blawson

Pucci - in your experience - will BA now allow this girl to fly with them - when she does get released... I have seen cases on programs such as Airport - where the airline then ban the passenger from their airline.

PUCCI GALORE

In theory No, in practice they're just as liable to. She didn't actually have any explosives. she's just Nora Nobrains.

Now, I will not have you rude about the Donkeys on Blackpol Beach. Blackpool Beach, that open sewer on the Irish Sea you can slag off all you like. Leave the Donkeys Alone.

Yes, I know Blackpool, one of Him Indoor's sisters lives there.

LHR Tim

And I heard this morning her 'apology' on Capitol. Seems she's now worried she won't be let back in the US because she has a boyfriend in Jacksonville. Stooooopid. That's pretty much a given!

dnw

With all due respect I totally disagree... tuition fees should be abolished and the number of available univesity places halved or perhaps quartered and the admission to those places determined by genuine merit, not by bank balance.

Letting everyone go to university (to keep them out of the unemployment figures for 3+ more years) is equal-opportunity taken way too far. A generation ago in the UK you had to face a full interview panel (separate to the admissions process) and *justify* why you deserved a university place and funding for it... now those that genuinely benefit from a place are being forced to pay for it as a direct result of those studying History of Flyertalk etc who never will...

Does anyone else remember the Spitting Image sketch about the time that the government allowed polytechs to become universities, something about the next step being renaming public toilets... it was taking it way too far of course but the point was there (thats what they did best!)

Political rant over, back to miles!

[This message has been edited by dnw (edited Jan 22, 2004).]

edi-traveller

You are right of course.

Also these days it is not politically correct to tell people that they are not clever or do not have the right ability to do something.

My wife has recently gone back to college and you can't "fail". Everyone passes even if they get zero marks - because telling people that they have failed is attacking someone's self estime. So she actually heard a tutor say "Don't worry Sarah, you haven't failed - you just didn't get any marks". Durr!

That's why I like Simon Cowell, he is about the only person left in the UK who is prepared to tell talentless whining no hopers that they can't sing and infact they sound like gutted seals - rather then telling them that they are really quite good and raising false hopes.


[This message has been edited by edi-traveller (edited Jan 22, 2004).]

Fraser

I haven't thought about this enough. I just think having seen US Universities first hand I am pretty jealous of how superb their facilities are and such like and wish that I should have been more committed to getting my parents to send me to a Uni in the US when I was first making my choices of Uni.

dnw Getting into University is too easy

edi-traveller, failure is and should be an option. I am sad to hear your wife got zero marks

Also Simon Cowell is a great British export

edi-traveller

No she was fine she "passed" - it was someone else who's feelings they were trying to save!!!

gate4lounge

I must remember never to get myself a boyfriend in Jacksonville if I wish to get back to the USA

What exactly is she studying.....stupidity??? If so, she's passed with flying colours



[This message has been edited by gate4lounge (edited Jan 22, 2004).]

baobab

Too much sun tends to melt brains... the same effect may be seen in certain other hot holiday spots.

PUCCI GALORE

Darling, here I have learnt what the reason for my fall into Jerry Springerhood. I love the sun, and would love to be out on the beach wearing little other than sun screen. Good genetics and lots of Christian Dior make sure than I am safe - and I travel to sunny places quite a lot.

I take argument with one assumptin that you charitably make. You assume that these people have brains to melt in the first place. You take my meaning, I suppose you do not have to listen to some of the drivel that I do.

baobab

It may well explain a few things To get the full effect, known in some parts as "Kariba-itis", one has to virtually live in the sun with blithe disregard for hats, Christian Dior and the [mad dogs & Englishmen] midday sun. For most visitors it's merely a temporary effect, but for people who live in such hot places and spend most of their time outdoors it has a permanent deleterious effect. Who knows - perhaps it has a genetic effect too, and offspring are born without brains, as you suggest.

ajax

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/s...re/3457967.stm

A British student who was arrested at an American airport after joking she had a bomb in her bags, has walked free from court.

Samantha Marson, 21, was spared a custodial sentence after agreeing to give about £650 to the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.

Fraser

I forgot to post on here but there was another story about someone making a fake bomb threat a few days ago.

What has got into the water recently?

fraisse10

Indeed! Most unlike you.

in31122

As a university student in the United States, just a couple of comments on the above:

1. We, too, have a problem of far too many people attending college. On the one hand, a college degree IS seen as a good thing (one might say a must). On the other hand, it does devalue the degree. It appears that the remaking of trade schools into universities in the U.K. follows a U.S. trend of having fully-accredited universities across a huge spectrum of quality.

2. The reason facilities are so excellent at U.S. universities is primarily competition. People are increasingly looking at things like housing quality, what the food is like, how big the gym is, etc. when considering universities. The funding for this varies between public and private schools. At a public school, most (but not all) funding for such improvements comes from the government, both state and federal. At a private school, this funding comes from donations from alumni and other supporters of the university. Having said that, some of the better public schools (e.g. Virginia, California, Michigan, Illinois, etc.) are increasingly looking towards alumni donations as a lucrative source of revenue as state funding shrinks.

You might be disappointed at not having attended a U.S. university, but unless you went to a premiere institution, it would not really be that much better than where you presently attend in England (assuming you're not at an elite school, which I assume from your post is the case).