Royal Institution director redundancy causes controversy

The Royal Institution in Albemarle Street has unleashed a storm of controversy and comment after its decision to make its Director, Lady Greenfield, redundant.

The RI confirmed last month they were reviewing the position of the Director, and they have now concluded that they should abolish the position and make Lady Greenfield redundant.

Greenfield had led the RI since 1998 and overseen a huge refurbishment project culminating in a visit from the Queen. The £22 million refurbishment has apparently failed to boost the RIs fortunes and it’s continuing to lose money.

A statement released by Lady Greenfield says she has consulted with a QC and believes the decision to have been unlawful.

There’s plenty of coverage of this across the media, so rather than rewrite it here, here’s some links for further reading:

• BBC: Greenfield expected to sue for sex discrimination
• Guardian: Now the RI can concentrate on science
• Telegraph: Greenfield ousted for ‘bringing bling to the RI’
• Telegraph: Ousting Greenfield was ‘only way to get rid of her’