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Lecturers’ strike
SIR – University lecturers and vice-chancellors should hang their heads in shame (“Lecturers threaten to bring education ‘to a standstill’ ”, report, October 25).
I have two grandchildren at university. Their first year was a Covid year. Students were locked in their rooms and the only contact with the university was by way of online lectures. For this they were charged £15,000 (including accommodation).
The second year was only marginally better, because the lecturers had discovered a way of not providing full face-to-face contact. In her third year at Lancaster University, my granddaughter, who is studying geography, which calls for practical experiments, is denied access to the labs even though they are under-used.
Earlier this year, The Daily Telegraph reported that many institutions continue to offer lectures online and promote the benefits of “blended” or “hybrid” learning to undergraduates, as this allows lecturers to spend more time researching. As a cynic, I suggested to an acquaintance that he now had the ideal job, as he could record his lectures, repeat them online each year for the next 10 years and in the meantime put his feet up.
Now, to add insult to injury, they want to strike.
Ken Webb
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Scottish police cuts
SIR – In order to contain its vast over-spending programme, the Scottish government is asking Police Scotland to cut back on its services by up to a staggering £300 million. This is a savage blow to Scottish police, who are currently operating with shoddy, old-fashioned technology and police stations that are years out of date.
So much for the SNP’s pledges to put more officers on our streets.
Dennis Forbes Gratton
Aberdeen
Micro manners
SIR – What is Sir Geoffrey Vos talking about (“Talking sport excludes women, lawyers told”, report, October 22)? What he calls a “microaggression”, such as banging on about Glyndebourne to people who have never been, can’t afford to go or are bored by opera, is no such thing; it’s simply a little ill-mannered.
Do we really need to be protected, like children, from this?
Nick Trevor
Rodenhurst, Shropshire
Energy credit
SIR – For some years I was with Flipper, a service that automatically changed my energy supplier (Letters, October 26) when a more advantageous price was offered by another company. What it didn’t do was sort out any credit owing to me. When it ceased trading in 2021, I was automatically transferred to Shell Energy and assured that money owed by previous suppliers would be repaid. I heard nothing more.
In April I wrote to Shell, to no avail. I was in hospital then away for some weeks over the summer, during which time the company took almost £1,000 from my account. I immediately cancelled my direct debit and wrote another letter warning Shell that, as six months had elapsed since I first put a complaint in writing, I would be getting help from Ofgem.
I got an immediate emailed apology and a promise of prompt attention, but I have not heard anything else in more than six weeks. This situation is unacceptable, and despite being very careful about my consumption, I must now owe an eye-watering sum. Ofgem will be getting a letter from me.
Merrilyn Boorman
Lenham, Kent
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