President Blair's Son Scoops Top Scholarship To Yale

[Bucephalus]

I think the least worst choice would be King Charles since at least you could ignore him and only has ceremonial power.

This is woolly thinking.

1. You can't ignore Charles. As it is, everytime he opens his mouth (about organic food for instance), his views are aired by the press. Short of leaving the room when he is on the 9 o'clock news you will be exposed to him.

2. Yes the queen's (king's) power is mostly ceremonial. It's prime minister Blair who has the real powers. Calling him president won't change that. In fact, if there were a president and a prime minister (as in Ireland and Germany say) you could split the powers and reduce the current overconcentration of power.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Bucephalus

[DONT PANIC !!! DONT PANIC !!!]

This is woolly thinking.

1. You can't ignore Charles. As it is, everytime he opens his mouth (about organic food for instance), his views are aired by the press. Short of leaving the room when he is on the 9 o'clock news you will be exposed to him.

2. Yes the queen's (king's) power is mostly ceremonial. It's prime minister Blair who has the real powers. Calling him president won't change that. In fact, if there were a president and a prime minister (as in Ireland and Germany say) you could split the powers and reduce the current overconcentration of power.

1. I can ignore Charles views since they are restricted to none political areas and therefore he cant really affect my life. Politicians determine taxes, educations, wars etc. If Charles strays onto important issues then politicians tell him to shut up and he does.

2. What a surprise you seem to have made a convenient choice of countries to support your view. Maybe I should do likewise Turkmenistan, Russia, Iran maybe even the US. With a dominant president who has both the role of head of state and PM, or has a separate subservient PM, then I think there is a much greater chance of dictatorship.

BTW Ignore means pay no heed to, disregard, overlook etc I didnt say that i do not notice him or his views. I said you can ignore him. Even if he was physically in the same room as me i could still ignore him.

Edited August 28, 2006 by DONT PANIC !!! DONT PANIC !!!

[Bucephalus]

1. I can ignore Charles views since they are restricted to none political areas and therefore he cant really affect my life. Politicians determine taxes, educations, wars etc. If Charles strays onto important issues then politicians tell him to shut up and he does

I think Charles strays in politics too often and that politicians listen to him too much. But fine, I concede this minor point.

2. What a surprise you seem to have made a convenient choice of countries to support your view. Maybe I should do likewise Turkmenistan, Russia, Iran maybe even the US. With a dominant president who has both the role of head of state and PM, or has a separate subservient PM, then I think there is a much greater chance of dictatorship.

Well of course I chose countries where I thought it had been done well. I was not suggesting it be done badly. I was not suggesting a dominant preseident with a subservient prime minister. I think a president with few powers but important ones and a strong prime minister with all the rest would be a better system as it removes thed current concentration of power. (The point is that in the cureent system whether you call him prime minister or president blair has too much power. he can decalre war without having to ask parliament for instance.

Edited August 28, 2006 by Bucephalus

[oracle]

I really am not sure about that.

I know Cambridge a bit (which came ahead of Yale in some world university league tables) and a 2.1 from Bristol would get you on many Cambridge Master's courses if you interviewed well.

A 2.1 really is not a bad mark and Bristol really is not a bad university. I think this story is just cheap shot at Blair and his son who sould be left alone to study in peace.

I don't like the prince of Wales, but again this is also a cheap shot.

Don't knock charlie,he's actually had some very thoughtful contributions.

he was talking about the environment back in the 80's...it's taken people 20 years to catch up.

the flaw in his logic is that his ideas rely on a much smaller population to be sustainable.Doesn't mean he is wrong.

I think he has a better understanding of natures equilibrium than the majority of people,and by that reckoning he also knows that booms and busts are inseperable,applying just as much to people as to economics.

p.s. given the choice of the unelected peers or the "democratically" rigged quango's for tony's cronies I think I'll opt for the ones with hereditary titles....they have no need to agree with anyone to gain position,they are free to speak their mind.

****-lickers will gain the favour otherwise,and licking arses is not healthy!!

Edited August 28, 2006 by oracle

[Bucephalus]

p.s. given the choice of the unelected peers or the "democratically" rigged quango's for tony's cronies I think I'll opt for the ones with hereditary titles....they have no need to agree with anyone to gain position,they are free to speak their mind.

This is a false dichotomy. I don't want a rigged quango or unelected peers, but a properly elected upper house.

