Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

[Wyatt Earp]

Lyra, I think Our Old College is taking the piss.

(Or do you not get their emails?)

Explanation: King's College Cambridge runs a series of talks to which only "Non-Resident Members" (that's me and Lyra, plus obviously a few others) are invited. They charge through the nose.

Both the exclusivity and the fee seem in pretty poor taste where this whole-planet-relevant issue is concerned.

[ian.64]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Do you e-mail them back, telling them it's a swizz?

[EIM]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Do you mean lecture as in an informative presentation. Or are you all going to get bollocked about leaving your lights on and shit?

[ian.64]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Ah, but what kind of talks do they provide? They may be staging 'Bottoms: Arses Through The Centuries', or an entertaining discourse on 'Dirty Jokes: Their History And How To Make Up Some New Ones'. They may have guest speakers like One Foot In The Grave's Richard Wilson, who'll guide the audience of non-resident members through saying 'I don't believe it' in a variety of light-hearted and raucous ways. Or Les Dennis may give a compelling talk on how he's managed to sustain a talent the size of an Oxo cube for so long.

Or there can indeed be dual, 2-in-1 talks on both leaving your lights on and shit: Energy and Poo, A Marriage Made In Heaven.

£25? Worth it, I'd say.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

My old college does that too. We're particularly unfortunate to have Nick Robinson as an old member who is wheeled out on these occasions.

If they held these lectures of yours under candlelight in the chapel, then I might attend.

[ursus arctos]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

US universities tend to be nowhere near as direct about this kind of thing. The "lifetime learning opportunities" offered are generally gratis, though many alums would much prefer a straightforward admission charge to the arm twisting for donations of much more than 25 quid that tends to feature at such events.

My own old pile of bricks tends to be much more low key about the arm twisting (as they can be, given their USD 30 billion+ endowment). That said, they do pester me periodically with entreaties about obscenely expensive trips to exotic locales accompanied by a professor or two (the latest I recall was to the Antartic in summer on a luxury sailing ship for USD 600 a night). I tend to think of those as worthwhile perquisites for underpaid faculty.

[beak]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

The University of Manchester puts on lots of interesting looking stuff, usually free or very cheap, bombards alumni such as myself with enticing promotional literature, then schedules them for a time when anybody in the real world is more likely than not cooped up in an office, swearing at some numbers.

[Guest]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Surely it's just a charge to neutralise any carbon emmissions generated by the lecture? To make it a "carbon neutral" event, and leave the speakers feeling slightly less guilty about all the electricity they used up in boring a large group of people to death.

[noj]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

My old university phones me up about every six months asking for money. The current alumni 'magazine' is full of pictures of the Vice Chancellor jetting round the world visting famous alumni. He's not come to the East Midlans yet though.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

£25 - an Inconvenient Charge

[Tubby Isaacs]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Directness is the word, Ursus. We get phoned up by current students who feign interest in our lives and then ask us for money.

We also have free dinners (gaudies) where you get asked to contribute as the port comes round. They're excellent dinners and no-one seems to mind if you don't put any in. In fact, last time I was watching Bangladesh finish off India in the Cricket World Cup.

Leaving before speeches is a good rule in any context.

[Wyatt Earp]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

Directness is the word, Ursus. We get phoned up by current students who feign interest in our lives and then ask us for money.

Yeah, I get that. I tell them about the state of the textbooks in my kids' primary school, ususually, self-righteous lefty bore that I am.

Leaving before speeches is a good rule in any context.

Especially, I've found, if the speaker is Stephen Wolfram. Me and my mates have got our sneak-out-the-back-and-off-to-the-Blind-Pig-in-downtown-Champaign routine working verly slickly now.

Mind you, last time, he turned up later in the evening, a thing I would have bet my mortgage against.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

We get phoned up by current students who feign interest in our lives and then ask us for money.

Good lord - does this happen at normal universities as well as the posh ones? Good job I jacked it all in after a year. That would really piss me off.

[Guest]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Hey Wyatt I just saw this. I do sometimes get emails but I can't find this one. I never go to this stuff anyway.

QUOTE:
Directness is the word, Ursus. We get phoned up by current students who feign interest in our lives and then ask us for money.

Yeah, I get that. I tell them about the state of the textbooks in my kids' primary school, ususually, self-righteous lefty bore that I am.

I had that as a job when I was a student. They paid OK but no one ever lasted very long, I think I did 3 evenings. I really didn't have any money, is my excuse.

I remember some people were happy to shell out £1000 or more, it was amazing. One guy offered me a job! He said, you are good at this, do you want a job, starting in phone sales?' and I said No thank you! But now I wonder if maybe I should have done; I might be a sucessful and confident career woman by now.

[Guest]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Hmm I just did a search. Maybe it's cos you're a scientist? The last emails I have had have been an invite to the garden party, and the bursar job advert.

[anton pulisov]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Al Gore gave an hour long lecture at the VU in Amsterdam. There was no entrance fee.

[anton pulisov]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Yeah, I was at it.

He didn't do his presentation thing, just an hour long speech with no notes, teleprompter, powerpoint or anything like that. He was surprisingly knowledgeable for a politician.

[Guy Profumo]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Who's "Climate Chang"?

Has the Wolf of Kabul re-invented himself as a crusading eco-warrior of something, with his trusty sidekick "smiting many skull", when he sees excessive CO2 footprints?

[Guy Profumo]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

(Sodding Arseholes. It reads "climate change" now.)

[Guest]

Twenty five quid for a lecture on climate change?

Wyatt, I just received the email. I must be on the Z-list.