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Geoffrey Alderman's dismissal of "the ghosts of old Labour" that "still haunt British academia" (Soapbox, THES , June 29 ) is astonishing. Where did he meet them? He must now have little actual contact with the new Gradgrindery. Otherwise, he might be more inclined to believe that what he is talking about is a diverse, interesting, quarrelsome, left, liberal and humane intelligentsia under threat from what promises to be the most philistine and anti-intellectual of postwar governments.

Andrew Gibson
University of London