Letter: Nightmares after the reshuffle

Sir: I woke up from a nasty dream this morning. I had been dreaming that the university that I work at had been reshuffled.

The dean of the arts faculty had been put in charge of the medical school, the professor of history was running the chemistry department, the professor of law had been moved to engineering, and the professor of divinity was going to revitalise the geology department. The individuals concerned were all delighted with their moves and were looking forward to settling in and picking up the reins in the next day or two.

The rest of us who worked there were to be invigorated and freshened up by the reshuffle. Luckily, when I woke up I realised that no one in their right mind would really try to run a university that way. Running a country, well, that's obviously another matter.

Yours faithfully,

ROBERT RALPH

Aberdeen

28 May