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subtext ***************************************************** 'Truth: lies open to all' ***************************************************** Issue 139 19 November 2015 ***************************************************** Fortnightly during term time. All letters, contributions and comments to: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk subtext does not publish material that is submitted anonymously, but will consider requests for publication with the name withheld. subtext reserves the right to edit submissions. Back issues and subscription details can be found at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/subtext For tips to prevent subtext from getting swept up into your 'junk email folder', see: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/subtext/dejunk/ CONTENTS: editorial, special report: statutes pt.2, drinking, pansophix, Q&A, continuing saga, pharmanews, bowland, ten years of subtext, armistice, signs, library, pharmaballs, Corbyn, democracy, Shart Attack, nuts, logo, spot the swoosh, concert review, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL subtext has always taken the view that in an editorial we can talk about anything and everything. (Except parking. Never parking.) That said, we tend to steer clear of some of the big political issues, if only because we are keen to avoid the idea that there is a subtext 'line'. (The collective agrees on almost nothing. Except on not talking about parking.) We would not, for example, wish to suggest that the current student referendum on boycotting, divesting and sanctioning of Israel is a good or bad thing, nor would we editorialise about the kerfuffle surrounding Germaine Greer's proposed lecture at Cardiff. What we would note is that it gladdens the hearts of the soixante-huitards old and new on the collective to see students re-engaging with the world again. (Next thing you know, LUSU will be paying for coaches to take students down to London for this week's demonstration – a free lift to London for the price of an afternoon walk down Whitehall. Thems were the days.) Let us hope that this interest in matters outside the (supposed) central student concerns of sport and socialising continues – society needs students to be engaged beyond their own bubble. **************************************************** SPECIAL REPORT: LIMITATION OF STATUTES – PT. 2 We return to the changes to Statutes and Ordinances reported in subtext 138. Lest we be accused of going over old ground we would again point out that these changes were nodded through by Council and approved by Senate with little discussion and it is only now that the enormity of the "Review of Statutes and Ordinances" is beginning to sink in. *** COMPLAIN ... IF YOU DARE We start with the impact on students. The first thing to note is that students no longer have the constitutional right to appeal against exclusion or suspension. That's right – the Statute 21 Appeal no longer exists because the whole Statute has been removed. This had guaranteed that any student facing expulsion had the right to a final appeal to the Vice-Chancellor, a bit like the condemned prisoner's last plea to the Home Secretary when this country still had capital punishment. The procedure for such an appeal had been set out in Ordinance 7: Student appeals under Statute 21, but this too has been removed. Instead, we have a new Ordinance 7: Student Appeals and Complaints, which merely states that: "Students will not be hindered in making a reasonable appeal." (Clause 7.2.2) No mention of any right to appeal or what would constitute a 'reasonable' appeal. The new Ordinance 7 also deals with complaints from students, the first time that this has been given constitutional status so in itself not a bad thing. Clause 7.3.3 states solemnly that: "No students will be disadvantaged for making complaints in good faith, and all reasonable complaints will be taken seriously and dealt with according to agreed procedures". That's all right then. However, the clause goes on to say that "...if it is established that complaints are frivolous or spurious, then they will not be considered reasonable, and the University may take disciplinary action". What would constitute a "frivolous or spurious" complaint, or who would decide it was so, is not specified. One of the striking aspects of life at Lancaster University is not the number of students who make complaints but the number who don't. Indeed, we have systems such as the Harassment Network to encourage and support individuals in making complaints. The sad fact is that too many students don't complain when they should, whether it's about the educational experience, services or behaviours. This is particularly true of many of our international students where cultural, political or financial considerations make it hard for them to confront authority. The reality, for all students, is that it is always difficult to challenge the powerful, even in the most benign systems. So as a result of the changes we now have in the University's constitution, up front and central, a clear threat to those who are minded to do so. The Students' Union has agreed to all this. subtext took quick look at the current QAA quality code for HE, specifically the chapter on appeals and complaints: http://tinyurl.com/oy2tq34 "Indicators of sound practice . . . Indicator 1: Higher education providers make available opportunities for students to raise matters of concern without risk of disadvantage." Specifically: "Higher education providers make clear who has access to their appeals and complaints procedures and take appropriate steps to reduce the likelihood of students being inhibited from making an appeal or complaint due to a concern that they may be treated less favourably as a consequence." Did the secretariat check the proposed new complaints policy against this? The rationale did mention the changed climate post-OIA, so presumably the various overseers and quality agencies were consulted - were they? *** STAFF The constitutional changes also affect the rights of staff to make whistleblowing complaints. The old Ordinance 8: Complaints and Disclosures, set out in some detail how staff could complain about malpractice, including specific guidance on complaining about lay members of Council, the Vice-Chancellor, the Director of Finance, the University Secretary and other senior officers. Individuals who made complaints "..in good faith... (and) in the reasonable belief of the individual making the disclosure that it tends to show malpractice" were assured protection against "reprisals and victimisation". Indeed, victimisation of or reprisal against a complainant would be treated by the University as a "serious disciplinary matter". Not anymore. The new Ordinance 8: Raising Concerns at Work removes the specific guidance on how to make a complaint, merely stating that: "The Council shall ensure that there are clear procedures which ensure that members of the University feel able to raise issues of very real and significant concern" (Clause 8.1). Protection against reprisal or victimisation is again mentioned (Clause 8.4.1) but "...if the University discovers that this reporting process has been abused and that allegations have been raised maliciously, it may treat this as a disciplinary matter" (Clause 8.4.2). No mention of victimisation being a disciplinary matter. Instead, the discipline threat is aimed at the complainant. Has the University consulted the Trade Unions about this revision of the whistleblowing policy? Somehow, we doubt it. This is not just a change of language and tone; it is a new disincentive for staff to complain and, it appears, is intended as such. *** FUNNILY ENOUGH ... A trawl through the minutes of the University Audit Committee, available on the Governance website, shows that in recent years the University has dealt with only two whistleblowing cases, neither of them upheld. However, these were clearly too many for the University, as this intriguing extract from February 2014 shows: "Aud. 2014/16: Raising Concerns at Work/Whistleblowing The University Secretary reported that neither of the cases raised since June 2013 had been upheld and there were no new cases. The case involving Professional Services had been a hybrid one of whistleblowing and grievance and, in order to avoid others choosing this route rather than raising a grievance, more work would be done to tighten up the Raising Concerns at Work/Whistleblowing policy before it was published widely." Does the new Ordinance 8 represent the fruits of this "tightening up"? University management might argue that the possibility of disciplinary action against complainants is already implicit in existing procedures. This may be so, in some cases, but now that possibility has been made explicit and, moreover, enshrined in the University's constitution. Lancaster is not alone in its approach to student complaints and staff whistleblowing. This has been happening across the sector and the wording of some other institutions' procedures have a striking similarity to our own. It is only to be expected that as government funding policies mean more power for the "student customer", and the banking scandals highlight the importance of corporate responsibility, institutions will seek to limit their exposure. It is a process likely to continue, and Senate and LUSU will really need to up their game if they are to protect the interests of those they represent. It should not have to fall to subtext alone to scrutinise, highlight and warn against such disquieting proposals. **************************************************** FURNESS REAL ALE Returning to Trevor (Furness Bar) this winter, the annual Furness Real Ale Festival will run from Thursday 3rd to Sunday 6th December. The festival will officially open on Thursday from 5pm, with a selection of 15 regional and national ales and 8 ciders and perries on offer across the weekend. The bar will be open all day from 12 noon on Friday and Saturday, with live music each night, plus a pool tournament and pub quiz provided by the college on the Saturday. There'll be a chance to finish any festival beers on Sunday from 7pm. subtext has always made the effort to attend the Furness Real Ale Festival, and as well as the superb (and reasonably priced!) beers present, the event has long been a gathering for old and new hands of the university to meet, talk and plot. We cannot recommend it highly enough. Find the event on Facebook @ Furness Real Ale Festival. **************************************************** OUTSOURCING Following our piece on outsourcing (subtext 138) our attention has been drawn to the