NPR

Biffer wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 6:06 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 5:53 pm

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 5:43 pm
Hmm thanks guys, very interesting. But the thought of Uni debt etc and accommodation is scary these days.
Do law firms etc sponsor people to go the Uni etc these days.
My wife does medico legal stuff so will get her to speak to her solicitor/Barrister contacts.
NPR

Law firms will definitely sponsor ‘professional’ exams. Any firm that won’t isn’t worth her time. I’ve never heard of them sponsoring undergrad studies but couldn’t rule it out. If I were you I’d potentially expect to have to help finance her to an extent, I.e most firms for the LPC will pay all study costs plus a living stipend of £3-7,000, liveable off if you live at home, otherwise not.

My big piece of advice would be for her to try and get some sort of legal work experience. Firms prefer people they’ve seen before and offer summer and Christmas schemes, even doing something for a local high street firm will be helpful to an extent. Practising law is absolutely not for everyone, and too many work that out having made themselves miserable for the best part of a decade rather than at the start.

Yeah, I know a few people who took a few decades to figure out that it was being a lawyer that was making them miserable, rather than lack of progress / wrong firm / wrong area of law etc.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 6:12 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 6:06 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 5:53 pm

Law firms will definitely sponsor ‘professional’ exams. Any firm that won’t isn’t worth her time. I’ve never heard of them sponsoring undergrad studies but couldn’t rule it out. If I were you I’d potentially expect to have to help finance her to an extent, I.e most firms for the LPC will pay all study costs plus a living stipend of £3-7,000, liveable off if you live at home, otherwise not.

My big piece of advice would be for her to try and get some sort of legal work experience. Firms prefer people they’ve seen before and offer summer and Christmas schemes, even doing something for a local high street firm will be helpful to an extent. Practising law is absolutely not for everyone, and too many work that out having made themselves miserable for the best part of a decade rather than at the start.

Yeah, I know a few people who took a few decades to figure out that it was being a lawyer that was making them miserable, rather than lack of progress / wrong firm / wrong area of law etc.

Well it is a regular in the 10 Least trusted professions polls...most people's interactions with them are probably not considered positive (notwithstanding those who work sometimes pro bono in the public interest)

vball wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:45 pm
I never went to public or private school (not sure the difference)

A Conservative MP has been found guilty of racially abusing an activist by telling him to "go back to Bahrain".

Bob Stewart showed "racial hostility" towards a protester during a demonstration outside a Foreign Office building, a court heard.

The MP for Beckenham in southeast London told activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei "you're taking money off my country, go away!" during a row in Westminster on December 14 last year.

Mr Alwadaei shouted: "Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?"

During a heated exchange, Stewart replied: "Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain."

In footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, he also said: "Now shut up, you stupid man."

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the MP guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.

He said Stewart will not be jailed.

dpedin wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 2:32 pmIt is all part of the game. Public school means better grades in school exams, training in debating and public speaking, lots of help preparing for UCCA applications and entrance exams/interviews, help with course work via family and friends, easier to get work experience or unpaid internships in the 'right' companies, etc. They will work for the right charities doing their volunteering abroad funded by Bank of Mum and Dad. They will go to the right universities and study the right subjects, PPE at Oxford being the classic one but medicine, law, classics, history of art, etc are others. Then once graduated they have all the contacts to then get into Post-Grad programmes in medicine, law, finance, banking, industry, forces, etc. They might even want to work in the HoC and get a wee job as a 'researcher'. Mummy and Daddy will have friends or contacts who are in all the right places and will sort things out for them. Once on the post grad programme, then unless they are really thick, it becomes a conveyor belt to full time jobs, mentoring by top people, etc. No-one who is normal, good at their job and works with them and realises they are hopeless will say the truth because they are 'connected the right people' and will create a stink if they dont get good appraisals - best just to ignore, tick the right appraisal box and let them move on upwards. Once in the loop they will join the right golf club, introduced by Daddy, or the right rugby/cricket/hockey club. Here informal contacts help with business, deals are made on the fairways and greens or the clubhouse afterwards. Some will be made in the officers mess, the Royal college meetings or the private members clubs. Handshakes are done and the deals are made and most importantly the 'right people' are in the right places to ensure continuity and will not disrupt the status quo. After a while they become partners in the law, finance firm, director at the bank, consultant in a top teaching hospital or senior officer in the more prestigious regiments and then some might even decide to give politics a go. Part of the deal is that now they are in positions of influence they return the favour and support their family and friends children in climbing this greasy pole to the 'top' of society.

