David Shorter, director of Intelligent Knowledge Based Systems for the Alvey programme was asked at a press conference the other day about the direction of future efforts, and as he began his carefully-worded and confident reply, the more alert among his audience spotted that he had crossed his fingers in the time-honoured request for good fortune: he of all people should have known that in this high-tech age where the only traditional craft to survive is Thatchering, the age-old remedies for warding off the Evil Eye are ineffective, and Trade & Industry Minister Kenneth Clarke has made it clear that the follow-on to the Alvey programme will get a lot less from the taxpayer than the UKP425m over five years demanded for After Alvey by the IT ’86 committee.