University's use of Pansophix. Actually, the university has been using Pansophix for years – the first package was bought some time ago and was, we are reliably informed, a very good deal for the University. Pansophix was started by a couple of guys working in HE and the original e-books were on very practical basic stuff such as writing minutes, chairing meetings, writing reports, etc. The intention then was that these would supplement the skills courses provided by the University. Pansophix was subsequently bought out by a larger commercial e-publisher (Business Learning Foundation) which is when the University seems to have 'taken their eyes off the ball' and appears to be abdicating its responsibility for personal and professional development to a company specialising in business self-help books. Apparently Pansophix now provides downloadable e-books full of tips, advice, toolkits, exercises and links to online resources covering a wide range of soft skills topics. The University has signed up to a Useful Guide Library subscription. There are currently over 75 Useful Guides available to choose from (it would appear that the University has gone for the 'Gold' package of 40 titles) covering a variety of different topics and issues including 'The Useful Guide to Create [sic] a New You'; 'The Useful Guide to Customer Service'; 'The Useful Guide to De-Stress You'; The Useful Guide to Dealing with Difficult Behaviour'; 'The Useful Guide to Work Life Balance' etc. You get the general idea. Lancaster is not the only University to have signed up to this particular set of resources – there are a number of glowing testimonials from other HEIs on their website. The issue of outsourcing continues to be an issue of concern (e.g. the Employee Assistance Programme, Study Group's first-year courses, Epigeum's unimpressive learning support efforts ... the list goes on!) but in this instance subtext would like to question the timing. The University appears to be behind the curve. Whilst it remains a multimillion-pound industry dominated by self-appointed lifestyle gurus spouting all manner of advice, whose books spawn sequels that spawn sequels, it would appear that self-help manuals have had their day. The tide has turned with the realisation that self-help books don't seem to work. Positive thinking and relentless optimism aren't the solution, but part of the problem. Their critics have described them as money-making scams. This may not always have been the case, but the intellectual mood appears to be changing, which is why we find it surprising that the University should be going down this particular route. ***************************************************** YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED In subtext 138, one concerned reader wrote in to ask why Costa Coffee vacancies have been featured on the University's HR pages. Almost immediately, an avalanche of helpful responses descended on the subtext warehouse. We can report that the branch of Costa Coffee on campus is managed and staffed by our commercial services department, and falls under its remit in much the same way as the College bars and the various eateries on campus. So there. ***************************************************** CONTINUING MEMBERSHIP [The ending of continuing University membership for retired staff is in place, in spite of several protestations and months of whingeing from subtext. In a contributed article below, the first casualty speaks out.] I had been aware of the change in policy relating to University membership and retirement and was duly warned by both HR and ISS that at midnight on the day of my retirement my membership of the University would be terminated. However, because I had already agreed to return, after a short break of service, to a two year part time academic post and had signed a contract to this effect, HR and my Department completed all the necessary processes to prevent the loss of my email which would have been detrimental to the resumption of my duties a few weeks later. Nevertheless, despite assurances to the contrary, and the best efforts of all concerned, my email, VPN etc. were terminated on the day following my retirement. This took place over a weekend, thus it was not until the start of the working week that the mistake was rectified. During my temporary loss of University membership I reflected on the wisdom of such a practice and on the implications for both the individual and the University. The following are points that I would like the University to consider. After decades of loyal service, the termination of membership appears to undervalue and disregard the contribution made by staff members who have dedicated their working lives to the institution. It also seems to presuppose that retired academics – at least those without the benefit of an Emeritus Chair – have nothing to contribute to University life. When an academic retires, their work does not disappear, it continues to exist in the wider world, to be debated and used in academic circles and in many cases has on-going relevance to policy and practice both nationally and internationally. During the short period I was without my email a number of email enquiries about my work from international academics and PhD students were sent to me. Had my email not been restored, these messages would have remained inaccessible, the