In message , at 16:28:58 on Thu,
22 Feb 2018, Roger Hayter remarked:

The idea of security of tenure for academics was to ensure that people
capable of thinking were in a position to develop new ideas, about
society, literature, science and politics. This is essential to prevent
totalitarianism, but also to prevent the ossification of society and to
allow science to develop without stultification (or more likely the
rapid overtaking of our science by universities in the far east).

That may well be true of academics in Russell Group Universities a
generation ago. Now that so many academics are teaching evening classes
in pottery at a former FE college with ideas above its station, that
kind of "one size fits all" approach is no longer sustainable.
--
Roland Perry