Chancellor Clinton

Honorary degrees for old buddies from Arkansas. Inauguration of post-graduate programmes on the philosophical and political implications of ...

Honorary degrees for old buddies from Arkansas. Inauguration of post-graduate programmes on the philosophical and political implications of the word 8220;is8221;. Official certification of an on-campus fashion enchantment with thongs. Wild debates at the high table about the merits of recruiting interns.

And, at the end of it all, a grand farewell gift of pardons to deep-pocketed hoodlums. A new nightmare looms over Oxford8217;s dreaming spires. Bill Clinton is said to be in the running to take over as chancellor of Oxford University.

To be sure, the former American president8217;s relocation in Britain would be apt. After the end of his long presidency 8212; soon to be subject of academic concern at the University of Arkansas, his home state 8212; he8217;s appeared more than a bit restless. He8217;s bought up sprawling mansions in the New York and Washington D.C. areas, he8217;s hit the lecture circuit, he8217;s signed a multi-million dollar book deal 8212; in other words, all the things former occupants of the White House are meant to do. But maybe, at 56, he is far too young to simply sail into the sunset of his retirement 8212; or to opt for a peacekeeping mission for the UN. Maybe he8217;s just not at ease ideologically in his country, as Bushies outnumber and outshout Clintonistas. No, Clinton finds comfort across the pond.

Witness the happiness on his face as he nips across 8212; to address the literatti at the Hay festival, to play cheerleader to Tony Blair at a New Labour conference in Blackpool. After all, William Jefferson cleared the ideological path, he showed old left-of-centre parties how to monopolise the middle ground 8212; never mind if his old Democrat colleagues back home ditched the formula, in Britain New Labour is still a willing student.

And Oxford University now desperately needs funds; who better to undertake the endeavour than the man who turned fund-raising into a political art form.

Yes, there is a satisfying sense of closure to Clinton8217;s possible return to Oxford. This is where it all began during his student days in the sixties 8212; this is where he learnt to smoke a joint without inhaling, and this is where he broke with tired expressions of patriotism and participated in demonstrations against the Vietnam war. Chancellor Clinton does sound nice. Though one wonders what women students think!