This completely serious. Why wouldn't it be?
The RG unis aren't the best unis. I applied for the top 5 unis for physics outside of London (and excluding Birmingham and Warwick because they were too close to home). I ended up with Oxford, Lancaster, York, Durham and Exeter. I honestly can't tell you which are RG.
Using whether a uni is in the RG or not to determine whether it is good is complete rubbish. Like I said, Lancaster is not in the RG (it was too small a university), but it is one of only 6 universities to be in the top ten across all 3 major league tables (the Times, Complete University Guide, the Guardian.)
Compare this to Liverpool, which is 38th, or Cardiff, which is 35th, or Glasgow, which is 29th (according to the complete university guide). Do you honestly think a university which is ranked 38th is better than a uni ranked in the top ten, just because the uni ranked 38th belongs to some old self selecting research partnership....?