Well, Schopenhauer was a miserable old fart who chased teenage girls around.

(I've read my Very Short Introduction to philosophy )

Poor dog!

Our cat wasn't averse to swiping the dog on the nose if she got too annoying.

Those are some ears!

Bloody foxes keep waking me up at night. Thinking of keeping a bucket of water by the window.

Which is a good thing, I forgot to add

Well, I should qualify:

a) my experience was (I hope) not representative, and
b) we do now collaborate with completeley honourable businesses.

But my past experience was

a) Fat bastard David Brent boss who used to pat female staff on the head
b) Same boss was psycho who thought paying staff was optional (after all, his company Merc has to be paid for first)
c) Being asked to perform bonkers assays, reputable references for which could only be found on Quackwatch.com

Wish I could say more but ended up in court so being careful what I say

But as I said, this was almost certainly an exeption - we are now collaborating with a company that insists on endless evidence for everything that I show them.

I would be more inclined to start a "What's Wrong With Industry" thread, but I'd be here all day if I did that

Must be where you are. I've always been well treated by academics, on the whole.

I've had stupid pets. Cats that fall into the toilet, dogs that eat bees.

I know what you mean. I got my 2:2 mostly out of laziness, and also a lack of focus. I've been told I'm good at having great ideas - linking concepts and developing hypotheses - just not so good at seeing it through to the bitter end. Wish I'd figured that out as an undergrad, but onwards and upwards as they say.

It's possible he's on holiday, given that it's exam time now and he probably doesn't have any lectures. However he should have set up an out-of-office autoreply in that case.

I would email once more, and then start ringing. It's a pretty major issue so don't be embarrassed, and as said above, everyone asks about funding, it's not considered rude or anything -it's an essential part of the process.

In theory there should be no age preference wherever you apply. I would estimate that where I am at least 20% of the PhDs are 40ish.

My brother had a version of that, Sylvester;

Hey diddle diddle
The cat did a piddle
All over the kitchen floor
The little dog laughed to see such fun
So the cat did a little bit more

I thought he made it up (mind you he also told me he invented the knock knock joke).

I admit I've become uninterested in all the political roundabouts and spot-the-differences. I will vote, but only to keep the bloody BNP and UKIP out.

Don't know about economics, but do know 3 science Ph.D.s who got on a Master's with a 3rd (at Sunderland and Loughborough, not sure where the 3rd one was). Guess it depends on how competitive the courses are and your level of work experience.