result being that it would appear that I had simply been too rude to reply – surely not good for the reputation of the University. Oxford and Cambridge universities offer lifelong email addresses to their graduating students. If this practice is considered appropriate for Oxbridge graduates surely it should be acceptable for retiring Lancaster academics. If the University wishes to distinguish payroll staff from retired staff an email redirect to an address such as a.nameretired@lancaster.ac.uk would clarify the status of the individual. Many academic retirees stay in the Lancaster area and have the potential to continue to contribute to University life and to build links between 'town and gown'. A wealth of knowledge and experience is being wasted with the termination of membership. I hope that by the time I do retire fully in December 2017 this policy will have been reconsidered and my membership of and association with Lancaster University will continue to be mutually beneficial. **************************************************** LIFE AS WE KNOW IT Conversation with the pharmacist in Boots in Lancaster a few weeks ago. Supply your own one-liners. 'We're all exhausted, what with the endless requests from lecturers for flu jabs and from students for morning-after pills'. ***************************************************** WORK FOR NOTHING On Monday (16th Nov), Bowland College put out an appeal for any member wishing to apply for the new post of "Director of Engagement." The holder of the role shall "be responsible for the engagement programme of the college," "recruit, inform and enthuse staff members of the college who will assist student members in preparing for competitive events," "work with the Alumni office to develop a coherent programme of college alumni engagement," and "work with all college staff to develop a programme of staff engagement, including staff engagement with students." They will also address student employability, participation, and development, and engage with "outside agencies, community and business," arrange "debating competitions, an inter-college quiz, and grand challenge competitions" and ... did we mention that this is an SCR post, NOT a full time post, wholly voluntary, with the standard responsibility allowance granted to Deans and Senior Advisors? This sounds like a hell of a large remit for a volunteer, and there are full time, paid administrators across the University with job descriptions of this length. As any event organiser will tell you, projects of this nature require a great deal of administration and attention, especially when done on a full time bases with events and activities needing to be delivered thick and fast. One proposal in the orchestrated waste of time and effort that was the College Review was to reduce the buyout of a College Principal: essentially, requiring them to devote less time away from their department to fulfil the role. It was rejected at the consultation stage, with many incumbent Principals stressing that if their buyout were to be reduced, they simply would be unable to fulfil the role. Elsewhere, many people stated that they enjoyed their more hands on, operational responsibilities, and did not wish for their roles to be solely 'strategic.' This new post, while positive to see, is surely going to be a commitment unprecedented in terms of scale. ***************************************************** DECENNIUM Our old subscribers may remember that the first issue of subtext arrived on the scene at the end of Michaelmas term, 2005. This means that our next issue will mark the TENTH anniversary of subtext. The drones are still knackered out from the jubilant, self-congratulatory partying that ensued when we released our 100th issue two and a half years ago, so it is doubtful that subtext will make a big deal of its decennium ... ... But we won't stop our readers from making a fuss if they so choose. subtext will be announcing the introduction of ten 'Anniversary Editorships' in due course, to mark the occasion. ***************************************************** REMEMBRANCE The University arranged that at 10.45am on Wednesday 11th November this year, the Music Society Brass Band would hold a short Remembrance Service in Alexandra Square, in memory of those who have died in conflict. Many people who work and study at the University would question the purpose of such a ceremony. With British troops heavily engaged in conflicts around the world, such Remembrance Day events can seem like a glorification of war and an inducement to further sacrifice. There are many who would like the 11th November to be a day for pacifist sentiment. At the Lancaster University event several hymns were played before the 2 minutes' silence at 11am when many would have preferred a secular commemoration of such an occasion. Remembrance Day has never been a homogeneous, nationally-unifying event. It has provoked a variety of responses over the last 100 years: triumphalism, reverence, anger, pacifism, celebration. And no doubt it will continue to do so. See the Guardian editorial from 2009 below for an exposition of the various arguments: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/07/remembrance-day-poppies-cenotaph However, subtext is not aware of any groundswell of opinion, no great clamoring amongst staff or students for such