Robin's nest

New Year, new and immense pay rise, at least for some. So greetings to all the top people whose appointments you read about in these pages so long ago that you assumed they had done the job and retired by now.

They include: George Bain, incoming vice chancellor of Queen's in Belfast; Tim O'Shea, new master of Birkbeck College, London; and Peter Scott, new vice chancellor of the University of Kingston, and for many years editor of The THES. The new year also marks the start of a time-limited spell of glory for Michael Earl, acting head of the London Business School after Bain's departure. The permanent replacement, John Quelch, arrives later in the year from Harvard. By contrast, a pay cut, although not one that will require busking to pay for his cornflakes, is on the cards for Sir Robin Butler. He retires as cabinet secretary and head of the home civil service, complete with impending peerage, to become master of University College, Oxford, which issued him with a BA in 1961.