Very engaging examples have been given by the hon. Member for Gordon, but the suggestion of a patent for three nuclear weapons in space sounds similar to a proposal by a past American President; it is of similar practical value. The difficulty would be finding people who decide which are the vanity patents and which have some practical application. I do not think that the Patent Office has any record of making decisions of that kind; it makes decisions on originality and on whether there are other examples of the patents around, but I do not think that at present it has the training or skills to make judgments on practicality.

If the new clause were accepted, there would be a new opportunity for a new grade of patent examiners to decide whether to have a vanity President of the

United States, or other such crackpot suggestions. However, that would mean major extensions of the skills required at the Patent Office.