Down But Not Out: Japan and the world in crisis (British Institute of Contemporary Economic and Political Studies, Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0NE, e-mail: biceps@btinternet.com). As western governments ponder Asia's stuttering economies, the author traces Japan's postwar development and paints a gloomy picture of its future. It will be ignored, then demonised by western capitalists courting a burgeoning Chinese market. Further privatisation and deregulation becomes the only palliative. An admission that Japanese capitalism brought stability undermines the report's Marxist analysis, but the conclusions are difficult to ignore: over-investment in financial rather than industrial capital leaves Britain and the US vulnerable to business cycle fluctuations; and while the Japanese can rely on social provisions in times of economic hardship, we have already cut back on the benefits and pensions designed to protect us. Will Japan's distinctive experience serve as a blueprint for other nation states?

Students as Citizens: focusing and widening access to higher education (Young Fabians pamphlet 53, The Fabian Society, 11 Dartmouth Street, London SW1H 9BN, 0171-976 7153). Elsbeth Johnson and Rana Mitter's proposals to improve higher education provision post-Dearing address several problems lying outside that sector. Schools should prepare children for university, and companies should provide more bursaries in undersubscribed disciplines. Students from ethnic minorities should be recruited professionally, with pupils as young as 13 aware of the range of subjects they can study. More contentious is the proposal allowing institutions to charge according to the service they provide. Here the line between students as citizens or consumers and education as process or product is a thin one. The report recognises the need for a workforce educated with relevant skills and critical thinkers fit for a democratic polity. It is to be hoped these groups are not mutually exclusive.

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