Methodist acting

Members of the Higher Education Funding Council for England who have found their new chairman, Sir Michael Checkland, strangely elusive since his appointment last autumn, learned why at their recent annual conference. As vice-president of the Methodist Conference he has apparently been forced to turn down invitations to several HEFCE events. The problem is likely to be one of time rather than nonconformist aversion to luxury wining and dining, however. After all, he still draws his Pounds 37,000 HEFCE salary.