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There is no real harm in playing Monopoly with the University of London, as David Cannadine does. But at least two of the pieces on his board - the Senate House Library and the institutes - have been paid for by all the colleges of the university and are supported by the whole HE sector through non-formula funding. Any attempt to annex them to a so-called University of Bloomsbury will be strongly resisted.

B. W. Ife Professor of Spanish and vice-principal, King's College, London.