Another big issue that seems to be right across all areas is the targets and numbers, I have had my teaching resources reduced and then due to pass rates dropping to dumb down the course. Plus these days getting a ‘F’ doesn’t mean a fail any more, please don’t ask.

Plus with numbers being capped certain courses have rushed to fill a course offering to everyone assuming that some would drop out or go else where, then in the last couple of years as we know with the recession jobs have been much harder to come by so all the places that were offered were accepted and the institution obliged to accommodate them. Then the uni in question has been fined for having too many on a course, to counter this courses have been axed the following year.

There is a lot else I could complain about but I’m sure everyone gets the idea.

Wyvernfan

Just been talking to my dad about the Wyvern and whilst he doesn’t recall seeing them at Merryfield he does remember a Wyvern stopping the traffic!

It was sometime in the mid 1950s that on the old A303 in Ilminster where West Street meets the High Street one had to pull over and let the traffic behind past.

It was being towed by some tractor unit with the wings folded, I asked if it was on a transport and it transpires that the Wyvern was towed from Westlands to Merryfield on it’s own undercarriage!

Now that is a sight I would have loved to have seen and sadly he didn’t have a camera on him.

I’ve just finished reading ‘I Sank the Bismark’ which starts with what I can only assume is a recent Taranto dinner in which the piano was set alight with various spirits so nothing seems to have really changed.

Always important to remember though.

It is not the number of Universities as such, many which were Polytechnics before they were awarded university status still offered degrees, though the subjects differed. It was the expansion of these establishments that is the issue. And don’t forget that the conversion from Poly to Uni was under Thatcher.

Secondly under Blair there was pressure to put everyone through higher education, (delaying/reducing unemployment at the same time) which has forced many of the younger universities to increase their sizes to meet the demand. As a result some courses became oversubscribed and standards dropped due to insufficient funding. The funding shortfall being picked up by charging foreign students too much.

Due to the recession there has been a reduction in resources and now with a complete removal of government funding for higher education the business model that is being used (yes the student is now seen as a consumer) is not going to work.

As a result even though I only teach part time, in between illustrating aircraft I and many full time colleagues are facing redundancy when we should be coming out of the recession (soon be time to change my sig to ‘will draw for food’!).

But yes too many students who shouldn’t be there has devalued the degree on many courses. Though the old ones should survive.

I remember the scene from the original series but was there ever a behind the scenes bit or coverage of how it was done, the planning etc, that I would love to see almost as much as the actual flight.

This is awesome a bottle opener with Spitfire sound effects. I just bought one 😮

http://www.spitfireale.co.uk/spitfire-merchandise/

I was actually given one of those at Flying Legends! Just need some more beer to open now.

The Wurzels
Lawnmower Death
and a few others

Rugby (it’s like american football but without the padding and far less interruptions unless you get a bad ref)

The rest