you will never find out wu - I AM THE WINNER!

i don't expect anyone to pay for what i've done - its a load of tosh (up) :p

yes, my step father in law has a slightly concerning obsession with the female bottom - and expresses this through massive amounts of 'artwork' around the house. I would rather he put one photo of beyonce's bum up on the wall for all to see, rather than pretending its the artist he admires haha.

What's going on here?

I love The thick of it - and I have just bought my parents 'in the loop' - the film that came out this summer - on the pretence of an xmas present, which I will then 'borrow' once I have forced them to watch it quickly haha. I think I wouldn't mind Malcolm Tucker as my supervisor - at least I would know what he actually thought!

Today not going so well. After a complete stress out yesterday I have decided to make a huge chart of the interviews i need to tick off - like my very own advent calander (of hate and dispair). i want to do all the analysis, all the transcriptions etc. by xmas (dec 24th xmas, NOT end of term xmas) so I then have early jan to try and write up the findings.

Onwards! - I might post a similar chart here so you can all shame me if I haven't done it!

I think there is a local government fast stream as well - not totally sure though. The big departments tend to have regional offices though.

hmm, I don't mind people faffing about with household items, arranging them in a heap and then saying that it evokes something or other. I do have a problem with them all laughing behind our backs cos they managed to con everyone into thinking it was worth anything. Tracey emin's unmade bed went for £150,000!!! I mean, they must all be laughing away thinking how hilarious it is. - I think I put modern artists in the same boat as people who produce house music.

the PhD is essentially research training, so its fine that you make mistakes. You can learn from them. At least you have realised this now, not right at the end. There are many mistakes that i have made in my PhD which I now feel like I have to patch up and hope no one notices in the viva. E.g. not asking the correct question in a survey, or my most annoying one at present - not checking my recording device worked, so most of my interviews are useless with stupid BZZZZZZ through them :-s

Learn from it, think about these things next time and voila - you are an 'experienced' researcher!

oh and conditions are pretty good, as its public sector, so you get flexi working, dress down fridays etc. none of this 'I was in at 6am and stayed until 11pm so I am better than you' private sector rubbish

Well I think its about 25-30k to begin with. You tend to stay on the fast stream for 3 years or so. By the end of your role you have to have worked in three key areas, policy, operations(e.g. immigration) and corporate services (finance/hr etc). and then you get spat out of it as a grade 7. The civil service grades go AA, AO, EO, HEO, SEO, (fast stream spans the HEO-SEO grades) 7, 6, senior civil service. So you are one step away from senior civil service and being like Sir Humphrey lol. I would say its a very good programme to get an all round 'education' of how government departments work and would make you extremely employable once you have done it - the 'fast streamer' badge is quite sought after. There is a lot of flexibility, so you can work at the department of transport  8-) or the foreign office.

It is however, very competitive!

I am having the same issue and thinking about graduate programmes - makes me think why have I bothered, I could have just gone in after my undergrad and I would be on a much bigger salary by now! Have you considered the civil service fast stream? I think I will be applying in the new year, as although I would love a research job, there aren't any in my area at the mo.

I think art should be about skill - any one can not make their bed! If I am going to pay to see something or pay for something for my wall it better be GOOD in terms of skill level. My dad is a much better artist than most modern artists and he makes stuff that require creativity and skill, patience and ability. I really hate those rothko ones, I mean, they're just colour swatches!

A little mouse on the stair with clogs on?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqQiHHvQ6Nc&feature=related

problem is sup goes on holiday and wanted to read it while she was away. If I sent it on xmas eve, it just wouldn't be read until the new term. Problem is with the lectures are that there is a conference in early jan - that I'm organising d'oh. Luckily they are the same as last year, so have to revise them a little but should be reasonably ok.

I'm thinking of just going underground, ignoring sup and then providing three lovely papers after xmas to appease. (although I know I will end up not doing this either!)