Yep, you've had a bit of a shock to the system, but this is good in the end because now you will work harder. Better to be told now than to be told in the real viva! Better do what they ask you to do since one of them will probably be your internal.

You will need to read the literature to find a topic.

For fees, you need to check the relevant university website. If you are paying fees yourself you will probably be accepted. Cost of living is extremely high in London in comparison to the rest of the UK.

It's US data, but it's quite interesting:
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17306/data.cfm

I guess supervisors are human too, and not all humans are rational, pleasant people.

Generally I'd say most biology students don't start writing til 4th year, and for many of us, this is unfunded. Supervisors want their money's worth so want experiments to continue throughout third year, which makes it difficult to write as well.

I know of several students who have been asked to come up with their own projects in Biology, even if they are not self funded. Sometime PhDs are advertised with a very broad scope that the student then has to narrow down.

Try contacting the academics on the advert and asking them?

I've heard of several cases of funding losses, and students have quit because of it. In some cases, they've managed to secure funding elsewhere and start again, but that's not ideal.

Reduce your sample size, or rethink the thesis. Find cheaper experiments to do for the other chapters.

Don't revoke your PhD status or use your stipend for equipment. Anyway, they probably won't continue to fund you at all if you quit.

Check out Bristol, I think they might. And I think they've got some sort of assurance to EU students on their website somewhere.

Mine took a week to read final full draft, but they had already seen each individual chapter.

I did. I know they liked me to ask them first and they liked to give me feedback etc. Mostly because they like to think they know best and can still teach me stuff I reckon :P

I personally found them quite useful when my group did them. It's a good way to read extra papers and it's a safe place to ask stupid questions and admit when you don't understand things.

Yes. Take a break. It's Christmas in a few weeks and most unis close anyway.