Living in Edinburgh I have seen all this in action, it creaks and groans a little but it is very much alive and well here. The first question I was often asked when meeting new folk in work is 'what school did you go to?' and there is definitely a pecking order even in the private school system.

Suella Braverman wants to restrict the use of tents by homeless people in built-up areas, according to a report.

The home secretary's proposals are said to include allowing charities to be fined if they give out tents that become a nuisance.

Ms Braverman wants the plans included in two clauses of a new criminal justice bill, according to The Financial Times, quoting Whitehall sources.

The potential new law would reportedly apply to tents that become a nuisance - such as by blocking shop doorways.

"Braverman has formally pitched a ban on tents in urban areas - except on your own land or the back garden - as well as a new civil penalty for charities to stop them giving out tents to homeless people for free," one source told the FT.

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:07 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:42 pm

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:29 pm Anyone know the top Universities for Law atm. My daughter will be applying next year.
How easy are Oxbridge scholarships to get and would she need entrance exams etc etc
Sorry to be ignorant about this but just starting to look into the issue and where better than here?

I could only tell you the Scottish ones and I presume she doesn't want a degree in Scots Law . Sorry

Edit - however, having said that, some of the rankings are a good place to start. Times Higher Education supplement, good university, QS, Guardian all have detailed ranking systems that explain what they do their ranking on. The absolute most important thing, other than deciding a su ject (which she seems to have already decided) is visiting universities on their open days. She will get a better degree somewhere she's comfortable and happy - seems an obvious statement but a lot of people (parents) make that mistake. The only thing I know for certain about law degrees is that she should do a law degree, rather than a law degree that specialises in a particular area. Specialisation is for later.

Thanks, I suspect my early ish retirement plans will be put on a little bit of a hold.
At present she likes the thought of Oxbridge but a quick Google say Durham may be a good bet as well.

dpedin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:33 am

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:07 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:42 pm

I could only tell you the Scottish ones and I presume she doesn't want a degree in Scots Law . Sorry

Edit - however, having said that, some of the rankings are a good place to start. Times Higher Education supplement, good university, QS, Guardian all have detailed ranking systems that explain what they do their ranking on. The absolute most important thing, other than deciding a su ject (which she seems to have already decided) is visiting universities on their open days. She will get a better degree somewhere she's comfortable and happy - seems an obvious statement but a lot of people (parents) make that mistake. The only thing I know for certain about law degrees is that she should do a law degree, rather than a law degree that specialises in a particular area. Specialisation is for later.

Thanks, I suspect my early ish retirement plans will be put on a little bit of a hold.
At present she likes the thought of Oxbridge but a quick Google say Durham may be a good bet as well.

Both Oxbridge and Durham have a very large % of posh folk and I know of friends kids who have either loved it or hated it because of this. There is a very different culture at these places which isn't atypical of university life elsewhere. I know of one friend of my son who went to Oxford, hated it and took a year off to get his head sorted out. He eventually finished his degree but didnt have the 'best years of his life experience' he was looking forward to. You will be best placed to decide with your daughter to decide if she would fit in.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 11:37 am And she's off again

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 11:37 am And she's off again

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 11:37 am And she's off again

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 12:12 pm

dpedin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:33 am

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:07 pm
Thanks, I suspect my early ish retirement plans will be put on a little bit of a hold.
At present she likes the thought of Oxbridge but a quick Google say Durham may be a good bet as well.

Both Oxbridge and Durham have a very large % of posh folk and I know of friends kids who have either loved it or hated it because of this. There is a very different culture at these places which isn't atypical of university life elsewhere. I know of one friend of my son who went to Oxford, hated it and took a year off to get his head sorted out. He eventually finished his degree but didnt have the 'best years of his life experience' he was looking forward to. You will be best placed to decide with your daughter to decide if she would fit in.

My (state) college pushed me to apply to Oxbridge and I made it to the interview stage. I was unsuccessful, but really didn't care. Nothing about the two days I spent there was appealing, least of all the fellow interview candidates who were almost exclusively posh private school kids.

The whole vibe at other unis I visited like Nottingham and Exeter was so much better and more normal.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 11:37 am And she's off again

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 4:13 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 12:12 pm

dpedin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:33 am

Both Oxbridge and Durham have a very large % of posh folk and I know of friends kids who have either loved it or hated it because of this. There is a very different culture at these places which isn't atypical of university life elsewhere. I know of one friend of my son who went to Oxford, hated it and took a year off to get his head sorted out. He eventually finished his degree but didnt have the 'best years of his life experience' he was looking forward to. You will be best placed to decide with your daughter to decide if she would fit in.

