hundreds or thousands?

Expectation and disappointment are familiar companions. London hosted two major events today, both of which have received pre-publicity that even Max Clifford would be proud of.

First came the march and rally. The BOF attended the latter part of this and was suitably chilled by the starkness of the message: Archbishop Beaver is right: God is not giving any help. Nor, it would appear, are the years spent in the classroom by any of the speakers, at least not the years learning maths.

As early April showers spattered the small crowd, the worm from Blackadder told us that thousands of people were still coming in. This was repeated a few minutes later. The BOF craned his neck, but could see no sign of the arriving masses. A few late-comers were drifting in from the route of the march, many of them wearing the day's must-have fashion item, an RMT logo, but thousands there were not.

Later, watching the second event, empty red seats vied with red England shirts on the TV screen. Let us hope that we will be entertained by organisers of the march claiming that many stayed at home to watch the football, while Wembley claims that a real desire to better humanity kept football fans away - a preposterous notion, obviously, what with football being more important than life and death.

Clearly, lessons have not been learnt, as this was a perfect example of the modern desire for sustained growth in expectation. Just as sustained economic growth can only lead to the kind of mess we're in now, so growth in expectation can only lead to cataclysmic disappointment. Expect wailing and gnashing of teeth very soon.