End of Oxford Colleges

End of Oxford Colleges as they have always been known and loved….

Or maybe just the end to Merton (and Christ’s).

UPDATE: Letters in response to this article appeared the following Monday.
—–

Double Dragon

The founder of StyleBible, Amanda Zuydervelt, writes in today’s Independent about her experience on the BBC2 show Dragons’ Den.

She didn’t get the quarter million she was after, but says that this was not her primary motivation for appearing. One wonders just why therefore she comes across as so bitter: attacking the BBC and the show’s producers, before singling out Doug Richard, chairman of Library House, for some special attention.

This is one crusading, feminist* entrepreneur, who — for some reason — thinks that this perfect world owes her something. She seems determined to overlook the fact that society is far from ideal (thankfully), so people, as they are perhaps entitled (it’s their money, after all), will make snap judgements; but, crucially, it’s up to the ’salesperson’ to sell the idea effectively. In the article she criticises the Dragons for not grasping the potential for her idea; is this not, at least in part, her fault for failing to explain and pitch it properly?

Maybe she’s cleverer than all that: she admits that she’s after PR, so what better way than pitching an aggressive article to the editors of the Independent? Hits a go-go. Or, as they would say on /., Step 2: ???; Step 3: Profit!

She’s also written a letter in her company blog claiming heavy editing bias (as there may be) and even more bitterness towards Doug Richard. She even seems to gloat about the poor viewing figures. Admittedly these difficulties may not be entirely down to her: I can certainly see why 4m people (presumeably 2m men, therefore) would prefer the disarmingly charming Sarah Beeny to the impoverished Rachel Elnaugh.

* – I say this only because of her attack that she thought she was being branded as ‘blonde’, when — out of some respect — she may credit those potential investors with the ability to see beyond that.
—–

Facebook or (CIA) Factbook?

I’ve just come across a rather disturbing article by Marie on Common Ground Sense analysing Facebook.

Not only does she highlight some very strange clauses in Facebook’s privacy policy, most notably the collection of ‘information about you from other sources, such as newspapers and instant messaging service’, but she also suggests the whole enterprise is funded by the CIA. Admittedly, she stretches the argument almost to the full six-degrees of separation, but it still raises interesting issues into this vast database Facebook seem intent on developing.

Another article can be found on Prison Planet.
—–

First-class Opinions

I hope I’m not being snobbish, but I really can’t see the ’scandal’ behind the disclosure in today’s Independent that students at Oxbridge stand twice the chance of getting a first. Now, that’s twice the chance (22%) of getting a first over a student at Newcastle.

In the days of online application forms that introduce grave prejudice against graduates with 2:2s, or even 2:1s, thanks to inane filtering by HR departments, moves to try to standardise class marks across the country are very welcome. So, while not wanting to put down students from Newcastle too much, it seems reasonable that Oxbridge graduates, who one can fairly reasonably assume are among the brightest in the country, do deserve a better chance of getting a first.

In fact, given the general fears of grade inflation, I would be more interested in the grades awarded by those universities that have to fiercely compete for students in order to survive: an unscrupulous department in such a place could very easily guarantee sufficient numbers by gaining a reputation for inflated class marks.

Rather than focusing on Oxbridge for an easy headline, the article should really have emphasised the disparity between Imperial and King’s Colleges, which offered the most firsts (25%) and fifth-bottom (13%) respectively. There is your story Ms Woolf.
—–