So the president of Magdalen College considers that "only two universities remain perilously clinging to their standards" ("Elite citadels fall to dumb hordes", THES , December 14). To judge from material published elsewhere in The THES , it seems odd for an Oxford man to highlight the status of Cambridge and Imperial College, London.
That said, Anthony Smith's review cheered this reader to the extent that our commitment to widening participation in higher education must be achieving something if it attracts such arrogance and ignorance. Such an attack on the capabilities of our citizens reveals what Smith represents: certainly not democracy and equality of opportunity.
Malcolm Barry
Deal