He should know

Alumnus to be proud of no. 43 is man of letters A.N. Wilson, who recently regaled readers of the London Evening Standard with a short appreciation of the usefulness of higher education - arguing that "99 per cent of university or college students learn nothing at all, and any money spent on giving them grants is wasted . . . instead of converting all the polytechnics into universities, Mr Major should have closed down nearly all places of learning, infested as they are by ignoramuses and bores."

Mr Wilson's direct experience of the system was acquired as an undergraduate at New College, Oxford, followed by spells as a lecturer at the same college and at St Hilda's.