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Steve Cushion is spot-on when he points out that life is far from normal at London Metropolitan University, contrary to the assertion of vice-chancellor Brian Roper (Letters, April 15).

What staff want in the post-merger environment is inspirational leadership, not demoralising authoritarian micro-management. One feature of authoritarian management is that negative feedback does not get passed to the top; perhaps this is why Roper believes everything is normal.

He should take lessons from the business world, where neglect of staff concerns after mergers contributes to "a higher failure rate than the liaisons of Hollywood stars" ( The Economist , July 2000).

David Hardman
London Metropolitan University