When declinists point out the number of global league tables down which the UK is slipping (pretty much any economic, social or cultural indicator you care to mention, including the Eurovision Song Contest), Britain’s boosters have a trump card. What about our universities? Don’t we punch above our weight academically?
We do indeed. Oxford, which has taken the top spot for the past eight years, is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Times Higher Education league; two to three British universities (Oxford, Cambridge and sometimes Imperial) tend to be in the global top ten of any of the various league tables. America dominates, but given that it has five times as many people as Britain and only twice or three times as many
