We hear that there are two other names on the long list for Hefce's top job: David Watson, formerly vice-chancellor at Brighton University, and David Eastwood, vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia. This suggests the longlist is, in fact, embarrassingly short. It is shorter still if speculation that Professor Watson doesn't even want the job proves to be true. Our sources tell us that Professor Eastwood quietly dropped out of the running for the vice-chancellorship of Warwick University. Was he confident that his energies were about to be diverted to a much more high-profile role?