Different league tables rate different aspects of different institutions.
On pure notability Durham has the advantage of being an old university. If employers etc have had over 100 years to hear of it then it helps in simply being known.
After that you need to decide what factors you find important in your choice of university.
The various league tables rate different factors with different weights and thus come out with wildly different answers.
In the case of the Guardians opinion of Durham:
It rates the staff at 6/6, so they think that you will be well taught by eminent researchers
It rates the spend per student at 9/10, so they think the facilities ought to be good with the investment going in.
It rates the staff/student ratio at only 2/6, but they do not publish their full methodology so I cannot tell whether a university with a lot of research only staff would do better here. At Durham, to get the typical academic's pay you must teach and research, you cannot get paid a professors salary and refuse to teach. This may have a lot to do with the low staff/student ratio as I have not noticed overcrowding.
Job Prospects comes in at 4/6 (published as 4/10 but the highest given to any institution is 6). If this is derived from the government figures, then each university sends out a letter to their graduates 6 months after graduation and asks what they are doing. The rating here will be dependant on the numbers claiming to be working in professional/graduate employment. The top universities are actually penalised by this system as people going into further study (PhDs etc) or professional qualifications (like the lawyers and medics) are not counted. Durham also has a large number of students who are wealthy, and can afford to go travelling for a year rather than apply for work, which again causes the figure to drop.
The Value Added Score again is not particularly fair on Durham as it is a measure of how well people with mediocre A-Levels etc get top degrees. If they don't take people with mediocre grades, then they don't score well here
The Entry score is how many A-Level points people have upon entry. If the A-Level system works, it means how bright and hardworking the students are upon entry. Durham does well here with 8/10
The Inclusiveness score is how many ethnic minorities, mature, and disabled students Durham has. For certain types of disability Durham is at a disadvantage with university buildings being old, protected from alteration by law, and based on cobbled streets. With the requirement to live in college for your first year, this puts many mature students off as well.
I hope that has explained the methodology behind the league tables, it's down to you to decide how much credance you give to the individual scores.