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Is Rama Thirunamachandran of the Higher Education Funding Council for England being tongue in cheek when he says that academics should "just do the research you want to do"?

Surely he must know that, because of the RAE, UK academics are being leant on - often by so-called research focus committees - to do only research that attracts grants and is welcomed by so-called quality journals with high-impact factors.

When initiating their five-year plans, members of the presidium should always check that the apparatchiks on the ground are correctly enforcing their edicts, especially where money is involved.

Wilton Mainwright
Sheffield