Lords more than a match

Public relations staff at Sheffield Hallam University were reminded of the cardinal rule of publicity at their centenary dinner last week - never work with animals or television celebrities. Lord Winston, the famous fertility expert who is also the university's chancellor, took to the stage at the dinner and announced he had left his carefully scripted speech on the table and would be taking a different tack. Some staff listened with their heads in their hands as he ran through the main errors in the Government's education policy, addressing many criticisms directly to Schools Minister Lord Adonis, who was giving the keynote speech. To his credit, Lord Adonis took it on the chin. He even admitted that the Government hadn't done a very good job of selling top-up fees to the public. Indeed, he was so cool that one wondered whether he was somehow unaware of the withering looks he was receiving from a table of secondary school teachers in the middle of the room.