Sounds like our guys did fine, and the reporter had a bad day. He hands out criticisms to most of the attendees, suggesting that an academics favourite past time is sulking, etc. The only people who were let off were the scheme programmers.

The impression I got from Simon's account was that he paid ferocious attention to the other people there. From my own experiences with academia, I'd say that paying attention is one of the highest compliments you can pay.

In regard to the occasional gaffe in a speech, I always thought that it was important to pay attention to what people meant, rather than the manner in which they said it. Still, I suppose the writer wouldn't be a reporter if he couldn't find something bad to write about :)

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Jeremy
I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.