By all accounts, the Prime Minister will trigger the formal notification of the UK’s intention to leave the European Union on Wednesday this week. It will open a tortuous series of negotiations and, barring unforeseen eventualities, means that the UK will leave the EU in the Spring of 2019. There is some legal disagreement about…

There’s a scene in Annie Hall where the Woody Allen character recalls his elementary school classroom. The film transports him back to the classroom as his adult self, surrounded by his classmates as the children he remembers. He wonders what happened to them. In turn, the young pupils stand up and voice what has happened…

Philanthropy is one of the UK’s great traditions. As Shirley Pearce’s report on philanthropy in higher education points out, from medieval through Victorian to modern times, generous donations have facilitated the development of academic institutions. Philanthropy enabled them to become internationally successful and to play their part in economic, social and cultural success.   But if…

The days are lengthening. It’s now almost daylight when I leave the house in the morning, and the garden is turning green – bluebells are appearing across all the beds in the garden. We inherited them from the previous owners and they are the highly invasive Spanish variety, which are almost impossible to control. But…