In his latest book, Frank Furedi argues that genuine intellectuals have largely disappeared from the public sphere - paradoxically, given that we supposedly live in a knowledge economy supported by an expanding higher education sector. The result is that potential intellectuals have taken up other, narrower, roles e.g. lobbyists, policy-advisers. This has impoverished public life. Furedi identifies the causes of this decline; the bureaucratisation of the university; reverse snobbishness; obsession with inclusiveness and relevance at all costs. In the final chapter he suggest where we should go from here.