From P DONOVAN
I find it extraordinary that Ariadne should calmly assume that London
University ‘is surely . . . rich enough to pay for’ cleaning up London streets
(9 June). For over ten years New Scientist has been reporting drastic cuts
in university budgets: the budget deficit of many of the London colleges
runs to millions of pounds and, not long ago, one of the larger colleges
had to take out a bank loan to pay the wages bill.
In our department we are still waiting for the university to find the
money to replace the obsolete, 5-amp round-pin sockets which are the only
electricity supply in our research laboratories. If I heard that the university
was spending money on street cleaning I would be absolutely furious!
P. Donovan Birkbeck College, London
