Lucy Neville Rolfe, director of the deregulation unit in the Cabinet Office, spoke eloquently about the benefits of cutting unnecessary rules and procedures at a risk conference in London this week. Just what her listeners would have expected from a unit whose motto is "fewer, better, simpler". Odd then that Ms Neville Rolfe was the only speaker to be accompanied by a fellow official, whose sole function was to change the transparencies on the overhead projector during her talk.