:-) Yep, that just about sums it up...

Hiya Bug, There is no short cut, I'm afraid; but I think it's pretty simple anyhow - it doesn't take long to throw into the pan. You ought to eat properly, or you'll burn out - you must be a right skinny milinsk. I have an image of you, rake thin, slaving over a laptop in a tiny room with bars on the windows, and no life - food makes the engines go around you know!

Hi Bug,

I agree with the posters so far, but will add that hiya is a Liverpool greeting, used with just about everyone - we don't say any of the others when on home turf, or speaking to eachother. I use it, in person, with everyone I have a relationship which is beyond the very formal - bosses, friends, family, colleagues; but I wouldn't use it for a work email - to me it is a relaxed, friendly term which implies that I am being myself. God knows what other people think of it, but it is a particularly Scouse (the word for Liverpudlians and their culture) greeting. You should use it when you have your friends round to enjoy the Scouse recipe I posted...

Hi Mooching, Yeah, your situation doesn't sound too bad. You'll only really need time off for supervisory meetings for quite a while anyhow - I'd love to be in your position!


Bug, how do you find these jobs? Is it through the department your PhD's at? x

======= Date Modified 26 Sep 2009 23:01:57 =======
======= Date Modified 26 Sep 2009 23:01:06 =======
Hi BHC, I'm not jumping on a band wagon, just remembering what it was like to be 18 - 21, and the subject of plenty of unwanted lust from men old enough to be my father and grandfather - that was not a nice situation, I think it might be hard for men to understand just how vulnerable women can feel, especially young women away from home. I can remember feeling like prey when a tutor asked me to get up and turn around so he and his colleague could see me from all angles - they were the same age as my dad, which made the whole thing even more shocking (and I mean that in the deepest sense of the word)for me. I did it because I was 17, but I felt like crap afterwards, and dropped the course. As Bug and I have said, this satire fell flat, and looks to many people like the real deal, so it will make young women feel endangered (this is not just about offence). As you say, this sort of thing happens more than we like to think and I just think it's important that students should feel safe with their lecturers, wether there is a genuine threat or not this may seem like an academic situation, but the sense of threat women can feel about theses things, especially when there is a power inbalance, is tangable, and far from academic.







It was his personal decision to write the piece the way he did, he didn't have to accept the offer, plenty of others refused - I don't think he should be censored, just more mindful of how many of his students might feel. And yes, I think a degree of self censorship in writing for publication is always a must - one mans freedom is another's prison. I'd be saying the same thing about a woman VC who'd writen the piece about young men - I was quite alarmed by Germaine Greer's book.

sorry, we don't need any tea towels today, try next door...

======= Date Modified 26 Sep 2009 16:07:45 =======
I tried, as a first year PhD student, but got nowhere. I did get work at three other unis though, two of them before I'd started the PhD - and I was a module leader, so, in my experience, OU work is very competitive.



I'm arts, and had an MA and industry experience when I applied.

BHC, did you read my post? I said I didn't find the article offensive, I thought it was meant as satire: I found it mildly amsuing. But it clearly has been very offensive to other people, and as a VC he should have played it safe. At 18, and away from home for the fisrt time young girls can feel extremely vulnerable, they are also less likely to understand ancient literary traditions and satire, hence lass likely to see that piece as humour. I think universities should be mindful of their status as educators of young people who often feel vulnerable.

Pamplemousse and magic time: yeah, looking back, I over reacted then, sorry Magic.

Magic time! what on earth makes you think men would have some particular inclination in this? All the women I know who are married, or in relationships find other men attractive (sorry lesbians, all my close friends are straight). In fact, they go on about it far more than the single ones! Perhaps women are better at being discreet about it around the significant others in their lives - only a good thing, I think. However, admiring and appreciating men absolutely does not mean that my friends are thinking about being unfaithful.

I had a boyfriend once who objected to me even finding film stars attractive, and he said he was never attracted to anyone but me: I found that very odd, and quite fake.

Bug, Cobweb has clearly lost it, she is our first casualty to PG fever.

I'm undecided about this now -I think the context of the guy being a VC, and writing in a national newspaper means he should have been more careful - satire or no satire. The article is clearly open to mixed interpretation, and the students should not be left in any doubt as to the professionalism of their teachers.

As a woman, I, personally, am not offended by the article, but I may have felt differently as a young undergraduate in his care.

As for admiring your prefered sex, well, I know I do it as a kind of reflex action, I seem to be programmed, and being in a relationship makes no difference - it certainly doesn't mean I'm contemplating being unfaithful - my relationships are based on far more than eye candy potential. But I don't make it obvious - especially not in a professional context.

Yes, that is very childish indeed.

Well I'm not getting dragged into it. I refuse to be trolled!

======= Date Modified 24 Sep 2009 22:54:05 =======
Great! now we have two threads about exactly the same thing. I responded on my earlier thread: the procrastination/controversy one, signalled earlier on this thread by Sylvester.