My (state) college pushed me to apply to Oxbridge and I made it to the interview stage. I was unsuccessful, but really didn't care. Nothing about the two days I spent there was appealing, least of all the fellow interview candidates who were almost exclusively posh private school kids.

The whole vibe at other unis I visited like Nottingham and Exeter was so much better and more normal.

I’m sorry - Exeter was more grounded?!?! I remember playing a cricket match against them where over half their side took to the field wearing signet rings!

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 5:09 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 4:13 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 12:12 pm

My (state) college pushed me to apply to Oxbridge and I made it to the interview stage. I was unsuccessful, but really didn't care. Nothing about the two days I spent there was appealing, least of all the fellow interview candidates who were almost exclusively posh private school kids.

The whole vibe at other unis I visited like Nottingham and Exeter was so much better and more normal.

I’m sorry - Exeter was more grounded?!?! I remember playing a cricket match against them where over half their side took to the field wearing signet rings!

Sports teams aren't necessarily the most reflective of an institution's student body. Certainly when I was there a fair number were locals(ish) because West Country-ites could study there cheaper and I met tons of fellow state schoolers in my time there.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 5:24 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 5:09 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 4:13 pm

I’m sorry - Exeter was more grounded?!?! I remember playing a cricket match against them where over half their side took to the field wearing signet rings!

Sports teams aren't necessarily the most reflective of an institution's student body. Certainly when I was there a fair number were locals(ish) because West Country-ites could study there cheaper and I met tons of fellow state schoolers in my time there.

Sure, anecdotal but it is well known now as about the most rah uni going

C T wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 4:38 pm

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 11:37 am And she's off again

I'm no Tory voter, but going to pretend I am just for a min.

So I have to hate homeless people now, OK. Tough one but I'll give it a go. I have to hate them for having a tent. I've got a house but I hate homeless people for having a tent.

I'm knackered being a Tory voter already, where do they get their energy from?

Blackmac wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 11:16 pm

C T wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 4:38 pm

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 11:37 am And she's off again

I'm no Tory voter, but going to pretend I am just for a min.

So I have to hate homeless people now, OK. Tough one but I'll give it a go. I have to hate them for having a tent. I've got a house but I hate homeless people for having a tent.

I'm knackered being a Tory voter already, where do they get their energy from?

It's hard to fathom where their heads are at.

petej wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 8:01 am Had a training course recently and meetings which included several ex environmental agency employees and water company employees. Both EA employees had been directed by their management in different regions of England to move sampling/monitoring locations from down stream to upstream of sewage outlets.

There had been multiple near misses prior to this incident
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-55183959
The culture at southern and wessex water was all about hiding problems and totally rotten and that at both the decision had been made that it was cheaper to pay fines then properly treat water. Welsh Water while still having issues did at least acknowledge them was planning to genuinely improve and was culturally far better (though they could just be the tallest dwarf or least shit rather than actually good).

dpedin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:33 am

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:07 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:42 pm

I could only tell you the Scottish ones and I presume she doesn't want a degree in Scots Law . Sorry

Edit - however, having said that, some of the rankings are a good place to start. Times Higher Education supplement, good university, QS, Guardian all have detailed ranking systems that explain what they do their ranking on. The absolute most important thing, other than deciding a su ject (which she seems to have already decided) is visiting universities on their open days. She will get a better degree somewhere she's comfortable and happy - seems an obvious statement but a lot of people (parents) make that mistake. The only thing I know for certain about law degrees is that she should do a law degree, rather than a law degree that specialises in a particular area. Specialisation is for later.

Thanks, I suspect my early ish retirement plans will be put on a little bit of a hold.
At present she likes the thought of Oxbridge but a quick Google say Durham may be a good bet as well.

Both Oxbridge and Durham have a very large % of posh folk and I know of friends kids who have either loved it or hated it because of this. There is a very different culture at these places which isn't atypical of university life elsewhere. I know of one friend of my son who went to Oxford, hated it and took a year off to get his head sorted out. He eventually finished his degree but didnt have the 'best years of his life experience' he was looking forward to. You will be best placed to decide with your daughter to decide if she would fit in.

The deputy prime minister has denied that allegations against Conservative MPs were covered up during his time as chair of the party.
But Oliver Dowden also said he could not “say for certain” that the Tory party did not pay an alleged victim’s private hospital fees.

An MP had sex with a prostitute on a billiard table watched by four other MPs, who were cheering

Another MP was holding a laptop containing indecent images of children on behalf of a relative

The Tory Whips' office has a video of a minister engaged in an adulterous sexual act

SaintK wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 12:00 pm Just another day in the press for the Tories today!!

