The Statute Law Database is real and it appears to work. The Gazette has been given 'beta tester' access rights to the Web-based database of statute law of England and Wales, and in limited use so far it seems to be stable and comprehensible. When the Gazette broke the news that the database would, after a decade in the wings, finally be unveiled this year, there was much scepticism about whether this was just hype (see (2006) Gazette, 30 March, 11). But despite some standard-issue government IT project delays, August saw public testers start to use the system. Users the Gazette has spoken to say they have found it most useful, so 2007 as a possible delivery date for a final version seems not unlikely.