MERCY?

‘The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath’.

William Shakespeare ‘The Merchant of Venice’.

Last week was not a particularly easy week. Arriving at the CRCNPB office jet-lagged on Monday morning (but fortunately not the victim of the Qantas downheaval) it became immediately obvious that no sympathy for my condition would be forthcoming from Obersturmbannführer (or ‘Senior Assault Unit Leader’) Max Knobel or her aide Leutnant Anders von Crichton of the kommunizieren kommissariat (‘KK’, for short). “You vill produce ze presentation, unt today - or ve haf vays” was the gist of the message which they conveyed.

[I digress at this point to add that my delicate condition has not been alleviated by the customary level of ‘TLC’ provided by Mrs L who is sojourning in the Himalayas. However, an email received today states “On the roads we have cattle, pigs and dogs and also monkeys which can be aggressive. In the forest next to the road are leopards and cobra!! I have been told that it is not a good idea to go out at night”. So I’m not exactly envious].

To return to the business at hand. As of Friday the re-bid presentation had been through 23 drafts, the Interview Team had endured two ‘mock’ interviews, conducted as closely as possible to the real thing, and there was still a bit of polish to apply.

Imagine my consternation, therefore, when the aforementioned Obersturmbannführer and her aide remarked, with menace, “Oh, unt remember that your ‘Faltblatt’ copy is due tomorrow”.

Well, at least it makes a change from trying to reduce the inordinate amount of CRC application documentation into not more than 25 slides for a critical audience which will have minimal biosecurity background. An act of mercy by the members of the ‘KK’, in a distorted sort of way.

Whatever the outcome of Monday morning’s 0900h interview – the equivalent of an appointment with a firing squad at dawn – the effort that has gone into the presentation, as with the whole re-bid process has been phenomenal. When the dust settles I’m sure that the CEO will want to thank the many individuals who have contributed but while the effort is fresh in the mind I am delighted to acknowledge the ‘extra-CRC’ people who have helped us through this week. Firstly, Dr John Radcliffe, Honorary Research Fellow in CSIRO and possibly the most experienced ‘mock interviewer’ in Australia. John journeyed from Adelaide to organise the panel for the first ‘mock’ on Tuesday afternoon. His objective was to replicate the actual interview process as closely as possible and, with some confidence, l can assert that we were unlikely to be probed more deeply by the CRC panel than we were by John and Professor Tony Peacock, CEO of the CRC Association, and the CRCNPB’s Business Manager Mr Nick Langley.

A repeat performance, enlightened by Tuesday’s feedback, was made on Wednesday for a panel convened by Dr Joanne Daly, Strategic Advisor to the CSIRO Executive. The indefatigable Tony Peacock again took part, and the CRCNPB’s Research Leader, Dr David Eagling, completed the triumvirate.

The combination of outside wisdom and experience with ‘inside information’ made for two rigorous exercises which left the interviewees winded, but which were of great benefit by means of the resultant modifications to the content and style of the presentation.

All we had to do now, just like Shakespeare’s players back in 1600, was to perform and trust that we shall not be subject to the hurling of projectiles by the ‘groundlings and stinkards’ or, indeed, be expected to deliver a ‘pound of flesh’ as well as a presentation.

Meanwhile, this World War II leaflet – which I photographed earlier this year ‘Somewhere in England’ - seems appropriate to our present case.

Armnote: following publication of the September edition of ‘The Leaflet’ a long-standing and valued former colleague reported to me that one of his juniors had anxiously enquired ‘Is Lovett alright?’ My former colleague had responded that I appeared to be much as he had always known me but he knew that I would appreciate the expression of concern. There, gentle reader, you see? There is a modicum of mercy still to be found if one looks hard enough and in the right place.

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