Any study that finds negative effects for children in daycare is going to be greeted by hysteria on several fronts. The results will be brandished by organisations and individuals, mostly on the political right, seeking ammunition for keeping mothers in the home. Those involved in early years and childcare will, on the whole, be equally vehement about the worth of good- quality childcare. So the latest findings from the American Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (see News, page 4) will cause controversy, especially as the research team includes Professor Jay Belsky of Birkbeck University, whose outspokenness on...