It's OK to have fun

I suspect your front page ("Academics use salsa to shake off stress",JAugust 4) should have made me stressed or - even better - angry.

Sorry. It induced weary sadness that, again, you are so keen to report the lonely, unrepresentative views of one person as opposed to those of more than a thousand people who had a great time at our Wellbeing Day.

Of course, the story says a lot about The Times Higher . It is all right to enjoy life, to enjoy working in higher education and to have fun, you know.

Be brave - experiment. Let reporters out to cover stories in person so that they see what they are talking about. Smile once in a while. The picture your paper doggedly paints of this wonderful, challenging sector is so grey, so grim. And so untrue.

David Harrison
Assistant director of human resources, workplace wellbeing
Birmingham University