Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

I think you'll find that it was the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992 that allowed polytechnics to attain university status without a royal charter, iturama.

It happened on Major's watch. Not one of his better moments, although I can't actually recall him having any good moments.

Well maybe Edwina Curry might disagree you know the odd moment .YUK .

I stand corrected ma'am. However, it was Blair that raised it to a new level with his call for a 50% university participation, without the resources to do, be it money, staff and onward jobs. It was under his stewardship that university fees were introduced, following the EU - wide commitment to pay all fees in advance of the later so-called "graduate contribution" - make of that what you will.
While I could start work after university in a good paying job, with no debts, many of today's students will never pay off their university loans because the jobs are not there for 50% graduate participation. Little wonder that Poles and our other eastern european friends are taking care of our aged. It is one great con financed by the tax payer, much of which will never be returned. Meanwhile the fat cat "university" administrators are in there, boots and all. There needs to be a change, starting with the toughening up of university entrance requirements, and the goverment refusing to fund the fees for subjects that have no prospect of useful employment afterwards. The financial crisis was partly due to banks loaning money to high risk people. That is happening today, but because it is tax payers money, nobody seems to mind. That debt is now at over £100B.

UK police investigate reports of blast on London underground train
Fri, 15th Sep 2017 09:13 - By Kevin Coombs and Kate Holton

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Heavily armed police rushed to an incident at a London underground station on Friday with local media reporting there had been an explosion on a train.

A Reuters witness could see six ambulances, fire engines and a helicopter at Parsons Green station in West London where the Metro newspaper reported that passengers had suffered facial burns from a blast and others had been hurt in a subsequent stampede.

Outside the station, a woman was sitting on a pavement with a bandage around her leg while armed police patrolled. A Reuters witness saw a woman being carried off on a stretcher with her legs covered in a foil blanket.

"We are aware of an incident at #ParsonsGreen tube station. Officers are in attendance," London police said on Twitter.

Police said they were aware of reports on social media and would release facts regarding the incident once they could be sure of their accuracy.

London Ambulance and Fire Brigade said paramedics and firefighters were present.

Transport for London said on Twitter that there was no service between Earls Court and Wimbledon on the District Line which runs through Parsons Green.

Britain has already suffered four attacks blamed on terrorists so far this year which killed 36 people.

Iturama , my youngest is off to uni tomorrow and she had her acceptance letter Christmas Eve last year and it was unconditional and she was accepted on stuff she had already passed even though she hadn't sat any of her A levels !

Your comment about smart phones being smarter than their users ... middle daughter missed her flight home from Majorca yesterday because she thought it took off at 10pm when in fact it took off at 10am. She obviously hasn't heard of the 24 hour clock. Earlier this year she went to Ireland and left all her money at home and text me from the hotel to ask if the water was safe to drink in Ireland. She's off to Iceland in November ... can't wait to see how she buggers that one up :-)

But I'm sure she is lovely Dil. There's nice.
Flash news on my phone that the Parson's Green explosion is terror related.

Bomb on the tube , just the norm these days as Sadiq Khan would say.

Yes they need to get someone lined up for Mayor next time jimmy , he 's embarrassing , his shows after the last murders were cheap and cringeworthy .

Dil

Please be thankful, that despite the potential for 'self embarrassment', she still chooses to text to ask and that it's you, her dad she trusts to give her the best answer.

There is no such thing as a 'stupid question' but there are such things as 'stupid answers'.

Exec ,is the world flat ?

Britain has identified a suspect in London train bomb - Sky News

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - British security services have identified a suspect involved in the bombing of a busy commuter train in west London with the help of surveillance footage, Sky News reported, citing security sources.

"Security sources say they've identified a suspect involved in the Parsons Green bombing, with the aid of CCTV footage," Mark White, a home affairs correspondent for Sky News, said on Twitter.

Exec , her father's answers are not always that helpful. When she text asking if the water was safe to drink in Ireland I told her to taste it and let me know so she went and bought bottled water from the shop.

This is the same daughter who asked if she could vote on Friday for Brexit because she was busy on the Thursday and then asked her younger sister who was 17 at the time if she would go and do it for her.

She is training to be a teacher :-)

She previously used her older sister's passport as ID for a night out in Cardiff and got it confiscated by the Police.

Dil

Hmmm? I see what you mean. She does seem to be a bit lacking in the 'common sense' department.

She might need a bit of help: http://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Common-Sense (There's more stuff out there on doing this)

But on the other hand, someone once told me, that just because someone is your mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter doesn't mean you have to have strong, loving, respectful feelings for them. In fact, it's quite OK to not like them at all and to go even further and have nothing whatsoever to do with them.

I am reminded about 'common sense', when driving along and seeing kids without coats toddling along in the pouring rain or freezing cold. Fortunately for me, I'm one of the people who do realise, that 'fashion' is NOT much more important than keeping dry.

She seems to be a chip of the old block.

Whoops nearly forgot... Edward du Cann of worms snuffs it http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41178448

How sad to read Dame Tessa Jowell has a severe brain cancer

Sad E/L? In what way.

Very Sad about Tess. Hope she recovers.

How many of those threats are Labour supporters ( Unions )?

MPs tell of death threats and abuse at 2017 election
By Brian Wheeler & Alison Carter- BBC News - 7 hours ago

Standing for Parliament in the UK can mean facing death threats, online intimidation, verbal abuse and vandalism, according to MPs surveyed by BBC Radio 5 live.
All 650 MPs were contacted by 5 live and asked for their experiences, under condition of anonymity.

Of the 113 who replied, just over half - 51% - said the 2017 general election campaign had been the worst they had ever experienced.

This was especially true among Conservative MPs, with 41 out of 47 saying they had been targeted.

But nearly all of the MPs - 87% - said they had faced some form of abuse on the campaign trail.

"Does a man coming into my office threatening to bomb it count?" said one female Labour MP.

"Intimidated at hustings by large crowd shouting abuse," a female Conservative MP reported.
A male MP, belonging to one of the other parties, said he had had a "bottle smashed on me".

77 Male MPs and 36 women took part in the survey, which was conducted in July
Party make-up of respondents: 47 Conservative, 45 Labour, 10 SNP and 11 belonging to other parties

British politics has always been a rough business - election candidates are used to being heckled at meetings or harangued in the street by voters with a grievance.......

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Corbin supporters ( some say : beaches at work - Mary's)