{"id":203,"date":"2017-11-23T14:33:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=203"},"modified":"2017-11-23T14:33:44","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:33:44","slug":"letters-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/23\/letters-4\/","title":{"rendered":"LETTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is it that every time I contact the central Travel team for some bookings I find that they cost much more than I thought they would? I’ve been consistently finding the quotes that Travel get to be more expensive than what I could find anywhere online. This is especially true for airline tickets, which are at least 10%-20% more expensive booked through Travel than through any respectable airline website. <\/span><\/p>\n

Corridor conversations always stumble upon them providing ‘additional care’, but I did not find this to be true at all. I recently needed help during 2 conference trips where there were misunderstandings about the booking with the hotel. It was extremely difficult to get in touch with either Travel or Key, their provider, which resulted in frustrating experiences that required many non-fun hours of undoing with Travel and the Expenses admin team upon return.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, I find that many times the bookings Travel make are expensive but not necessarily better. Even when I do the homework of researching hotels, flights, etc, I often end up with a sub-optimal itinerary from Travel that costs much more than expected. So on top of wasted time, I find that my hard-earned research funds are unnecessarily depleted by an aloof team that seems indifferent about spending taxpayers’ money.<\/span><\/p>\n

Name withheld<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it? Your drones could assist Lancaster’s current management a little by unearthing the story of Lancaster\u2019s first experiment in importing a head to a thriving department.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an attempt to suppress the young revisionists in Sociology (such as Nick Abercrombie, the late John Urry and John Hughes) in 1972 Vice Chancellor Carter recruited Michelina Vaughan, an author of a letter to The Times attacking the 1968 LSE student protesters, to the first chair and to take over as head of department. <\/span><\/p>\n

The rest is history…<\/span><\/p>\n

John Wakeford<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext<\/span><\/p>\n

Show me the way to go! How exciting the new high-tech, illuminated maps that have popped up all over campus are! I\u2019ll be even more excited when the second phase is completed \u2013 and the magnifying glasses are attached so I can read the text…<\/span><\/p>\n

Joanne Wood<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

Regarding your piece on sedentary professions (subtext 168). Television weather presenters. I have never seen, in this country or abroad, anyone present the weather forecast sitting down. I wonder why this is? <\/span><\/p>\n

Best wishes<\/span><\/p>\n

Cheryl Simmill-Binning<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

Lancaster University Contracts of Employment have referred to ancillary documents relating to sabbatical leave entitlement. With that detail ever changing, a request went from the VC\u2019s forum on sabbatical leave (May, 2015) for a time-line of contractual changes. Having kept no records, HR was unable to provide that information, so leaving it for individuals to inform HR of their contractual terms. Effective from August 2017, this \u2018embarrassment\u2019 has been resolved. All earlier statements are now void. For example, an entitlement to sabbatical leave \u2018as of right\u2019 (PS\/97\/782 March 2007) is replaced by \u2018the granting of Academic Research and Education Leave which is not an automatic right\u2019 (http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ybxxxb2f<\/a>). That it is still possible to download \u2018Sabbatical Leave – 10 Question and Answers\u2019 and \u2018Lancaster University Application for Sabbatical Leave (HR111)\u2019, shows that there is some tidying-up to do. The legal implication of losing an entitlement \u2018as of right\u2019 is beyond the layperson, whose best guess (in the case of this writer) is that the change is analogous to an individual being \u2018innocent until proven guilty\u2019, to one who is \u2018guilty until proven innocent\u2019. That the presumption of leave in the absence of any contrary argument is gone; replaced by the presumption of no leave without the approval of an HOD.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gerry Steele<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext<\/span><\/p>\n

You may be interested to learn of the recent UA92 meeting (9 November) for Stretford residents. I attended in that capacity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your own Prof Sharon Huttly was in attendance as well as Gary Neville. They both gave bland presentations then we proceeded to question.<\/span><\/p>\n

