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- First Bill Rammell and then Richard and Judy waded into the row over the decision by Imperial College London to withdraw a place to study medicine from a man with a burglary conviction. The Minister for Universities said that institutions should be "open" to young people with spent convictions who had got their lives back on track, it was reported on 4 July. Majid Ahmed, who is from a poor part of Bradford, lost the offer of a place when he admitted having a spent conviction for burglary dating back to 2005. Mr Rammell said the 18-year-old had "put his life back together and done everything society would ask of him". Husband-and- wife columnists Richard and Judy, writing in the Daily Express the next day, said they could not remember the last time they had felt so angry about a story. "Imperial College had a fit of the vapours, sent out for the smelling salts and cancelled Majid's placement," they said. "I could give you the official, pompous reasons, but they readily convert to 'We don't want your sort here'."