Congratulations Margo and your contributors for setting out in detail some of the sinister attacks on our democracy, which John Howard is directing against our democracy.

Your book shows how easily democracy could be undermined and gradually be replaced by a much more authoritative form of government. As well as reversing the forces presently attacking our democracy, we have to build defences which will prevent it happening again.

To me it seems that the answer lies in providing an education system with a different orientation. Education must be directed towards teaching people to think . By saying this I am proposing that students, and for that matter the public in general, must be instructed in how to use their brains effectively and rationally. Neurological investigation has gradually revealed how much of our behaviour is directed by non -rational factors.

The only people applying this knowledge at present are the marketers, advertisers,