So were they right, the UK academics who six weeks ago wrote that regulation was “the real threat to research”? (BMJ 2008:337:a1732, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1732). If the BMJ’s rapid responses are a reliable guide, yes they were. This week’s letters pages host a selection of these responses, each vying with the next to show, in the words of surgical trainee David Samuel, “how prohibitive, laborious, and bureaucratic attempting to conduct research has become” (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2917). Can anyone beat my delays? asks Martyn Parker, whose randomised trial was eventually approved after a delay of over two and a half years (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2914). Further responses are welcome if anyone …