an event to appear on the University calendar. Whose idea was this? Did any consultation take place? Such an event will provoke opinion, so in recognition of such would it not be sensible just to spend a little time talking to people about this? That said, it was good to see such a large attendance at the Remembrance Day service. The occasion is, of course, quite emotional enough in itself; listening to brass band music played by people standing stoically in the pouring rain is somehow even more so. ***************************************************** TAUTOLOGICAL SIGNS ARE TAUTOLOGICAL Another in our occasional series of signs seen around campus. This one was taped onto the door of a lift in County Main. "Please do not wedge the lift door open. It causes the doors to stay open." ***************************************************** RADIO SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY Lancaster can be astoundingly quick with its projects. On a six month turnaround, we managed to (more or less) set up shop in Ghana. With neither fuss nor confusion, we built, staffed and opened up a branch of Costa Coffee / Subway / WH Smith. Oddly, though, an academic institution such as ours can't act with similar haste and efficiency when it comes to the library. While students have been very impressed with the new décor and layout, they are becoming increasingly frustrated with a number of logistical nightmares that are making it impossible to find the right books. subtext learns that the transferral of books to different parts of the library is being undertaken by an outside company, who aren't exactly being forthcoming and communicative with their activity. This has resulted in OneSearch (which students can use to locate books in the library) being hopelessly out of date on a huge number of titles, resulting in students having to enquire to the staff, who are equally unable to help. Alas, as the impressive new printer system successfully eradicates mass confusion among droves of students, so a new mass confusion exacerbates the toil and stress of essay season. subtext hopes that these problems do not continue into the new year, although given our track record with refurbishments and renovation, we shan't hold our breath. ***************************************************** THE DOCTOR WON'T SEE YOU NOW subtext has been to the doctor recently, and was slightly bemused to discover that their practice has been adopting policies more akin to Jobcentre Plus than the NHS. - Would you like to speak to the acute team? - Well, yes. - OK, then we'll give you a call back at some point in the next hour. - Err . . . well, OK. Can you say when this is likely to be? - No. - Ah well. 1 minute later . . . ring! ring! And so it was that subtext ended up, sat in a pharmacist's waiting area, having a telephone consultation with someone sat in the building next door. The reason for this (literally) faceless approach is, of course, perfectly logical - a telephone triage system enables more people to "interact with a health professional" soon after presenting with symptoms, and this boosts the practice's KPIs. Walking off the street into a surgery and seeing someone in person, maybe after a short wait, is so 20th century. It'd be good for patients' wellbeing, though. ***************************************************** JEREMY CORBYN AT LANCASTER PRIORY CHURCH All the seats in the Priory Church for Jeremy Corbyn's speech on 5 November were taken within 24 hours of their becoming available, and on the night the church was packed. The evening was introduced by Chris Newlands, the vicar, who was clearly delighted to have the church so full. It was once common to find political meetings being held in churches. A hustings meeting was held before the recent General Election at St Thomas's Church in Lancaster, to which all the candidates were invited: that meeting was completely even-handed. There is guidance available about organising hustings before an election, for example from the Quakers about the use of a Meeting House for this purpose: as would be expected, the chief requirement is to ensure that every candidate with a reasonable chance of being elected gets a fair hearing. Similar guidance is given in relation to meetings before a referendum: in that case the subject of the vote is an opposition of ideas, and the organisers must ensure there is proper debate. So to hold a one-party meeting in the Priory Church might be thought a little unconventional. Perhaps the fact there was no election in the offing made a difference? What little evidence there is would suggest that C of E congregations tend to be Conservative (or at any rate conservative). Not for nothing has the Church of England been called the Conservative Party at prayer. So did the vicar of the Priory Church take a risk in allowing, or even promoting, a meeting addressed only by Labour Party luminaries, including its leader? This would seem courageous of the vicar; to endorse it in his introductory speech even more so. And yet, Jeremy Corbyn's central political message was, and is, the need to promote fairness among all sections of society, which is surely the message that can be found in many of the sayings of Jesus. It doesn't seem controversial, especially in a church. In fact, subtext couldn't disagree with anything Corbyn said: he outlined a Utopia that pretty well everyone could support. What wasn't clear was how this Utopia is to be attained -but Corbyn has a number of internal problems to cope with before he can start to deal with that. Assuming his party doesn't decide to eviscerate itself over the issue of his leadership, he has nearly five years in which to present his vision, but all the momentum of our society seems to be hell-bent in the opposite direction, towards less fairness and more division. Corbyn has a mammoth task on his hands. (Anyone who wants more on this event could visit http://virtual-lancaster.