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The Royal Geographical Society is, and always has been, a broad church. Those who suppose that academic credibility is detrimental to the organisation need only look to its history. In recent years, the society has embraced an unprecedented policy of public engagement and community outreach.

In this context, the suggestion that the society's recent activities are marked by a "lack of inclusiveness" is specious. Quotations from Abraham Lincoln, of all people, cannot disguise the petty politics of institutional lobbying on which the fellows of the society have now had their say. The RGS and its director, Rita Gardner, are to be congratulated for holding on to the bigger picture.

Felix Driver, Royal Holloway, University of London.