Peter Hoskin

Willetts tries to dampen the flames around Ebdon

Siphoning the contents of two brains through one mouth and on to a single page will generally produce eclectic results. And that’s certainly the case with David Willetts’ interview with the Times (£) this morning. The universities minister manages to range across subjects that include Robert Falcon Scott, climate change, the Falklands and universities access. He even reheats one of his old theories about Feminism and social mobility in a way that (coupled with the interview’s headline: ‘Moving on and up is very hard — and feminism is partly to blame’) makes it sound far more provocative than I think it’s meant to be, and much weaker for it.

The most noteworthy part of the interview is Willetts’ defence of the appointment of Les Ebdon (profiled by the Mail today) as the universities ‘fairness tsar’. His basic position will, I’m sure, rile those Tories who already see this appointment as a dreadful mistake.

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