[doog]

No disrespect to people who went to Bristol but he got a second class degree from a second tier university and if he applied anonymously he wouldn't have been accepted.

Its like this muppet...

"When he returned to Gordonstoun for his final year, The Prince of Wales was appointed school guardian (head boy). The Prince, who had already passed six O Levels, took his A Levels in July 1967, the first Heir to The Throne to take such examinations. He was awarded a grade B in history and a C in French, together with a distinction in an optional special history paper.

The Prince went to Cambridge University in 1967 to read archaeology and anthropology at Trinity College. He changed to history for the second part of his degree, and in 1970 was awarded a second class degree."

Bristol 2nd Tier? Isnt Bristol one of the UK's top unis: regularly in the top 5 along with LSE and Kings. More students apply to Bristol than any other uni in the UK (and unfortunately it takes more privately educated kids than any other uni).

2nd tier..? Hardly!

[Caledonian-Emigre]

King Charles .v. President Blair? Pick your poison.

i

Charles frequently shoots his mouth off, spouting this viewpoint and that viewpoint. Sometimes he is less than politically correct and often controversial. But at least he has an opinion.

Tony Blair, on the other hand, spurts spin that is so meticulously scripted and politically correct that it is nothing more than meaningless sound bites. You could program a robot to come up with the same variables (kind of like those talking Action Men you used to get)

New Labour .. New Vision

Bringing democracy to Iraq

Policies that care

All bulls!t

[laurejon]

If you were in a room with Blair and Charles and told that Iran had WMD's who would you believe?

And Why ?.

[#scoobydoo#]

Bristol 2nd Tier? Isnt Bristol one of the UK's top unis: regularly in the top 5 along with LSE and Kings. More students apply to Bristol than any other uni in the UK (and unfortunately it takes more privately educated kids than any other uni).

2nd tier..? Hardly!

The Times put Bristol as 91st in the World in 2004, I went to the University of Manchester a much better 43rd but mainly due to research I think rather than teaching. Bristol moved up to 49th in 2005 and Manchester went to 35th which shows that mainstream UK universities are improving but still significantly behind the US mainstream universities.

It beggers belief that a truely gifted academic will miss out on the scholarship so that just plain average Euan Blair will benefit riding on the back of his fathers achievements.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,591-1343946,00.html

Here is the European rankings for 2005.

http://www.thes.co.uk/statistics/internati...top_europe.aspx

#scoobydoo#

Edited August 29, 2006 by #scoobydoo#

[crashmonitor]

Any benefit a MP or in this case PM derives from office should be taxable.This gift to Blair which would cost a normal person wishing to put his son through Yale about £150000 should be seen by the Parliamentary Priviledges as also a taxable benefit.

It was such a shocker that Neil Hamilton helped himself to a £100 hotel room courtesy of El Fayed whilst new Labour plunder the world's riches for free .

[doog]

The Times put Bristol as 91st in the World in 2004, I went to the University of Manchester a much better 43rd but mainly due to research I think rather than teaching. Bristol moved up to 49th in 2005 and Manchester went to 35th which shows that mainstream UK universities are improving but still significantly behind the US mainstream universities.

It beggers belief that a truely gifted academic will miss out on the scholarship so that just plain average Euan Blair will benefit riding on the back of his fathers achievements.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,591-1343946,00.html

Here is the European rankings for 2005.

http://www.thes.co.uk/statistics/internati...top_europe.aspx

#scoobydoo#

[/b]49th best HE institution in the world (and that is before we even factor the incredible sums that US unis rake in from their allumni and hence their skewed market power). Doesnt exactly make bristol a 2nd tier uni (imo).

and yes, I did go to Bristol.

[Lionel Richtea]

Any benefit a MP or in this case PM derives from office should be taxable.This gift to Blair which would cost a normal person wishing to put his son through Yale about £150000 should be seen by the Parliamentary Priviledges as also a taxable benefit.

It was such a shocker that Neil Hamilton helped himself to a £100 hotel room courtesy of El Fayed whilst new Labour plunder the world's riches for free .

Hamilton lied.

That article was terrible: full of the usual yank / EU ignorance errors (12th year as PM indeed).

I'm with Bucephalus on this one: Yale's a private business that can do what it damn well pleases.

And Bristol is indeed second tier: Oxbridge is streets ahead of the rest of the Russell Group.

[DONT PANIC !!! DONT PANIC !!!]

