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The paper aims to assess the effects of taxes and benefits on inequality and poverty in five African countries: Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

The authors use newly developed micro-simulation models to analyse the distribution and composition of incomes.

The study's results suggest that income-based measures result in higher levels of poverty and inequality than consumption-based measures. The country with the most effective system in terms of reducing income inequality and poverty is South Africa; in Ghana, the tax-benefit system was found to have the smallest impact on inequality. The systems of Uganda, Mozambique and Zambia were estimated to have no poverty-reducing properties; many individuals remain largely unaffected by them as they are too poor to pay direct taxes, and benefits are very modest and narrowly targeted.

While consumption data are crucial for measuring poverty, income data are becoming vital for assessing the extent to which tax-benefit policies achieve redistribution in economies where own-consumption is becoming less significant and the share of people in employment is increasing. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study where poverty and inequality are measured in both terms, for several African countries in a common framework.

In early April this year there was much media coverage of a government preliminary report that was stated to have commented about the eating habits of a sample of 3000 children aged 10–15 years old. The report was said to have contained results which indicated that many children were eating foods high in animal fat and sugar, while low in fibre. Diets were said to be deficient in vegetables and fruit, and in lean meat. Concern was expressed about the levels of vitamins and minerals in children's diets. We will have to await publication of the full report before commenting further, but it is appropriate to mention it now because it provides a useful context in which to view the results of a study of school meals in the ILEA carried out at the University of Surrey. Michael Kipps MSc, Carol Noble BSc and James Thomson PhD describe their study and summarise the results.

In an article in Nutrition and Food Science in August 1982 a case was put forward for a closer co‐operation between those involved in nutrition education in schools and those concerned with the provision of school meals in the hope that this would help children to choose wisely from the increasing numbers of cash cafeterias now appearing in schools. But before such a meal choice scheme can be developed for use in guiding children's selection of food, a sound knowledge of their present food habits, particularly foods commonly chosen at lunchtime, is needed. A study being carried out at the University of Surrey on schools meals has provided the opportunity to collect baseline data concerning children's choice and their consumption of food at lunchtime in a variety of situations. Information relating food consumption at lunchtime to food intake for the whole day is also being collected.

The food habits of generations of people in the UK were subtly influenced by the traditional school dinners. Today those adults who love or loathe gravy, custard, mashed potatoes, boiled greens, prunes and semolina pudding may be able to trace their attitudes to school meals eaten ten, twenty or thirty years ago. Nowadays, when school caterers make every effort to serve only those foods which children will eat and enjoy — and which in many cases are identical with the foods children eat everywhere else — is it possible that school meals can influence and improve the food habits of future generations?

This chapter examines why U.S. offshore wind farms do not exist and identifies sites most suitable for development based on European offshore wind farms. A survey of current literature indicates that U.S. development is stalled due to a lack of government and financial support. The literature identifies common attributes associated with the successful deployment of European offshore farms and provides a basis for a multi-criteria decision analysis of potential U.S offshore wind farm sites. A review of European wind farms indicates that a small, 10–50 MW farm located in shallow waters of less than 20 m might be more successful than previous U.S. development efforts. The review also identifies common European attributes deemed critical for success. These attributes are modified, taking into account unique U.S. factors, and a set of nine critical attributes are derived for use in a multi-criteria decision analysis model of suitable U.S. locations. The nine critical attributes (wind quality, water depth, shore distance, state support, public support, industrial support, population density, weather, and energy costs), along with associated utility function values, are applied to 23 past and current proposed U.S. sites. The model identified three sites, in Galveston Island, TX, Port Isabel, TX, and Block Island, RI, as being most favorable for a small wind farm.

To supplement the well‐known instructor training courses at Letchworth Government Training Centre, a second Instructor Training College has recently been opened at the Hillington GTC, Glasgow.

To Russia with trade. Now that the alleged Russian spies have gone and relations between Britain and the Kremlin are gradually returning to what passes as normal, John Davies is standing by for an invitation to Moscow. The Trade and Industry Secretary, with order forms in his briefcase, was due in the Soviet capital in January. But following the mass expulsions of Russians and their families by the Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas‐Home, the situation—to quote a DTI man—got a bit ‘saggy’. In retaliation, the Russians promptly cancelled plans for the second meeting of the Anglo‐Soviet joint commission on applied science, technology, and trade. Now the department is expecting an invitation any time to enable the meeting—the inaugural gathering was in London in January last year—to take place in the autumn, probably in October. The result, according to information flowing back from our men in the British Embassy in Moscow, could be a dramatic stepping up in Anglo‐Soviet trade for British manufacturers willing to plunge in to what the ministry stress is a tough market place (fainthearts should stop at home).