You wait ages for an esteemed academic ..

A campaign to reduce the number of buses using Oxford High Street is being backed by the University of Oxford's colleges. The colleges fear that pollution and vibrations are damaging historic college buildings. But in a letter to The Oxford Times published last month, Tony Crofts, an alumnus of University College, expresses regret that the "place is still full of academics apparently incapable of thinking beyond the paving stones in front of their own front door. They seem to imagine that people still come to Oxford on foot, or the back of a donkey - while dons visiting foreign universities presumably expect to be whisked to Heathrow by flaming chariot from the Front Quad". He adds: "Surely all those clever academic brains could do something better than merely staring into the bottom of their sherry glasses and waiting for the world to go away."