The Oxford Research Group spends its time bridging the gap between nuclear weapon decision-makers and their critics. The meetings are off-the-record, confidential and not reported in the press. According to the UK Government's Foreign Office, they are often far more productive than the formal channels of diplomacy. A recent consultation of nuclear decision-makers has now been presented as the basis for official negotiations. The Chinese have now invited the group to co-host a seminar in Beijing on the next steps towards multilateral disarmament.

The Group wants to promote a new approach - peace banks rather than war chests. Dr. Scilla Elworthy believes that Governments should put serious money into conflict resolution. She argues that violence prevention is clearly more cost-effective than meeting violence with more violence and wonders what the $25 billion spent bombing Kosova and Serbia would have produced if it had been spent instead on peace initiatives. It is time to change the view recently expressed by NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson - "We don't count the cost of war, we pay".

Contact: The Oxford Research Group, 51 Plantation Road, Oxford OX2 6JE. Tel: 01865 242819 www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk