Recently, a brochure letterboxed around New Zealand and authorised by the previously unknown group New Zealand Advocates for Timely Healthcare urged a vote against the Labour Party in the September 17 election. Another, titled The Green Delusion, railed against Green Party policies.

The Lancet, a leading medical journal, has requested that its parent company, Reed Elsevier, divest itself of business interests that "threaten human health." The magazine's editor made the request after learning that Spearhead Exhibitions, a Reed Elsevier subsidiary, organised the Defence Systems and Equipment international (DSEi) arms fair, which opens this week in London.

When George W.