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THOSE FEW OF YOU, comparatively, on the receiving end of the much‐heralded £1000m cuts in government spending announced in mid‐July needn't feel lonely for long. The cuts were cosmetic in relation to the problem, like a smatter of eye‐black to prepare Edith Evans to play Ophelia, and there will be more in the annual November budget, and again next year. I have long reckoned that recession hits the world of books 1½‐2 years after the mainstream industrial economy, and the first sign of upturn in the latter means a bumpy ride still to come for us. So keep the purse‐strings tied up tight yet awhile.