Bits & Pieces

The Browne Review has proposed unlimited tuition fees University Students, whether we agree with it or not Tuition fees are here to stay and for all the huffing and puffing about today's report in Wales and Scotland unless our politicians can find alternatives to finance Universities that the public support then they will end up following suit or else Welsh and Scottish Universities will lose out in attracting the brightest and the best students and Research monies, something we will all lose out from in the end.

Then there is the utterly predictable Experian research for BBC Wales that found areas of South Wales namely the Valleys are least able to cope with the public service and benefit cuts to come. I’m amazed that researchers still get paid for this type of penetrating insight and given how much money has been spent on surveys and reports over the years about the Valleys it would have been more beneficial to have given the cash to residence to help them with their day to day living costs.

However as Dylan Jones Evans has said at least part of the discussion on the impact on Welsh communities of the cuts should include WAG performance over the past decade in tackling these problems is, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

Finally on a lighter note news that a BP boiler suit covered in oil has become a Halloween consume hit in America selling more than 10,000 (Photo available on the link)

According to the Telegraph ‘More than 10,000 of the outfits have been sold in the approach to this year's October 31 holiday, which Americans are renowned for celebrating elaborately.

Its manufacturer claimed the success of the costume showed people across the US remained angry at the oil giant for its handling of the Deep Water Horizon earlier this year

An estimated 185 million gallons of oil were spilt into the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion in April on the BP rig, which also killed 11 workers.

"The Halloween business reflects the world we live in," said Alan Geller, the executive vice-president of Fun World. "We like to add a bit of social commentary to the celebrations."

"The holiday is about horror, and people are horrified at BP's actions," he told
The Daily Telegraph. "Several lives and billions of dollars from people's livelihoods were lost."

Mr Geller said the New York firm, which also created the ghost mask used in the Scream films, had been inundated with orders for the costumes from shops and websites across the country.

He promised to donate some of the company's profits from the boiler suits to a charity aimed at helping people who had lost out due to the oil spill.
Any source