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Yeh, I'm not surprised at all. I was a struggling architect in the mid-nineties and via a contact, I went all the way down to Foster's offices from Bedford where I lived at the time to pick up some contract work. The associate who interviewed me, who I remember being a very honest guy (boyfriend of someone I worked with in Bedford if my memory serves me well) virtually offered this work subject to clearance with a director. The following day, I received a phone call from the associate who genuinely apologised to me and assured me that he had tried his best to secure the work for me but the director had decided to hand it out for their full-time staff to do at weekends, presumably gratis. 'Suck then dry, then leave them high and dry', that must be the company's motto! I am a great admirer of Foster And Partner's work, I have 'The Catalogue' on my bookshelf but they should remember that without their dedicated staff, they are nobody. As for me, I'm sixty, virtually penniless, have been thrown out of many a practicefor speaking my mind and my wife has just left me as a result of the financial pressures thrust on us over the last 12 years. A career in architecture has done me no favours whatsoever so I'm winding up the few (about 3) small jobs I have left, resigning from the RIBA and I'm going to spend the rest of my life writing stuff and playing music. This recession exists only in the minds of those whose aim is gain and not in the eyes of those who selflessly give to others and that is what Jesus was talking about. Patrick Nicholson RIBA