The deputy prime minister has denied that allegations against Conservative MPs were covered up during his time as chair of the party.
But Oliver Dowden also said he could not “say for certain” that the Tory party did not pay an alleged victim’s private hospital fees.

An MP had sex with a prostitute on a billiard table watched by four other MPs, who were cheering

Another MP was holding a laptop containing indecent images of children on behalf of a relative

The Tory Whips' office has a video of a minister engaged in an adulterous sexual act

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 8:34 pm Meanwhile, Gove has decided to float the idea of tagging anyone "undermining" the UK as an extremist, with all that entails. Anyone who doesn't think the Tory Party aren't deeply, horribly authoritarian, veering towards outright fascism, really needs to think again.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 9:15 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 8:34 pm Meanwhile, Gove has decided to float the idea of tagging anyone "undermining" the UK as an extremist, with all that entails. Anyone who doesn't think the Tory Party aren't deeply, horribly authoritarian, veering towards outright fascism, really needs to think again.

This is far more likely to be used against the right in a Labour government than anyone else, as with over half their harebrained schemes

dpedin wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 2:32 pm

Living in Edinburgh I have seen all this in action, it creaks and groans a little but it is very much alive and well here. The first question I was often asked when meeting new folk in work is 'what school did you go to?' and there is definitely a pecking order even in the private school system.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 9:15 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 8:34 pm Meanwhile, Gove has decided to float the idea of tagging anyone "undermining" the UK as an extremist, with all that entails. Anyone who doesn't think the Tory Party aren't deeply, horribly authoritarian, veering towards outright fascism, really needs to think again.

This is far more likely to be used against the right in a Labour government than anyone else, as with over half their harebrained schemes

Biffer wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2023 7:45 am

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 9:15 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 8:34 pm Meanwhile, Gove has decided to float the idea of tagging anyone "undermining" the UK as an extremist, with all that entails. Anyone who doesn't think the Tory Party aren't deeply, horribly authoritarian, veering towards outright fascism, really needs to think again.

This is far more likely to be used against the right in a Labour government than anyone else, as with over half their harebrained schemes

Yeah, the Tories have deliberately introduced legislation to penalise their own supporters. Sure.

FFS.

inactionman wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 10:07 am

dpedin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:33 am

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:07 pm
Thanks, I suspect my early ish retirement plans will be put on a little bit of a hold.
At present she likes the thought of Oxbridge but a quick Google say Durham may be a good bet as well.

Both Oxbridge and Durham have a very large % of posh folk and I know of friends kids who have either loved it or hated it because of this. There is a very different culture at these places which isn't atypical of university life elsewhere. I know of one friend of my son who went to Oxford, hated it and took a year off to get his head sorted out. He eventually finished his degree but didnt have the 'best years of his life experience' he was looking forward to. You will be best placed to decide with your daughter to decide if she would fit in.

Oxbridge typically have very compressed academic years (8 week terms - named daft things like Michaelmas - so circa 24 weeks compared to around 30 for most other unis) so it's very, very busy. Given the competition to get into Oxbridge this can make it all very, very challenging - the actual course contents of many professional disciplines is governed by an external body (the Engineering Council set what is required to be able to grant BEng/MEng, for example) so they'll have to cover the same fundamental syllabus is a lot, lot less time.

There is also choice/allocation of college to worry about*, I know some who went to respectively Selwyn, Jesus and Churchill at Cambridge and it sounds like they all had very different experiences - granted, Churchill is a bit more STEM than others, the lad who went to Jesus studied Law. The 'newer' colleges seemed a little more down to earth, I visited a mate at Selwyn and we went into Queens College for a night out and it was like a young tory conference.

*I've no idea if you apply to the University or a college within the University

Poverty levels in the UK are “simply not acceptable” and the government is violating international law, the United Nations’ poverty envoy has said ahead of a visit to the country this week, when he will urge ministers to increase welfare spending.

Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, cited research showing universal credit payments of £85 a week for single adults over 25 were “grossly insufficient” and described the UK’s main welfare system as “a leaking bucket”.

In an interview with the Guardian five years after his predecessor, Philip Alston, angered the Conservative government by accusing it of the “systematic immiseration of a significant part of the British population”, the Belgian lawyer risked a fresh confrontation by saying: “Things have got worse.”

The Conservative peer Michelle Mone has acknowledged for the first time that she was involved with a company that was awarded government PPE contracts worth £200m during the Covid pandemic.
Lady Mone’s husband, Douglas Barrowman, has also acknowledged for the first time that he was involved in the company, PPE Medpro.

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2023 8:54 am