Scholarship stifled by admin

David Cannadine's proposal for a University of Bloomsbury is entirely wrong-headed. Birkbeck and University College London do indeed have strong international reputations in the humanities. They also have great strengths in many other areas and very different missions. Birkbeck, UCL and the other colleges in the federal university are flourishing. Students benefit from courses for London awards offered jointly and there is a range of federal research activity. The recent history of the University of London must discourage any attempts to rebuild a "leviathan of learning".

Timothy O'Shea Professor of information and communications technologies Birkbeck College, London