The furniture designers include Jasper Morrison and Matthew Hilton, who have both worked for Italian manufacturers, Fred Scott, Tom Dixon, Terence Woodgate, Oubaholyodhin, Tristram Mylius, Lynne Wilson and Michael Young.Rugs are to be provided by Christopher Farr, light sculpture by Jeremy Lord, flower arrangements from Paula Pryke – and the food from Anton Escalera, of the Midsummer House Restaurant, Cambridge.But for all the assertive British cultural diplomacy, there is also a serious topic on the table: the creation of a single currency and the new council which will manage it from 1999. Style wars were declared by the Prime Minister’s office last night, as frantic London preparations were under way for the annual summit between Jacques Chirac, the French President, Lionel Jospin, his Prime Minister, Tony Blair and ministerial colleagues.
While the diplomatic agenda ranged over the customary points of mutual European and international interest, including the single currency and Iraq, the lunchtime menu, the furniture, the art to be hung on the walls, even the rugs and flower arrangements, were being given the full promotional spin by the Number 10 spokesman.With a bird’s-eye view of the Millennium Dome development site, an entire floor of the 50-floor Canary Wharf tower has been taken over for the summit, with Terence Conran laying out rooms which will be partitioned with opaque glass walls, complete with cherrywood doors.Whitehall went to town on the furnishings and the young team of top British designers who are being provided with a world stage for their work – much of it already promoted by the Italians, who have spotted winning designs and provided some of the designers with work. But he will also be trying to prevent Britain from becoming politically marginalised in Europe by the creation of a single currency Anthony Bevins, Katherine Butler and John Lichfield report. Tony Blair will lay on a show of the best of British design, culture and food at Canary Wharf in east London for the French President and Prime Minister, who arrive today. Earlier studies using questionnaires have shown, though less convincingly than PET scans, that regular users of Ecstasy tend to be more depressed than non-users.But that is not incontrovertible evidence of permanent damage. The human brain repeatedly demonstrates that it is capable of withstanding massive amounts of damage and rebuilding itself: people who have sufffered even serious strokes often regain many faculties, demonstrating that even real damage in which neurons actually die can be overcome.. “The really tricky point about this is whether you call these changes `damage’, or whether they are chemical responses to the drug which would in time reverse themselves.” A scientist for the US Environmental Protection Agency commented that “there’s no evidence of structural damage”.The knee-jerk reaction by drug opponents would be to point to this study as definitive evidence that Ecstasy does damage.

The control subjects had normal levels of serotonin activity. The Ecstasy users, though, showed deficiencies in all brain regions.Una McCann, one of the team members, told New Scientist magazine that this is clear evidence that Ecstasy damages serotonin-generating synapses: “The message is that if you’re going to use it, do it in moderation.”But David Concar, the deputy editor of New Scientist and a PhD in biochemistry, pointed out last night that the case against Ecstasy may not be so clear- cut. Though small, the number is sufficient to pinpoint differences between groups using PET.Dr Ricaurte examined the peoples’ brains to evaluate the activity of the millions of brain synapses which release a neurotransmitter called serotonin – the “happiness chemical”. In effect, repeated use might leave the brain drained of that chemical. But scientists are still debating whether, over time, our most adaptable organ might make allowances even for that change.The latest research by George Ricaurte, assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University, used positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, which can produce detailed images of active areas of the brain, to study two groups, each of 14 recreational drugs users.The first group used Ecstasy and other drugs; the others used drugs excluding Ecstasy. If the brain cannot compensate for the changes caused by the drug, the long- term effects could include widespread depression and even suicide.That is because Ecstasy affects the production of a chemical that modulates how happy we feel.

The tough question now is, are they actually damaging them?
Though the effects of the changes could take years or even decades to show up, it is potentially serious news for the UK’s estimated 500,000 regular “E” users, who each take one or two tablets every weekend. For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that long-term users of the “rave drug” Ecstasy are permanently altering their brains. Isn’t that bad news? Well, maybe, maybe not: our brains might take it in their stride, just as they do so much else Charles Arthur, Science Editor, looks at the implications

The brain scans are unequivocal. The first formal studies using brain scans show that regular Ecstasy users are permanently changing their brains.

I also like the way that Shell looks after its staff in terms of both working environment and benefits. Recently I have begun lecturing at conferences about the role of the PA and sharing my expertise with others, an experience I have found surprisingly enjoyable.Interview by Katie Sampson. He instructed me to send the customer’s wife a huge bunch of roses by way of apology. That one small gesture said more than all the letters in the world could have done. We work very closely with the customer, and when one man wrote to complain that the complimentary rose he got with his petrol on Valentine’s day had wilted by the time it got back to his wife, I took the letter in to the chairman because I felt he ought to see it. The buck stops here, so I do as much as I can to relieve the chairman of unnecessary pressures, using a combin- ation of judgement and initiative. Organising his schedule involves arranging not only visits, meetings and travel, but also quiet time for Chris to think.We have experts working with each sector and one can call on them at any point.