The ugly snobbery of Laurie Taylor's piece (THES, August 23) was breathtaking. I do not believe that you can hide behind the defence of "take a joke", "it's only a caricature", or "look what he says about the old universities" in this instance. This is the latest in a long running series of patent slurs on "new" universities masquerading as humour. To find such a piece in Viz or Private Eye is natural. To find it in your organ is an insult.
Gary Holmes Head School of Professional Education and Development Leeds Metropolitan University.