Sporting chance

Alumnus to be proud of 109 will have given no pleasure to Alain Madelin, whom we reported (THES, May 23) comparing France's Ecole Nationale d'Administration to Ireland's IRA, Spain's ETA and Italy's Mafia. Lionel Jospin became an Enarque before lecturing at the University of Paris XI and the Institut Universitaire de Technologie in Paris. But Tony Banks, alumnus 107, may be encouraged by Jospin's CV - it shows that a former sports minister can become PM.