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And once the election is out of the way, stand by for another cheery prospect: reading the Dearing report. Early signs are that Sir Ron's analysis will be built for completeness rather than portability.

Talk is of 450-500 pages of the main report and 600-800 pages of annexes, research reports and the like, and rumours of compact discs and other less tree-intensive modes of publication are gaining ground.

For the less rigorous, there will be an executive summary, for which forecasts are in the 24-48 page range.

Perhaps the revival of the British film industry will suggest itself as a further channel for popularising the Dearing findings, possibly with John Cleese as Sir Ron.