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None of the academic staff at the department of government at the LondonSchool of Economics would seriously claim that we are "the best in the UK, no question" (Peep's Diary, February 16). Nor have I been able to trace where the claim is supposed to have been made.

I fear that The Times Higher diarist may have given a misleading impression by stating that this is what the department tells its students. We have too much knowledge of, and respect for, other universities to say things of that kind.

Furthermore, your diarist was quoting old data. We have completely reformed our undergraduate programme, and the Quality Assurance Agency's subsequent discipline audit trail of our department was fully satisfactory. The last research assessment exercise was also held some time ago, and we are confident of doing well in the forthcoming one.

George Philip.
Head of the department of government
London School of Economics