Letter: Angry reaction to government veto of universities' pay settlement

Sir: In justifying the Government's veto of the pay settlement of 6 per cent negotiated between university vice-chancellors and academic staff, Nigel Forman says that the universities are 'not at present experiencing any general difficulty in recruiting and retaining the lecturers which they

require'.

I interpret this as meaning that if people are stupid enough to work for inadequate salaries when they could be better paid elsewhere, then they only have themselves to blame. Does the minister really mean this? If so, why does the Government not apply the same criterion to other groups who may happen to be doing jobs which they enjoy?

Yours faithfully,

ROBERT HENDERSON

Department of Pharmacology

University of Cambridge

Cambridge

17 July