Haldene principle ‘clarified’: trampled all over and dumped in the bin more likely.

I am incandescent, disbelieving, upset and depressed all at once. I didn’t actually think I could be shocked any more than I already am at government policy and then I read this. Here is the second paragraph,  just to give you a flavour:

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will spend a “significant” amount of its funding on the prime minister’s vision for the country, after a government “clarification” of the Haldane principle – a convention that for 90 years has protected the right of academics to decide where research funds should be spent.

Apparently, this is ‘non-negotiable’. I cannot recall, but am willing to be corrected, any government in recent years tying in research funding so closely to a particular ideology. Even if we leave on one side for time being the fact that this ideology is mendacious, pernicious and many other things ending in ‘ious’, the principle that a government can override academic freedom in this way is absolutely terrifying.

I hope to blog about this issue in more detail later, but thought it worth flagging now.

EDIT

The AHRC today issued a denial of The Observer‘s allegations, which you can read here. Although there is clearly more to this than meets the eye, I am still suspicious, mainly because of information located on this page. The fact that so  many people chose to believe yesterday’s article speaks volumes about the way the AHRC is currently regarded by those of us who have to deal with it. You can find more comment with links to other blogs at Guy Halsall’s Historian on the Edge.

Why I stood on a picket line yesterday*

Yesterday, the University and Colleges Union staged a national strike to protest against changes to pensions (both USS and TPS). As I work at a pre-1992 university, I belong to USS. Changes to this, and it is is important to stress this point, privately-funded scheme, would see a two-tier system introduced. New entrants would find themselves on a career average related earnings pension, while those currently in the scheme enjoy the benefits of a final salary scheme. The attack on our pensions is part of a wider scaling back of such benefits across all sectors, as well as the general funding crisis in higher education more broadly.

So for a large part of yesterday I stood on a picket line with a handful of my colleagues for the following reasons.

• A two-tier system is deeply unfair and will disproportionately affect those who are not luck enough to leap straight into a nice permanent job after completing their doctorates. Someone with my career path would be screwed.
• Society as a whole cannot sustain continued attacks on occupational pensions. Someone, somewhere has to draw a line and say ‘enough’. We were picketing yesterday not just for our pensions, but for those of our students and generations to come.
• Academic working conditions/work-life balance are going down the plug hole rapidly. I have no doubt that I would be a more effective teacher and researcher if I wasn’t so bloody tired all the time.
• To protest to any passing managers (they seemed to keep their heads down).
• To raise awareness of cuts more broadly.

Well, I don’t know what sort of effect we had. Two students who crossed the picket line to attend a class asked that the seminar be given over to discussing public sector cuts and others seemed supportive. Our admin colleagues (who are facing an equally tough time) were also supportive; representatives from Unison came round with doughnuts. The bin men gave us the thumbs up and a dog peed on one of our placards, which we took as an endorsement of sorts.

Protests continue on the larger scale with the TUC demo on Saturday.  I won’t be able to make it, so I will just have to continue raising awareness and talking to people I meet about the effect the cuts will have on all areas of society. For those reading this I hope you can go/have been. If not, please also spread the word: it may be a small thing, but it’s something we can all do.

*’On a picket line’ rather than ‘strike’ because I am part time. As the strike was on one of my non-paid days, I couldn’t technically strike. I don’t suppose that will stop the university docking a day’s pay though.

Contemplating a moorhen

I was walking along the river after lunch and decided to sit and watch the current for a while. As well as the usual mallard, geese various and a coot, there was a moorhen sitting in the middle of the river. At least I thought it was sitting. Closer inspection revealed it to be paddling furiously and going nowhere. Occasionally it would make a small movement forward to nibble some passing weed. As the weed drifted pass, the moorhen took its eyes off its direction of travel and suddenly found itself drifting backwards: more frantic paddling ensued. After a couple of minutes, it seemed to give up, turned round and drifted down stream until it got caught up in a fight between a Canada goose and a greylag goose. In effort to get away from its larger and more boisterous cousins, the moorhen made  much progress sideways, but none at all forwards. Undaunted it kept trying.

The moorhen was either very determined or very stupid. Still, it has the comfort of knowing that it can drift if necessary when the current is too strong being naturally bouyant. I on the other hand…