Other Academic Life
Besides his teaching at Magdalen, David also gave classes for the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) in Oxford. This organisation had had a long history in the socialist life of the country as universities took it upon themselves to provide education for working-class adults who did not have the means or the opportunity to attend a university themselves.
Early on in his time at Magdalen, David was involved in a number of committees and outside activities (see Artis 2003: 522). In 1946, he sat on a working party on the lace industry which required many visits to Nottingham. In 1951, he was a member of a committee on the purchase tax and another on tax paid stocks. He was also an expert witness for the Registrar of Restrictive Trade Practices. In all these activities, he deepened his knowledge of the inner workings of the British economy about which he wrote later wrote with such insight in his books and papers.
Artis writes:
David had great clarity of mind and a lot of plain common sense as well as economic intuition... He could listen to others and whilst of strong opinions on some subjects himself he did not allow this to impair his dealings with others. These qualities recommended himself to numerous others who needed a job done, especially one with economic content (ibid.).
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