Bristol 2nd Tier? Isnt Bristol one of the UK's top unis: regularly in the top 5 along with LSE and Kings. More students apply to Bristol than any other uni in the UK (and unfortunately it takes more privately educated kids than any other uni).

2nd tier..? Hardly!

1st tier: Oxbridge and for finance LSE

2nd tier: Durham, Bristol, Manchester....

3rd tier: .....

You can guess where the strangely named former poly's come.

Bristol is one of the top universities in the UK, certainly top 10, just not in the top tier IMHO.

If there are many tiers 2nd isnt bad

Edited August 29, 2006 by DONT PANIC !!! DONT PANIC !!!

[Realistbear]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1343642,00.html

The Times November 04, 2004

Britain wins eight places in world list of 50 best universities

By Tony Halpin

OXFORD and Cambridge are among the world's top ten universities, according to a new global ranking published today.

They were fifth and sixth respectively in the league table of the world's 200 best universities. Harvard, which boasts an endowment of nearly $23billion (£12.7billion), was first in the list produced by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).

American institutions occupied seven of the top ten places, with Oxbridge the highest-ranked outside the United States.

London's position as a centre of global educational significance was confirmed with four institutions in the top 50. The London School of Economics was 11th, Imperial College 14th, University College London 34th, and the School of Oriental and African Studies 44th.

The only European university outside Britain in the top 20 was the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, in tenth place.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, however, can lay claim to being the world's most intellectual city, as home to Harvard and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was ranked at No3.

California also scored highly, with the University of California, Berkeley, in second place, the California Institute of Technology, fourth, and Stanford seventh.../

The Times November 04, 2004

Britain wins eight places in world list of 50 best universities

By Tony Halpin

OXFORD and Cambridge are among the world's top ten universities, according to a new global ranking published today.

They were fifth and sixth respectively in the league table of the world's 200 best universities. Harvard, which boasts an endowment of nearly $23billion (£12.7billion), was first in the list produced by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).

American institutions occupied seven of the top ten places, with Oxbridge the highest-ranked outside the United States.

London's position as a centre of global educational significance was confirmed with four institutions in the top 50. The London School of Economics was 11th, Imperial College 14th, University College London 34th, and the School of Oriental and African Studies 44th.

The only European university outside Britain in the top 20 was the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, in tenth place.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, however, can lay claim to being the world's most intellectual city, as home to Harvard and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was ranked at No3..../

The United States had 62 of the top 200 universities, followed by Britain with 30, Germany 17 and Australia 14.

Edited August 29, 2006 by Realistbear

[Willy Weasel]

Britain wins eight places in world list of 50 best universities

By Tony Halpin

OXFORD and Cambridge are among the world's top ten universities, according to a new global ranking published today.

Am I right in thinking Cambridge was your Alma Mater, RB?

[Realistbear]

Am I right in thinking Cambridge was your Alma Mater, RB?

One of them

Yours was?

[Willy Weasel]

One of them

Yours was?

Nottingham

[Realistbear]

Nottingham

Strong Law School.

[RichM]

Nottingham

Cripps or Hu Stu?

[Willy Weasel]

Cripps or Hu Stu?

Hu Stu

[DONT PANIC !!! DONT PANIC !!!]

One of them

Yours was?

Fenland poly

[RichM]

Hu Stu

No way. I had a nice view over the car park and a shared bathroom. My mate Steve had to go down the corridor to the bog/shower, but at least he had wood panelling...

They've let girls in now. And that old bachelor guy has moved on from being warden.

[Willy Weasel]

No way. I had a nice view over the car park and a shared bathroom. My mate Steve had to go down the corridor to the bog/shower, but at least he had wood panelling...

They've let girls in now. And that old bachelor guy has moved on from being warden.

I was in N block - about ten of us sharing two bathrooms.

Happy days - before we had the worry of issues like whether house prices were going to go up or down

[RichM]

I was in N block - about ten of us sharing two bathrooms.

Happy days - before we had the worry of issues like whether house prices were going to go up or down

I made some good friends but by and large hated Hu Stu. Too many lads who didn't know what to do with themselves othe than get wrecked. I think a bt of female company would have helped the place a lot (but then I went there from a boys' school, so had had enough of male company!)

[Willy Weasel]

I made some good friends but by and large hated Hu Stu. Too many lads who didn't know what to do with themselves othe than get wrecked. I think a bt of female company would have helped the place a lot (but then I went there from a boys' school, so had had enough of male company!)

It could have been worse - you could have been in Cripps