Am I the only long-time reader of Times Higher Education who finds the use of "the academy" to mean universities or the higher education system irritating? It is difficult to believe that it is so internationally infectious that Konstantin Khudoley was led to use it five times in two columns ("Bear must broaden its horizons", 28 October). On the other hand, in your cover story, Vernon Bogdanor, with whom I rarely find myself in agreement, managed four pages without using it once.
John Duffy, Edinburgh.