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After first being issued in draft in July 1998 and then taking a year to go through Parliament, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FISMA) finally became law on 14th June, 2000. The Treasury, the government department responsible for the UK financial services industry, has, however, just announced that the FISMA will not come fully into force until summer 2001, although some sections may perhaps come into force earlier.

The author explains the new civil offence of market abuse introduced by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) in England and Wales, looking at its relationship with criminal offences, examples of abusive behaviour and the possibility of “innocent” market abuse. Article by Charles Abrams (Partner, S J Berwin & Co). Published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.

The effect of different headlight patterns on driving performance was investigated during test drives along a 8-km rural highway. Eighteen subjects drove the test course once for each of the three headlight conditions: low beam, high beam, and low-plus-high beam. Continuous recordings were obtained of vehicle speed, brake pressure, acceleration, steering wheel angle, and lane position. Response profiles for average and 1 S.D. of response were plotted as a function of distance along the test course. ANOVA showed small but statistically significant illumination effects for average speed, average lane position, and standard deviation of steering wheel position and fore-aft accelerations. It was concluded that the test course may have been too difficult and thus may have limited effects of illumination conditions on the driving performance measures obtained in this first phase of testing.

A city has a heart as well as a set of arteries. Its heart is its downtown, and downtowns are wasting away. Cities like New York, Paris, and Hong Kong thrive because of their pulsating downtowns, which are full of people, diversity, and excitement. The flight to the suburbs and the consequent desertion by churches, universities, and even department stores is challenging officials to rise to the occasion. Other challenges are the automobile and the suburban shopping center, the segmentation of lots leading to disparity of interests, throat-cutting competition for tenancies, and official neglect of the causes of downtown decline. Some answers to the problem: A “Downtown Revival Program” to make downtowns something more than transient shopping centers, a Commissioner of Pedestrians to catechize the Commissioner of Traffic, concerted cooperation of owners enforced by the use of compulsory purchase poivers, Saturday schools, more interests for families and kids, better parking, better shops, and a shi...