Ear to the ground

And the Universtiy of Oxford also deserves a pat on the back for omitting nothing in its painstaking construction of a How not to get Planning Permission case-study for its new business school. The lesson from this one is to take careful notice of anyone affected by your plans, however menial and insignificant they may seem to academic top brass. Bill Baker, groundsman on the sports field for which the university failed so resoundingly to get planning permission, has a second identity as an influential member of Oxford City Council's Labour Group.