I think you'll find that media students are among the most employable people in the UK. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4459922.stm,

I agree that a lot of specialist jobs may require a degree in English, foreign languages etc, but there are also a lot of jobs that simply require a degree so I suppose it's useful for that. There must be some purpose to a media studies degree otherwise so many people wouldn't be doing them (surely they can't all end up working in fast food places?).

Lofty, this article merely claims that employment rates are high for media studies graduates. It says nothing about the jobs that these graduates go into, and therefore does nothing to dispel my argument that media studies graduates do anything for which their degree, or even a reasonable level of intelligence, is necessary.

"Why are British people (being very generalistic here-apologies) so obsessed with getting on the "property" ladder???

In other countries it's perfectly accepted to rent a flat (even if you are a doctor and have a family and earn a lot)."

Because in the UK rent is as high as morgage repayments. Any reasonable person will say that if you have to pay to bank the same sum as to a ladlord, you better pay it for the bank and thus some point of time have your own house paid off instead of having nothing for the same money.

Indeed Verdy. The problem is, paying rent is effectively throwing money away, while paying a mortgage is more like saving (give or take house price fluctuations and repairs etc). Still, this country is going down the pan in other ways, so why people are surprised about this I don't know.

I totally agree. I'm itching to get out of this country. Payment for research/academic careers in the life sciences are low, taxes are sky high, and everything else costs a bomb. Almost everywhere else, even if the salary is the same other things are cheaper. Particularly houses - the housing situation in this ocuntry is a joke. If you've got no money and can't be bothered to get a job or you have a baby and no partner, you're given one. But if you're working for between £10-25K (i.e. the majority of people in England) getting a house is tough.

Thanks for all the answers though, it appears as though you can pretty much make of that stipend what you will. I was just concerned how much of it was intended for the running of the PhD - and apparently, you get a different fund for that. Is that true?

Incidentally, when I earned £5K off £800/month, I was paying £20 rent at home :s I could save a lot!

The situtation in this country will not reverse for at least 20 years, as even if the tories get in at the next election, 1. they decline of the labour party will take ages to halt, and 2. "Dave" Cameron is nothing but Blair MkII.

Sadly, the countries to benefit will be the US, Canada, Australia, those in Western Europe, China, and India, but they have clearly got their priorities right, so they deserve it.

You get the feeling that something is going to happen in the future. When you have a whole generation of intelligent, highly-skilled and motivated citizens who can barely function in society through sky high house prices/rents, very high taxes, poor transport, expensive energy and overall crippling debts you know the country's heading for some sort of breakdown.

You can see the day when the vast majority of property in this country is owned by the few. I just don't think people will put up with this forever.

If this is how the country treats its next generation of "knowledge workers", they should hardly be surprised if that they use their "get up and go" and leave the country. That or have kids and go on the dole.

The chickens have to come home to roost sooner or later.

This is basically a governement with the worst excesses of capitalism mixed with the evils of socialism, so that anyone who wants to make something of themselves is stamped upon repeatedly until they either submit, or emigrate. Sadly, it'll be the latter for me

To my mind, certain things in life should be sheltered from the full forces of capitalism - the so called safety factors. Everyone needs an affordable roof over their heads, they need heat, light, power and they need food and water. The prices of all these things (extravagant foods aside) should be held in check by the government by enforcing lending limits and by legislation to limit the price of these "safety" goods.

On the flip side, much as I want a widescreen TV, I certainly don't need one so you can tax me to high hell on that and I can choose whether to buy one or not.

I agree wholeheartedly sylvester. Not going to happen in our lifetimes though is it...

sylvester

I am afraid and quite sure that those knowledge workers who will decide to leave this country will be soon replaced by Eastern Europeans for whom life in the UK is paradise compared to what they got.

Just a though came in my mind. I was reading job adds in Times Higher Education Supplement. Imagine, some kind of 'overseas student officer' gets 24-28,000 a year! And recquirements are only an undergrad degree and some experience. The same as a lecturer with a PhD! Is it fair?

Verdy,
The best place to look for nonsense jobs is the Guardian jobs section. Posts, generally publicly-funded, wages around 30-40k plus, involved in making sure people eat fruit and veg, know how to get dressed, and can make a shopping list properly.

The reason these jobs have sprung up (around 500,000-1 million of them depending on sources) is that this is using the public purse to reduce the umemployment figure, benefitting no one but the people who do (or don't do) these worthless jobs, and the governemtn ,who can put all kinds of spin on the figures.

This is much the same as the whole "50% to university" aim, which is nothing more than trying to reduce the number of jobless people between the ages of 18 and 25, as students don't count as unemployed.

This country will go back to a stage were a small percentage of people are extremely rich owning alot of property and everyone else is poor and renting off them, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. The irony being when this was the case years ago education was the way out of this trap.

all the while the banks are, well, laughing all the way to the proverbial bank.