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May I correct a matter of fact in the review by David Albury (THES, December 23) of my book Degrees of Difference, higher education in the 1990s?

Far from seeking to "silence" the interviewees quoted in the book -- as alleged by Mr Albury, in its opening acknowledgements I offer the complete transcriptions of the interviews (cleaned of any personally identifying characteristics) on disc for use by students as practice in the analysis of qualitative data and, I quote, "as a check up on the veracity of the interpretation put upon them in the book".

Further, contrary to the impression given in the review of dreary Marxist orthodoxy, I also acknowledge the influence of Nietzche's pedagogy upon the book -- an eclecticism surely sufficient for even the most obdurately post-modern reviewer such as I was unlucky enough to find in David Albury.

PATRICK AINLEY, 1 Vicarage Rd, London E15