TO ALL MY FORMER STUDENTS: I DO HOPE THAT YOU ARE BEING TAUGHT PROPERLY, AND HAVE SOMEONE WHO KNOWS BRITAIN AS A NATIVE, AND CAN EXPLAIN THE NUANCES OF THE WORD 'DOWNRIGHT', 'FORTHRIGHT' AND 'RIGHT'; WHO CAN TALK IN DIFFERENT BRITISH REGIONAL ACCENTS; WHO HAS WRITTEN BOOKS ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND ON BRITAIN; WHO ADORES ENGLISH LITERATURE; WHO CAN COMPARE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO GERMAN, FRENCH, ITALIAN AND DUTCH; WHO LIVED IN BRITAIN FOR FORTY YEARS; WHO RETURNS THERE REGULARLY; AND WHO UNDERSTANDS HIS PEOPLE AND ALL THE SUBTLETIES.

William Mallinson interview with RT

William Mallinson, former British diplomat, diplomatic historian, and author of books on Britain, Greece, the US, Russia and Cyprus, talks with RT about EU m...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnLppK80QN4&feature=youtu.be

https://youtu.be/qnLppK80QN4

William Mallinson interview with RT International on Greek election

http://www.zougla.gr/politiki/article/epam-proeklogiki-sigentrosi-sto-8isio

Date:	Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:42:52 +0200 [09/11/11 23:42:52 EET]
From:	mallinson@dflti.ionio.gr
To:	Σταματέλα Πρεντουλή <prentouli@dflti.ionio.gr>, geo_kent@dflti.ionio.gr, schlumm@dflti.ionio.gr, papavassiliou@dflti.ionio.gr, politis.michel@gmail.com, filias@dflti.ionio.gr, parianou@dflti.ionio.gr, saridakis@dflti.ionio.gr, lazaratos@dflti.ionio.gr, papadimitriou@ionio.gr, papas@dflti.ionio.gr, keramidas@dflti.ionio.gr, michalakopoulos@ionio.gr, livas@dflti.ionio.gr, vilelmini@hotmail.com
Subject:	Re: ΠΡΟΣΚΛΗΣΗ ΓΙΑ ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑΣΗ ΤΗΣ Γ.Σ.
Quoting Σταματέλα Πρεντουλή <prentouli@dflti.ionio.gr>:     Dear Stamatella and George,   I am afraid that I shall be unable to attend tomorrow's departmental meeting, as I was unable to change my ticket. However, I am happy to share some of my thoughts and views with the meeting. My main concern is the situation with our 407 people. Do correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand matters, the department is considering replacing those of our seventeen 407 colleagues who have expressed strong reservations about signing a teaching contract which awards them the bizarre sum of 113 Euros a month. Given the current and future economic and social situation, this strikes me as a somewhat inefficient idea, lacking in creativity and common sense. Would it not be more sensible to simply allocate those contracts that are unfulfilled to somebody who can take on the extra work, and therefore be paid more, rather than risk taking on new people who are unlikely to have the experience, particularly in teaching the highly professional and difficult subject of interpreting, when we already have superb staff? It would also be better for the students, who are used to our excellent standards. In other words, we need to consolidate, not dissipate and leave hostage to fortune. Standards are also likely to drop if we do not consolidate thoughtfully, in which case the Ministry of Education could have an argument to close down our department, transferring the students to, for example, Athens, which may already be seeking to introduce new courses. I think that one or two DEP positions in interpreting are long overdue, and that this may be part of the cause of our current administrative predicament apart, of course, from the mistaken measures being taken by the government. Am I correct in thinking that a presidential decree exists which allows DEP lecturers to be taken on, provided that they register for a Ph.D.? It seems clear that some of the teaching being done by 407's could equally well be done by new DEPs, who would of course replace some 407's, of which it does appear that there are rather many. Ay any event, I hope that these thoughts might focus minds on the future as well the immediate firefighting and patchwork. We need to strengthen, not weaken ourselves, administratively. I hope that you find these thoughts helpful, and that they contribute to a productive meeting. Do forgive my using English, but it would have taken me rather longer to write in Greek. On a humorous note, Ms.Diamantopoulou would be happy with the English! Yours, William

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