It was a pity that more politicians did not attend the conference because many of the contributors displayed a strong bias against politics of every hue. I checked my notes on the conference yesterday and at one stage I had written "biased" and "almost paranoid" concerning some of the contributions. They spoke about politicians in terms where, if they had been talking about coloured people, Travellers or asylum seekers, they would be charged with incitement to hatred by making racist comments. We must have broad backs, however, to take such criticism.