Philosopher 'having fun' with latest a dig at Establishment

In the latest act of a long-running war with Oxford University, philosopher Andrew Malcolm has opened a bookshop opposite Balliol College in the city's heart to promote dissent and attack the establishment.

In a former shoe shop near the Bodleian Library he plans to sell his books, including one that Oxford University Press (OUP) refused to publish, and hold readings by poets who were removed from OUP's list.

The shop, Akme Expression, has been decorated with posters about what he regards as past Oxford scandals and a life-sized plastic inflatable of Munch's Scream. The bookshop, situated so that it is no more than several hundred metres from a dozen of the university's colleges, could become a centre for a range of dissidents, he said.

Mr Malcolm also hopes to raise the £12,500 (142,300 Hong Kong dollars) he owes the university in legal costs after the latest duel in the courts, dating back to 1986. In 1991 Oxford paid him £17,000 after appeal judges decided OUP had broken an unwritten agreement to publish Making Names, a book in the form of a philosophical dialogue.

Litigation broke out again when Alan Ryan, warden of New College, criticised the book in a letter to the Times Higher Education Supplement. Mr Malcolm argued unsuccessfully that this breached the 1991 settlement. He was ordered to pay costs.

He is also setting up Akme University to award degrees to anyone who buys his book. It also offers membership of "Broke College" - a joke on Pembroke College, where two fellows resigned in March over the offering of places for donations. "I'm having great fun," he said.

AKME EXPRESSION, MAY-JUNE 2002 THE LEGAL BACKGROUND and Malcolm's Lectureship offer THE BROAD STREET SHOP featuring the Gallery of Shame, Akme University, St. Frideswide's grotto, Akme Ball etc. Reports: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS Oxford Times 21/6 THES 26/4, Oxford Times 26/4, Guardian 30/4, Oxford Star 2/5, Oxford Student 2/5, Cherwell 3/5, Publishing News 10/5, Private Eye 17/5, Guardian 25/6, South China Morning Post 11/5, Change (US H.E. journal), Philosophers' Magazine, Autumn. Alan Ryan quits, ranting: THES 31/5, Cherwell 7/6, other quotes Rave review of Making Names in Oxford Student 30/5: "One of the most powerful statements of the human condition written in the past century."