The View from the Sofa

All this talk about Myang Lee, and not a little repentance, got me thinking about the fact that it really is possible that Myang Lee could be a genuine university professor. In the last thirty years or so the character of Britain's universities has changed and now, provided you have the X-Factor you, dear reader, or anyone else can become a university professor.

In my day you needed brains and a good right hand (provided you are right handed that is). The Thatcher-Years were taking their toll, tenure was under threat and it was only possible to get a Chair if you were moderately bright and could produce a plethora of research papers each year, or at least persuade a small army of bright and highly underpaid graduate workers to write the papers for you. The system was vary neat, if you became sufficiently good at the game then the best graduates wanted to work with you and you were able to put your name on everything they wrote, which, provided you checked it carefully, made you (and your department) look good.

Today things have changed. All you need now is The X Factor and the X Factor is either funding, great contacts in industry (aka funding) or both. It really is possible that Myang Lee could be professor of Floating Fruit in some biology department provided she bought in the bacon, so to speak.

There is that repentant enough for you?