Night of the long spoons

It was interesting to note G.R. Evans' swift disowning of the term "partnership" when describing Oxbridge's relationship with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology ("'Partner' is not the word", Letters, 1 October).

According to Evans, the University of Oxford "merely" (sic) accepted a grant to its Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics. The University of Cambridge was approached with a £6.3 million donation to support teaching and research, and its School of Biological Sciences is "helping" KAUST with its academic recruitment.

Evans' dining table must be interesting. The spoons must be very long.

Simon Newton, York.