When the romance has gone

The British Association for Romantic Studies sends its academics news of conferences, jobs and new publications.

So imagine the surprise of its 200-plus members when a private e-mail lambasting conference participants and potential speakers was sent to all by mistake. The unnamed sender wrote that "Conference bandits, who deliver a paper, collect their credits and take off" should be excluded. They go on to brand certain colleagues "arch fiends of Romanticism... who might otherwise be abrasive, annoying, disruptive..."