- Any economic recovery is apparently unlikely to make Britons happier. The Daily Telegraph reported on 28Ā November that Eugenio Proto, associate professor of economics at the University of Warwick, had found that national populationsā happiness levels do not increase once gross domestic product per capita exceeds $36,000. The paper noted that the UK records almost exactly that figure: Ā£22,244. A paper DrĀ Proto co-authored in the journal PLoS ONE also found that richer nations than the UK, such as the US, Germany and Sweden, had slightly lower levels of happiness owing to āthe associated increased pressure of ākeeping up with the Jonesesāā. Vice-chancellors, someĀ of whom earned in excess ofĀ Ā£400,000 in 2011-12, must be as miserable as sin.
- The Daily Mail is not known for its sympathetic treatment of social workers or single mothers, but it seems an exception can be made when it presents an opportunity to have a go at Jobcentre staff. The paper reported on 26Ā November that an unemployed single mother had been advised by her local Jobcentre to delete any reference on her CV to the degree in social work that she had earned from the University of Portsmouth. The woman, Rachel Sawford, āescaped an abusive relationshipā to earn the qualification, but Jobcentre staff warned her that it might āscare offā potential employers from outside her field. Ms Sawford, who has student debts of Ā£30,000, was notĀ impressed. She told the paper: āThey are saying everything IĀ have achieved in the past four years is worthless. I want to get off benefits but I will not take my achievement off my CV.ā
- The London School of Economics is also on the market for anĀ income boost. On November, law firm Pinsent Masons announced that it was advising the institution on a Ā£125Ā million bond issue. A couple of years ago, bonds were touted as the great white hope for universitiesā capital programmes in the age of austerity, but only three ā De Montfort University and the universities ofĀ Cambridge and Manchester ā have taken the plunge. Why the LSE has decided to join them is unclear but, after getting its reputational fingers burned by its connections to former Libyan dictator Muāammer Gaddafi, it may feel that chasing philanthropy poses a greater risk than committing to pay investors a steady rate of return.
- The reputation of eminent evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers took a hit in 2005 when he co-published a paper in the journal Nature claiming that men with more symmetrical bodies were rated better dancers. The paper was questioned at the time and two years later the Rutgers University professor began to have doubts of his own after finding alleged inconsistencies in the data used by lead author William Brown. Dr Brown, then a postdoctoral researcher and now senior lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire, denies any wrongdoing. Since then Professor Trivers has been battling publicly to convince a reluctant Nature to retract the paper. His zeal even led to his being banned from the Rutgers campus for five months inĀ 2012 after a heated discussion with LeeĀ Cronk, a fellow author on the paper, about the case. TheĀ Retraction Watch website reported on Ā November that Natureās resistance had finally been overcome after the conclusion of a Rutgers investigation. But Professor Trivers is not exactly dancing ā symmetrically or otherwise ā in the street. He told the site he is frustrated that the retraction notice contains no explanation of what went wrong. Bedfordshire has agreed to look again at the case.
- As university staff held a second one-day national strike on 3Ā December, Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said the unions would fight on to āstop the pay cutsā. In a statement to members on 2Ā December, Ms Hunt says she has received āletter after letter from members whose pay levels mean they are struggling to make ends meetā. Staff are struggling to stay on top of mortgage payments, pay bills and feed their families, while casualised workers are worried about having enough work, she says. Unions claimed the strike would cause āwidespreadā disruption, but the Universities and Colleges Employers Association said a ālow turnoutā had resulted in āminimal impactā on students.
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