I used to be quite active for one of the major parties who I became disillusioned with and I'm all for new blood coming in and shaking things up a bit.

A couple of things I don't necessarily agree with and why I couldn't support you at this stage.

Firstly, phone and text voting is all very well for those who are competent and able to do so but might only appeal to certain demographics. There is too much potential bias for me to thing that it would be a more successful gauge of public opinion than existing polling. It would also be extremely open to abuse.

Secondly, public majority opinion isn't always the best opinion. I don't favour that at all and think a lot of legislation is passed correctly. I also think a lot isn't, but you're never going to please everyone and that's always the difficult part. But the present system I don't think is entirely bad.

I think we could do with far more independent MPs, I really do, and there also needs to be a major shakeup. But we already have the ability to present our thoughts and opinions to our politicians and relegating it down to a television style contest to me would just damage and cheapen politics as opposed to restoring it.

And apologies if my comments seemed rather flippant but if any (present or future) politician wants me to take them seriously then it has to come across as professional. If it's any consolation I got a BNP leaflet a few months ago and sent it back with all the grammatical and spelling errors 8-)

Is the area you're applying to very competitive? Your situation is not unheard of by people from all backgrounds and, like everyone else has said, discrimination is very rare in academia.

An application for a PhD isn't necessarily about having the best degree or the best masters. There could be a host of reasons why she got chosen for interview and you didn't. When you have lots of CVs from equally able candidates it can be very difficult to make the decision who to interview.

Speak to the department and see if you can get feedback. Have you had people with interviewing experience review your CV at all? They may be able to give advice if your CV isn't coming across well.

I remember staff striking when I was doing my PhD and I was quite ambivalent about it all back then. I think it would depend on how realistic I found the situation. A lot of people are very resistant to necessary change, but I guess it's hard to see the bigger picture if your job or that of those around you is on the line. I certainly wouldn't join them without knowing what both sides were proposing and whether it really was unfair or just striking against change (a la BA).

DanB will resist the urge to correct spelling and grammar.

He will. Even if he is biting his lip very hard indeed.

I went to see my supervisors yesterday, now having finished my PhD, and one of the things that came up was an invite to talk about life in the Private Sector - or, kind of, what can you do with a PhD that isn't in academia and what skills are useful.

Would you have found this useful if someone had spoken to you about it? I remember several people coming to give talks about life in academia, and one from a company that was specifically recruiting, but never anyone talking about life away from academia. Just trying to gauge how much interest there would be.

I agree with Teek; just go for it! Don't sit and analyse it too much, just get your application in and see how it goes. You've have lost nothing and nobody will laugh at you - you have relevant experience, so it's not like you're trying to apply for something you're not qualified for.

Pleased to say I heard back today and have been approved :-x

One very happy DanB!

Yeah, minor corrections is always nice! They were so boring to do though, I kind of felt very detached from them having had my viva nearly 3 months ago and submitted about 3 months before that! I didn't actually fully understand one part they were asking me to look at as it's not something I considered all that important!

Firstly, hi 404, long time no speak!

And, just to be sure, are you referring to post-viva corrections? I was given minor corrections (and they were pretty minor) and only the internal examiner needs to check them - external isn't involved at all, fortunately!

Am I being unreasonably impatient it's now a week and still heard nothing about my corrections? A friend of mine heard the same day but think that a tad unreasonable. How long did any of you wait?

How about

Design for Manufacture: Manufacturing Design

Oooo I'm so pleased I read this thread - I'm seeing my supervisors for the last time on Wednesday now my corrections have been done and hadn't even thought to get them a present each! Is a cactus a good present? I give cacti as presents for all sorts of occasions!

Chris, it goes totally and utterly against my principles, but have you considered writing essays for undergrads? I hear it pays rather well!

Hmmm, I'm a bit of an 'old timer' on here so don't really know a lot of you (the nature of the beast I guess) but I remember when we had a similar thread way back when. It's always surprising how people are nothing like you imagine! And have some very good friends off here, fortunately!

Have any of you lot become friends away from on here? (Sorry for the slightly off thread question!)