51³Ô¹Ï

Although peer review has good points, a disadvantage is that it can descend into backbiting about perceived status. In Britain, snobbery is most pronounced between subtle gradations of class rather than between those far apart within a hierarchy. If one were to persist in such a spirit, it would be noteworthy that Richard Faragher's attack on Mo Dodson (Letters, April 30) is delivered from Brighton University rather than Oxbridge.

Paul Cobley
Reader in communications
London Metropolitan University