The University of Durham has boasted many distinguished students over the years: Sir Harold Evans, Justin Welby, Andrew Strauss and even the worst 007, George Lazenby. But it seems the current crop of angry undergraduates are not so keen on old-fashioned notions of argument and debate. For Friday night saw the good neophytes of South College attempt to cancel a guest at their Christmas formal, a man quite well-known to Mr S: none other than The Spectator’s own Rod Liddle.
Steerpike is yet to get Rod’s account of the incident but plenty has been said already by the protagonists in this early Christmas pantomime. Students walked out before his speech at the meal and continued to do so throughout his five-minute contribution, with most declining to stand as the guests on high table walked out afterwards, as tradition dictates.
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