The background is that as part of UA92 they want to put high rise student accommodation on a small site which is currently a well-used car park. The proposed building would be out of scale with the rest of the area and right next to our two listed buildings, Stretford Public Hall and the Essoldo building. It is true that some people support the idea, and Gary Neville’s fame no doubt contributes to that. We also have a dated shopping centre with a high vacancy rate, so some people believe the student accommodation will give that a boost. The whole project is being sold by the council as ‘regeneration’.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is also much opposition among people who think the building will be far too overbearing in the proposed location and that it will have a detrimental effect on the area in terms of amenities, etc. It seems to be these people who are attending the meetings, including myself. Both Gary and Prof Sharon looked a little shocked at the negative reaction from locals. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since that meeting, there has been a change of tone from the council in my opinion. There has been another meeting (21 November) to discuss Stretford Town Centre, were it was stressed that nothing is decided. There was more listening, and less of the ‘selling of their plan’ approach we had initially. There are, however, obvious concerns. The council will be landlords of the student accommodation, so there’s an obvious financial incentive for the proposed site to be as densely populated as possible. It is in a Labour ward of a Conservative held council, so there’s no political backlash for the majority of Councillors to worry about. We are now coming towards the end of the consultation so we will soon find out if the Council have listened to locals. To reiterate, neither I nor the locals I speak to are against students coming here. The concerns are the very high density accommodation proposed, and the prospects for the area if this is built and UA92 does not succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best regards,<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear subtext, Why is it that every time I contact the central Travel team for some bookings I find that they cost much more than I thought they would? I’ve been consistently finding the quotes that Travel get to be … 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_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[53,125,123,126,127,124,128,54],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters","tag-football-university","tag-hods","tag-issue-169","tag-maps","tag-sabbaticals","tag-staff-travel","tag-stratford","tag-ua92"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-3h","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":761,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/10\/11\/letters-17\/","url_meta":{"origin":203,"position":0},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 11 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, I don't normally email but as a fairly new starter to Lancaster I was gobsmacked yesterday when I received my new parking permit through the post. Just seems a waste of money to me. A second class stamp costs 58p. Lancaster has 2,500 staff. So if 80% apply\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":703,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/letter-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":203,"position":1},"title":"LETTER (OF THE YEAR)","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, The so-called Gender Pay Gap is, in fact, a Sex Pay Gap and the efforts that the university are suggesting around maternity and childcare are woefully inadequate, the latter mainly consisting of signposting things that are already available (though in the case of preschool childcare, pretty inadequate -\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":538,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/10\/letters-12\/","url_meta":{"origin":203,"position":2},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 10 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, In 2005\/6 when I (as HoD) was trying to support an appeal by a female member of admin who had been downgraded by the job review that was supposed to bring equivalence to roles, I looked\u00a0 through the internal telephone directory at the names of people who occupied\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":1146,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/06\/28\/subtext-189-imaginative-thinking-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":203,"position":3},"title":"subtext 189 – ‘imaginative thinking subtext’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"June 28 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments:\u00a0subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/\u00a0 In this issue: editorial,\u00a0recruitment drive,\u00a0VC swan song,\u00a0pensions,\u00a0bailrigg fm,\u00a0dundee,\u00a0overheard on the spine,\u00a0art degree show review,\u00a0letters. ***************************************************** And so, we are almost at the end of our sixth VC's tenure. Professor Mark E Smith, CBE (as of\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":63,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/12\/letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":203,"position":4},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 12 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, Can anyone who saw this kind of behaviour from doors [see article on weird door behaviour in subtext 165] let me know which ones? Most of the access controlled doors are supposed to fail open, especially those on fire routes. I'd like to investigate ones not doing the\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":973,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/04\/02\/subtext-187-yet-another-meaningful-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":203,"position":5},"title":"subtext 187 – \u2018yet another meaningful subtext\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 2 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time (and sometimes a bit after). Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, people's vote march, cheat's charter, bailrigg fm, lancaster exchange, where's regev?, widden, no letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL How to keep busy in these interesting times\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\/203","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=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}