Quip per quo

No need for the Association of University Teachers to fork out on an expensive after-dinner speaker. General secretary David Triesman is always first to his feet.

At last week's AUT conference he cracked a good one about Virginia Bottomley (Why was she the only Cabinet minister to campaign for the Highlands sleeper train to be saved? Because it takes 200 beds out of London every week). Then there was Michael Howard (He does the work of two men - Laurel and Hardy). And of course there was Roger Ward, head of the Colleges Employers Forum (Ward: "Why do people take an instant dislike to me?" Triesman: "It saves time").