Time for the inverted pyramid again. Went to a staff meeting today (unusual I admit) with big 25% cuts written all over the Powerpoint. Sitting through it (and it wasn't easy) I realized a couple of things, firstly, in large organizations, almost universally everybody has forgotten what they are supposed to be doing. So when you have a situation which is 25% cuts (ALL PLACES OF LEARNING HAVE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM VINCE CABLE!!!) the immediate reaction is do 'fuck all' or 'hope that it's alright' and 'we're optimistic about bla'. In the inverted pyramid, the thing that has to be cut is the size of the pyramid, which means you must cut management first. You can't cut the point of the pyramid because our model is closer to football than industry, ie; you can't replace lecturers or footballers with machines (at least not yet). Do you think our universities will do this? No fucking chance. The second realization is just how callous members our institutions have become, rather Ballardian actually, a la 'High Rise'. Precisely because they will not reduce the pyramid, the people at the point of the pyramid will therefore become psychotic...thats me.

Later ran in to my pal Nick in the White Horse who says my bogs are getting too depressing. Well when the Stones 'got depressed' they wrote 'It's Only Rock and Roll.. but I like It' a true classic, but also, they wrote lots of shit.