Down to Earth

Is a Godfather-type feud breaking out in the earth sciences? Earlier this week, vandals chucked a brick through the window of the normally placid Geological Society of London.

But the truth is simpler - the villains thought they were attacking the Royal Academy, the Geol Soc's neighbours in Burlington House, London, where Marcus Harvey's controversial painting of Myra Hindley is on show. Nobody was more upset by the confusion than the attackers who, according to the society's press officer, Ted Nield, rang later in the day to apologise and offered to pay for the damage. The vandals (or if you prefer, art lovers), being reluctant to identify themselves, then withdrew their offer.