For a whole bunch of personal reasons, I am grit extraordinaire (and in equal part soft). When the strong fold, you know something is wrong. Pay attention academia – your systems and policies are so severely flawed and unjust, that you will not be able to rely on the overestimated goodwill of your staff for as long as you think. They are on the brink, and things are hanging together by thin threads of resentment and rage at your exploitation of them. The minute they have wriggle room to consider a new financial plan and have sufficiently gratified their ‘academic identity’ … well, watch this space.

Academia threatens to keep staff silent by accusing them of bringing the institution into disrepute. Reputation is ultimate to protect because it’s what keeps the market of students coming in. When will they acknowledge that it is they who have brought on their own disrepute? You don’t have to search far on the likes of Twitter and Linkedin to find a sea of academic staff exercising their freedom of speech, from all across the world. A sample size of ‘a lot’ can only be ignored for so long. There are ways to fix it. It just takes will from the top.