Leading article: There's more to life ...

Is something extraordinary happening in the business world? Andrew Harvey, the chief executive of Britain's biggest insurance firm, Aviva, is stepping down to devote himself to charity work in Africa. Richard Dixey, the boss of the pharmaceutical company Phytopharm, is leaving to "spend more time being a Buddhist". Their decision to opt out of the fast lane in pursuit of a more spiritually rewarding lifestyle follows Bill Gates's decision to relinquish daily control of Microsoft and concentrate his energies on running his charitable foundation.

So is this to be the pattern for other members of the baby-boomer generation? Laudable as this would be, we suspect that the participants in this corporate-hippie revolution will be largely limited to those who have already made enough cash for them and their families to be more than comfortable for the rest of their lives.