Paul Mackney, general secretary of lecturers' union Natfhe, has been advised informally by his colleagues to brush up on his public relations skills now that his union is set to merge with the Association of University Teachers. In last week's Times Higher , Mr Mackney jovially addressed his political differences with Sally Hunt, general secretary of the AUT, by describing himself as a child of the 1960s. But his colleagues have warned him that his follow-up comment, that Ms Hunt "is a child of I don't know what decade", may not be universally perceived in the spirit of discreet chivalry in which it was clearly intended.