If you get the place then don't get funding you can either:
a) postpone and save up
b) don't bother
c) do like many people and take out a career development loan

XJR is totally right, there are extremely few ready-constructed PhD plans within politics. There is funding available though institutions and also ESRC etc - however I think you have just missed the ESRC deadline for this coming year.

For your sake Yaelle I hope not! I'm at a Uni in the north if that helps!

The poll doesn't really reflect the range of beliefs - I mean "I believe in God of my religion" - just because one may believe in God it does not have to formed into organised religion, that is a completely different thing. Surely the poll should be a choice between "I don't believe in any God" vs "I believe in some form of God or Gods"...

Lies, Damn Lies and statistics!!!

It absolutely depends on the modules you take within that Masters. Gang culture is normally part of criminology; but you could do your masters dissertation on Social Policy, and then apply that to gang culture at PhD level, there's nothing to stop that: you just have to be selective.
(PS the best place to study gangs in Uni. Manchester)

The landlord/agent will want evidence of regular income, if not you'll need a guarantor in *most* (not all) cases. They will trust you more if you avoid saying that you are a student - call yourself a researcher at your university. A houseshare would be easier for you as it would avoid the guarantor issue, but its understandable if you'd rather live alone. You will get better quality on a tight budget if you are willing to live away from the tube lines and rely on buses

If you want a studio rather than a houseshare try www.rightmove.co.uk that's where I always find places!

I think the main issue will be the guarantor thing; although it'll depend on the landlord/agent. You only need to start looking a month before really - but that does clash a bit with the Halls thing... does it have to be on a tube line? I used to live in Crouch End and got the bus into UCL everyday, it really wasn't that bad

I always loved Muswell Hill in North London (Northern Line). You'll probably be paying the full £150 a week, but it is very safe, great little community, lots of nice local shops to nosy round and lots of green space to work outside in the summer!

AH! The male historian! My dept is multidisciplinary - half history - but I am in the Politics bit. I was absolutely shocked and appalled (and almost left) when I arrived at the behaviour of some of the male historians in the dept. Whilst this is a massive generalisation and purely a product of my own experience, they were homophobic, misogynistic and felt they had every right to comment on the appearance of the younger female staff in a very open manner (but only if they were unmarried). When I raised concern about this behaviour, my personal tutor (another male historian) looked at me like I was mad and told me not to rock the boat!
At one dept social event, one of the senior staff told my friend and I that his life's ambition was to write a "Typology of German Women", then invited us to London for the weekend to a 'mind-broadening event' at one of the 'special clubs' he knows. But he was very drunk at this point.:p

@Supersteff
Sorry my message split in two! The other part said

... as such you may find that the ESRC is more amenable to a project with clear IR direction. Some IR people can be fairly picky about what is interpreted as International Relations (they see it as heavily theoretical), so to be able to market your PhD as IR you will need that theory which the ESRC will support

@supersteff.
The AHRC do accept something that crosses history and IR, but you will need to emphasise the history aspect. It depends again on your project; but to fit in fully with IR you will need a solid (political) analytical framework that may not fit in with AHRC criteria

Generally IR is seen as ESRC, but it depends on your precise topic (given its a huge field). You can apply to both, but you might be better of choosing which one suits your work better...

Hi
I'm in politics (well kind of - all a bit weird) but I was just wondering how other places use these assessments. I mean, it seems as though you had fairly decent people on your panel who could give you some solid feedback (or solid pedantry!). It's just that I have one in a couple of weeks and have some total randoms on my panel who will have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about (one bloke's in English!), so just wanted to see how it was for you!

Wow that's pretty rough to hear. I too have had comments about only getting certain things (conferences etc) because having a girl who looks like me representing the Uni makes it look better.
All you can do is be as absolutely professional as you can. Go to the meeting, but don't be over-friendly, just totally focus on your work, and prove to them that you are more than capable than passing the year. One good thing is that if their expectations of you are low; they can only be pleasantly surprised!!!