seen as crucial to keeping Scotland's economy competitive. However, it is understood that civil servants warned almost immediately after McConnell's pledge that the plan would fall foul of European Union trade rules. And business groups are said to have been cool on the plan from the start, fearing that it would create a huge amount of bureaucracy. A draft document containing the plan was supposed to have been published last December, but has been postponed on at least two occasions as officials attempt to come up with policies which will work.

Why the future doesn't need us.

My friend Amory Lovins recently cowrote, along with Hunter Lovins, an editorial that provides an ecological view of some of these dangers. Among their concerns: that "the new botany aligns the development of plants with their economic, not evolutionary, success." (See "A Tale of Two Botanies," page 247.) Amory's long career has been focused on energy and resource efficiency by taking a whole-system view of human-made systems; such a whole-system view often finds simple, smart solutions to otherwise seemingly difficult problems, and is usefully applied here as well.

After reading the Lovins' editorial, I saw an op-ed by Gregg Easterbrook inThe New York Times (November 19, 1999) about genetically engineered crops, under the headline: "Food for the Future: Someday, rice will have built-in vitamin A.

Disney and Techno Source Take Internet Connectivity to the Next Level with Disney Fairies(TM) Toys Powered by ...

The Disney Fairies franchise will fly to new heights in 2008 as Disney introduces a breakthrough concept in next-generation Internet-connectivity with Disney Fairies(TM) toys featuring Clickables(TM) technology. Developed as an exclusive collaboration between Disney and Techno Source, a leader in electronic toys and games, the Clickables technology enables girls to extend their virtual playtime in Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, Disney's latest online virtual world, with friends offline, into the real world, with patent-pending technology so simple and seamless that it seems magical.

LeapFrog Appoints Game Development and Marketing Executives

As the new vice president of game development, Schwartz assumes the helm of technology and product development at LeapFrog. Schwartz comes to LeapFrog from Electronic Arts, where he served as senior development director, providing leadership and strategic vision to contract game studios. Schwartz's experience in the video game industry began at age 11 when he programmed his first game. He has built on that passion and grown his experience with tenures at several video game development companies, including WildTangent, Inc. He has a degree in computer science from the University of California at Los Angeles.

In his new role at LeapFrog, Miller will be responsible for leading brand marketing and advertising, as well as public relations and packaging. Miller began his marketing career at Young & Rubicam Advertising where he headed up major consumer brand accounts such as Clorox and Xerox.

Kirsten Dunst

Unless someone drove her and she spent the whole trip downing booze like a convict on death row. In which case, I only have one thing to say to that: Kirsten Dunst, will you marry me? Obviously not in a church. I know how holy water burns your vampire skin. See, baby, I notice the little things.