{"id":1246,"date":"2020-03-27T14:35:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T14:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=1246"},"modified":"2020-06-19T08:28:32","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T08:28:32","slug":"subtext-193-stay-home-and-read-subtext","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/subtext-193-stay-home-and-read-subtext\/","title":{"rendered":"subtext 193 – ‘stay home and read subtext’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Every so often during term time (and sometimes slightly later).<\/span><\/div>\n
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Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/<\/a> <\/span><\/div>\n
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In this issue: editorial, freeze<\/a>, applause<\/a>, court report<\/a>, rip tony madeley<\/a>, gender stereotyping update<\/a>, democracy update<\/a>, toilet paper<\/a>, teach outs<\/a>, widden’s review<\/a>, pies<\/a>, letters<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
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EDITORIAL<\/span><\/div>\n
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That UCU strike seems a long time ago now, doesn’t it?<\/span><\/div>\n
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As Lancaster’s staff and students adjust to a new working life involving ‘daily exercise’, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and all manner of ‘virtual learning platforms’, subtext reflects on two weeks we should have probably all seen coming, but which most of us didn’t.<\/span><\/div>\n
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For those on campus during Week 20, the atmosphere was strangely peaceful; hardly anyone around, bars and shops gradually choosing to close, and nothing but the almost-daily updates from ‘Lancaster Internal Communications’ to remind us that things were, in the wider world, definitely not getting any better.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Incidentally, subtext would be interested to know why the Vice-Chancellor has chosen to colour the ‘Lancaster University’ header at the top of his COVID-19 updates in Management School Teal, rather than the usual Lancashire Red. Is he trying to create an artificial divide between his usual chummy ‘we’re all in this together’ persona and his new, necessarily terrifying ‘vacate your offices by Monday’ persona? Every time we see that flash of green at the top of an email, we know the news is bad. The consequences could be severe – subtext has visions of groups of staff in years to come experiencing flashbacks and panic attacks every time they pass LUMS and catch sight of that oppressive shade of green.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The UCU disputes on pensions, pay and conditions continue, of course, with not a lot changed after 14 days of further strike action – except the election of a new UCU National Executive Committee that will be far more to General Secretary Jo Grady’s liking than the outgoing one. Relations locally between unions and management remain strained. Unlike several universities, including Birkbeck, King’s College London and St Andrews, which have indefinitely deferred all strike deductions in the light of the coronavirus crisis, Lancaster seems unusually keen to punish its staff as rapidly as possible, with many staff due to see a full 14 days’ worth of pay deducted from their March salary payments. Most Heads of Department seem to have been happy, under orders from HR, to ask staff to declare their strike days as soon as possible. Could the University be jittery about its financial position? This week’s announcement of a freeze on all external recruitment (see our article in this issue) suggests that they may be.<\/span><\/div>\n
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As we go to press, news has reached the subtext warehouse that the University now wants all staff to report their COVID-19 status. In an email to staff, Director of HR Paul Boustead claims that they ‘require this information to enable the University to meet its reporting requirements and respond to requests from [the] Office for Students, government and emergency services.’ While it is clear the University has a role to play in flattening the curve, and in some respects has been ahead of the government in this regard, asking all staff to disclose specific details about their health seems like a clear case of institutional overreach. Readers can of course make their own decision about whether to comply with this request, or reply to Paul Boustead with a frank indication of their views.<\/span><\/div>\n
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There will no doubt be a lot to think about in the coming months. As we prepare for a term, or perhaps longer, of remote working, subtext hopes to be there to cover the serious stories and, hopefully, provide a bit of light relief. Stories, reviews and letters are more welcome than ever – send them to the usual email address.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every so often during term time (and sometimes slightly later). Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, freeze, applause, court report, rip tony madeley, gender stereotyping update, democracy update, toilet paper, teach … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[572,569,548,70],"class_list":["post-1246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","tag-covid-19","tag-issue-193","tag-strikes","tag-ucu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-k6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1232,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/subtext-presents-a-solution-to-toilet-paper-shortage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1246,"position":0},"title":"SUBTEXT PRESENTS: A SOLUTION TO TOILET PAPER SHORTAGE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"1) Receive this latest issue of subtext 2) Print off this latest issue of subtext 3) Problem solved","rel":"","context":"In "special feature"","block_context":{"text":"special feature","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/special-feature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1264,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/06\/19\/letters-29\/","url_meta":{"origin":1246,"position":1},"title":"Letters","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"June 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, subtext 193 published a piece of widely-believed, but inaccurate, Lancastrian electoral trivia \u2013 that the 8 December 2016 University and Scotforth Rural by-election had the lowest turnout of any British election, at 7.12%. I understand the current record-holder to actually be the former Melrose ward, Liverpool City Council,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1236,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/email-signature-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":1246,"position":2},"title":"EMAIL SIGNATURE NEWS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Following up our story (see subtext 192) on Lancaster's not-in-any-way-pandering-to-stereotype set of email signature templates, featuring Mr Jo Bloggs the officer and his loyal personal assistant, Ms Jane Bloggs, a subtext reader emails to let us know that our article may have 'prompted them to do something'. Upon investigation, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "newsflash"","block_context":{"text":"newsflash","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/newsflash\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1242,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/showing-you-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":1246,"position":3},"title":"SHOWING YOU CARE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of you may be familiar with the 'Clap for Our Carers' campaign, which has recently spread across social media with the speed of, well, some sort of virus. The idea was that the people of the UK would, at 8pm on March 26th, take to their windows, porches, gardens,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":309,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/01\/18\/subtext-171-the-stable-genius-of-a-shithole-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":1246,"position":4},"title":"subtext 171 – ‘the stable genius of a shithole subtext’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"January 18 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, tech, groveling apology, website, UA92 bonanza, court, leadership bonanza, UCLan, BAM, lowercase letters, shart, concert review, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL We had it all sewn up - the editorial was written, the issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1530,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2021\/11\/11\/subtext-197-you-know-your-worst-is-better-than-their-best\/","url_meta":{"origin":1246,"position":5},"title":"subtext 197 – you know your worst is better than their best","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 11 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Frequency determined by contributions received. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, campus update, campus by-election, bailrigg garden village special, tolerance update, honorary degrees, valete spineless, post-lockdown dystopia, peter scott review, three widden reviews, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Before 2021, the longest ever\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1247,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}