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/jeremy-corbyns-lancaster-visit-offers.html) ***************************************************** MORE CORBYN - VOTER REGISTRATION There were three speeches in a kind of warm-up session before Corbyn spoke, the first of which was given by University student Cat Finnerty. She urged everyone to encourage students, and all eligible young people, to register to vote in future elections. The last date for registering if you want to be included in the 1st December edition of the register is tomorrow, 20 November. If not, people are able to register later to be added to a later update. However, it is the 1st December edition that the boundary commission will be using when it redraws constituency boundaries – sadly, it seems likely that Lancaster and Fleetwood will be judged too small to continue, due in no small part to the vanishing campus population. Registering is easy, at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. All that is needed is a National Insurance number (even that isn't essential, although it speeds things up a little) and a date of birth. It takes about five minutes. It is also possible to register by post - see the same web site for details. University staff needs to encourage students to register, and students should encourage each other too. ***************************************************** SHART ATTACK FROM: Mike M. Shart, Vice-Chancellor, Lune Valley Enterprise University (LuVE-U). TO: All remit enactors. CC: Hewlett Venklinne, Chief External Amplifier of Institutional Existence. SUBJECT: LuVE in Edinburgh. Dear all, As you will no doubt have noticed, since taking up my post as Vice-Chancellor, I have been eager to extend LuVE-U's outreach to potential new students. The most recent of these efforts was the 'LuVE-U in London' event last June; a day of events in Westminster Central Hall with a number of taster sessions aimed at teachers and Year 12 students. I wasn't present at this event myself, but the Chief External Amplifier of Institutional Existence, Hewlett Venklinne, has assured me that the event was an enormous success and that it wasn't cancelled. I had noticed that many of the academics due to deliver sessions at the event were milling around on campus that day, but I am told that within ten minutes of the first workshop everyone in attendance implored the speakers to lead them out of London immediately and bring them back up north to give them a tour of our excellent facilities, and that the event wasn't cancelled. Continuing in this vein, we began to source popular regional events in which LuVE-U can most effectively advertise itself to potential students. I am pleased to announce that we have identified the 'Edinburgh Fringe Festival', which takes place in 'Scotland', as an ideal occasion during which we can showcase what we have to offer, and have already begun to hire venues. I would like to invite all of you to pitch your suggestions for sessions and workshops we can run at this exciting festival: Hewlett tells me that the festival, like Edinburgh in general, is a very liberal and artistic place, so artsy subjects like History, Theatre Studies, Social Work etc should be a heavy feature. A point of information, however: I am told that comedy is a big feature at this festival, so in order to ensure that we are in tune with the Edinburghinsian townsfolk, do try to feature some humour in your presentations, and try to tailor it to the location. I myself will be talking about the entomological significance of Aspen in the Scottish Highlands, in an open mike spot in a small local comedy club. I have written a joke which conflates the word entomology with etymology and proceeds to lightly rib the Scottish accent, which I am hoping will project a positive and approachable image of the University. It is this sort of attention to detail that I hope you all will bring to what is set to be a fantastic event. Regards, Mike. ***************************************************** MAY NOT CONTAIN ALLERGEN INFORMATION Since individuals in Commercial Services swiftly answered a question asked in the last issue of subtext (see 'your questions answered' above), we have another one for them. Earlier this term, Fylde Bar introduced its new menu. Some things have been added, some removed – one such thing that the new menu lacks is allergen information next to each dish. The sheer range of food on offer surely warrants the inclusion of this information. Is this just an oversight, or are we missing something? ***************************************************** LOGO 1 We keep thinking that subscribers will eventually throw their hands up and shout 'enough with the logo obsession, already!' but it hasn't happened yet (see LOGO 2 and LETTERS, below). So, while