Better news for mature students, following Birkbeck's unhappy efforts in University Challenge. The Open University this week hammered Swansea by 395 points to 85. The same people who felt that Birkbeck's bad day at the buzzer outweighed 150 years of distinguished service to the capital will doubtless now tell us that Swansea's performance, unhappily highlighted by having a team member called Thick, is evidence of falling standards among the young.