Inspectors appointed by the Quality Assurance Agency to assess teaching in philosophy have criticised the QAA's failure to defend them from a THES article in which it was alleged that they operated a cartel. The QAA has responded with a letter to all philosophy reviewers claiming that the agency was not invited to comment prior to publication. The THES is happy to set the record straight. On the morning of June 18, two days before the paper's press deadline, The THES sent an email to the QAA's communications office saying: "I am looking at the TQA results for philosophy: 58 of the 60 known grades given are four out of four - suggesting some sort of cartel... If the QAA would like to comment on this, please do so as soon as possible."