we're talking ... We were thinking, as you do, about the Management School. Subscribers may be aware that the LUMS web pages have been given their own 'look'. Odd, one might suppose, given the efforts made over the last few years by the University to get every department to adopt a uniform approach to website appearance. While some felt that this insistence on visual uniformity made us look rather corporate, it is probably generally true that allowing everyone to do their own thing is a recipe for confusion – and inevitably some will do it much better than others, which doesn't help. LUMS has evidently decided that they won't be using the logo, or, rather, that they will only be using part of it, namely the top left-hand quadrant, which includes most of the lion and just one of the roses. The other rose, the book and the river, and, indeed, the fact that the University logo is a shield – it looks, if anything, like a guitar plectrum – has been defenestrated. We leave it to others to decode the heraldic symbolism involved here, both that which has been lost and that which remains, particularly the loss of the book, but we do wonder what the thinking behind this is. If the Lancaster branch of WH Smith decided to just put 'WH' outside their store, one wonders how Head Office would react, and one wonders also how customers would react. We were told that the shield would be a whizzy modern go-ahead (albeit medieval) marketing tool, unlike the tired, dated, over-familiar (albeit not medieval) swoosh. The jury is still out on that, and we look forward with great interest to hearing about the feedback exercise that is no doubt going on amongst this year's students as we speak, confirming that the reason that most of this year's intake came to Lancaster rather than shield-less Exeter was our whizzy new look. Assuming that this is indeed confirmed, how, exactly, in marketing terms, does using just a small part of what is a yet-to-be-established logo work? ***************************************************** LOGO 2 Swoosh spotted (again) - in the national press, no less. Illustrating Bob Stanley's review of 'Space, Hope and Brutalism: English Architecture 1945-1975' by Elain Harwood in the Guardian Review (14th November 2015) there is, in the top right hand corner, a beautiful photograph of the top of the Chaplaincy Building. Set against a bright blue sky, illuminated by dazzling spring sunshine, is the swoosh. Dramatic, brilliant, iconic and, as the author notes, a vivid reminder of how buildings can radiate community and hope. Suggestions as to when we may expect to see the shield in such exalted company (radiating community and hope, or indeed anything at all) should be forwarded to the usual address. ***************************************************** CONTRAST IN THE GREAT HALL The concert in the Great Hall on 12 November featured the clarinettist Emma Johnson with John Lill at piano. A slight figure, Emma Johnson responded transparently to the music, moving with remarkable suppleness, smiling and almost dancing on the stage in the opening work, Schumann's Fantasiestücke. Her performance was more than the production of wonderful sounds: she communicated her enjoyment of the music through her body language, as well as through the sounds she drew from her clarinet. It was as fascinating to watch the soloist as to listen to her. By contrast, John Lill is a towering figure of a man. He glided across the stage to the piano stool as if on wheels, and remained almost immobile whilst playing. He is a very strong player, and can draw enough sound from a Steinway concert grand to compete with a full symphony orchestra. He tempered this volume a bit in last week's Great Hall recital, but still it was just as well that the timbre of the clarinet is so totally different from that of the piano, otherwise the clarinet may not have been heard. The programme was entirely of 19th-century music. As well as the Schumann, we had Brahms rhapsodies and intermezzi for solo piano and a sonatina by Dvorak for clarinet and piano; but the core of the concert was formed of the two magnificent sonatas composed by Brahms towards the end of his life for the virtuoso clarinet player Richard Mühlfeld. In fact, Brahms had all but decided to cease composition, but when he heard Mühlfeld's performance of works for clarinet by Mozart, Spohr and Weber, he was inspired to pick up his compositional pen once more. The two sonatas for clarinet and piano that resulted have long stood as the peak of the repertoire for this combination. ***************************************************** LETTERS Hi Subtext, Looks like LUSI hasn't got itself updated either ... oops. http://oi65.tinypic.com/ejygx0.jpg Apparently there's a great socking logo in Uni house as well but I haven't located that. Loving the emails J Cheers, Claire ******** Dear Editors, I'm enjoying the hunt for the swoosh around campus, and that got me wondering when the library will replace the swoosh logo inside all the thousands of books. One might have expected it as part of the refurbishment - apparently not. Thank you Andrew S ***************************************************** The editorial collective of subtext currently consists (in alphabetical order) of: George Green, James Groves, Ian Paylor, Ronnie Rowlands, Joe Thornberry, Johnny Unger, and Martin Widden. |
