Open mouthed

Our university is a funny institution: one part 1960's radicalism, two parts noughties managerialism. The longer you spend working there the more unseemly some of its inner workings appear.

I've just been talking to some colleagues about some of the annoying goings-on in the university. The particular subject of our dismay is a colleague who embodies the hard cold bureaucratic manager. We felt that his/her fingerprints are all over the 65 retirement debacle as well as the MCT merger. Out of this conversation came the revelation or more accurately the gossip that she/he and partner had to leave a previous employer as a result of their affair. This confirms my increasingly solid view that affairs at work are the business of colleagues. I'm still seething at finding out that another colleague is having an affair with a senior manager. This kind of situation leaves major decisions lacking in transparency. It prevents honest and frank exchanges. Should there be a register of such relationships? How much pillow talk went into such and such a botched policy? Are some faculty staff contriving even more power for their colleagues?

Is this the start of something good?

After 2 years of ignoring it, I'm about to re-activate my blog. It feels the right time as I will have significantly easier access to it. With free wi-fi on the train, several lap tops at home and wi-fi at work, I should be able to jot down whatever serendipitous thoughts that occur.

Also the time I've spent enjoying Norman Geras's blog has convinced of the benefit of writing stuff down!

Let's see...