Perhaps it should not be the class of the degree obtained by which we should judge or select our leaders, but the subject (Letters, 14 October)? Of the two examples cited, Eden studied Oriental languages; Cameron read PPE. Perhaps we should be selecting leaders who, for example, can build (and have built) bridges, or who understand the molecular structure of vitamin C or soap, and could synthesise them, or who can cure, and have cured, people of serious diseases. Or instead, or as well, perhaps we should be selecting leaders not on IQ, but on EQ – emotional intelligence.
Mike Ellwood
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Although Roger Bardell is correct in asserting that the prime ministers ultimately responsible for the debacles of Suez and Brexit were both Oxford firsts, he fails to mention that they were both also Tories.
Ian Lowery
Kensworth, Bedfordshire
• In reality around three-fifths of Oxbridge UK undergraduates come from state schools (Oxford 58%, Cambridge 62.5%) (Question that needs to be asked at Oxford, Letters, 16 October), though large geographic imbalances remain in their intake from poorer regions. However, we still don’t know the educational and university backgrounds of their UK postgraduate students. Perhaps these figures would be higher if state schools encouraged applicants for less popular subjects and did not believe self-perpetuating myths.
David Nowell
New Barnet, Hertfordshire
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