Monthly Archives: September 2008

Killing “the student life” - are fancy halls of residence becoming hotels for the rich?

This morning, a report on BBC Breakfast covered news that the number of UK students choosing to remain in halls after their first year has plummeted over the past five years due to marked changes in student lifestyles.
According to the report, the latest generation of students are “opting” for “more expensive” private accommodation over [...]

Google Android – The Mobile Operator’s OS?

Today, T-Mobile launched the G1, the first mobile handset to run Google’s Android mobile operating system. Interestingly, during the launch, Google took a total backseat, letting T-Mobile run the show and reveal the first incarnation of the Android platform, a tactic totally polarised to Apple’s usual brand-controlled iPhone launch frenzy.
The approach Google had to the [...]

Google Chrome - first impressions

Google’s Chrome browser generated a groundswell of attention when it was released two weeks ago due to the nature of both its release and its t’s&c’s on privacy. However, perhaps unsurprisingly, there has been very little focus on the browser’s functionality besides the fact that it apparently “takes Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 head on”.
Apart from [...]

Why is it now O.K. to monopolise financial services?

I don’t profess to know much about financial markets in the slightest, however I am ever-so-slightly concerned about the announcement of a possible takeover of troubled bank HBOS by Lloyds TSB.
Although Lloyds TSB is being hailed as the saviour of the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, the £trillion merger is essentially a Gordon Brown endorsed [...]

How to solve a problem like Oxbridge

The first thing that strikes me when I hear the conflicting debates about the apparent issues that Oxbridge has with state school admissions is that there seems to be a large amount of “shifting the blame” by the government. 
Last week, Professor Amanda Roberts, Cambridge vice-chancellor, attacked ministers blaming Oxbridge’s admissions process as “non-state school friendly” [...]