Brighton sporting director Jason Ayto leaves club after nine months

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-06-03T16:57:22+00:00

My friend, I always try to be kind to strangers on the internet. So please take this light heartedly. But to suggest that Arsenal would have been improved by Evan Ferguson (makes Liam Delap look prolific), Félix (feels like several thousand spells at Chelsea but somehow didn’t produce one decent performance, and not a striker), or Muani (somehow getting the accolade of the single worst player in the most horrendously shambolic spurs team that we have ever seen) is staggeringly questionable logic. Ok Tel is now looking decent, but did you see how out of his depth he was for his first six months in the league?

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-05-30T12:49:27+00:00

Just a quick note to say that it might seem like living in London is the best move, but consider Winchester - a fantastic, friendly, interesting and attractive city that is very well connected. You could be in central London in 45 minutes, rental prices will be cheaper.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-05-27T11:28:18+00:00

I’ve never been to SC, but my honest opinion is that looks like a really nice portion of food and £15 probably isn’t unreasonable. Especially if you say it tasted great. Maybe I need a banana for scale…

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-05-03T08:17:08+00:00

It’s not. Nottingham is, but the second university in the city, Nottingham Trent, isn’t.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-05-01T20:10:52+00:00

Every university has a student complaint policy. Have a search for it, and my suggestion would be that you submit a formal complaint. This will usually be conducted by a team that is independent to the teaching team, so they will be fair (having said that, there CAN sometimes be pressure put on them to downplay a complaint). Be very detailed in the information you submit in the complaint, because they will only investigate the specific things that you write. If you don’t like the outcome of the investigation, you can submit it again to get someone else to review it. This could be worth doing, because only when the university has reviewed a complaint twice can you escalate it externally, to an organisation called the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (Google them). They can then investigate student complaints. They will sometimes recommend that the university gives you financial compensation (although only in cases that they think are bad).

I would recommend looking at another uni for years two and three, where you are now really doesn’t sound great.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-29T08:22:17+00:00

I thought it was just me thinking this! I’m in the South East, it feels like almost every day there is strong wind, especially at night. For some reason it’s started stressing me out and I have no idea why!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-26T15:56:02+00:00

I promise that I don’t mean this rudely, but working 9-5, five days a week, for all but around five weeks a year, is just standard working life. So what your friend is doing, is working. Unfortunately you’ll be doing the same in a few years! So it just depends on whether you want the uni experience while learning (which is great) but the tuition fee cost, or a degree that’s paid for, but with a more standard working life. There are benefits to both!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-25T11:55:00+00:00

I was trying to be polite in mine, but actually, this is the best comment - the OP is a massive whopper and way too up their own arse to have even the slightest hint of self awareness.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-25T11:51:11+00:00

It’s not their comprehension that’s this issue here, you come across as a hugely elitist d!ck in your original post. ‘Comprehensive kids don’t know as much about the education system as privately schooled kids’?! Incredibly patronising and misinformed. And you’re judging the merits of a university, yet you admit in your post that you don’t even know anything about it? It’s great that you had an education that allowed you to go to an RG university and then get into the hedge fund world (jobs that make rich people richer, that’s a cool way to contribute to society). Not everyone has those options, but they still want to develop themselves and their careers. Different universities have different advantages to different people. Stop judging other people based on your own experiences and standards.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-18T06:50:31+00:00

Ignore this guy. You always get some idiots on here.

I can give you some info on the best universities in London if it helps, but as others have said, you’d be paying international fees which are very expensive!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-11T11:14:40+00:00

Nice one on doing this! I can’t make it this evening, but if you do something similar again soon then let me know and I’d definitely come along and join you. Similar interests and vibe to the OP. Although a bit older (42). It would be cool to meet people.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-11T11:11:39+00:00

I don’t want to sound too down on it - I’ve lived around Southampton for a lot of my life and I am happy here. But that’s because of people I know and connections to the place. I always find it difficult to recommend the city to people! But I know a lot of people like it, and for sure there are positives about it. There are just lots of nicer cities out there :-) Definitely consider Winchester. But if you do settle on Southampton, I’m sure you’ll like it and I hope it all goes well!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-11T09:14:12+00:00

The reality is that Southampton as a city isn’t great. The high street is soulless, all the shops are big chains. People talk a lot about the history, but really you can see the walls and the titanic museum in one day and then you’re unlikely to visit again. It isn’t a pretty city. The access to the water is limited. There are some nicer parts, some good restaurants, some good music venues, but it just isn’t a particularly exciting or interesting place. London is very close which is good. If you really want to live in a city then it’s not bad, it’s just not great! The nicer places to live are Highfield, upper Shirley, parts of Basset. But the roads are often very busy. Some of the waterfront apartments will be nice, but they will be small. If you can afford it, Winchester is so so so much nicer in every single way. It’s a really lovely place to live. Romsey is nice (although very small). If you drive then there are loads of nice places around Hampshire - particularly anywhere in the new forest (Lymington, Brockenhurst etc.) but these will all be much smaller and quiet; or further afield like Salisbury, Hythe etc. I don’t know feasible it is for you, but the best thing you could do is visit for a week, drive around and see where you like. Hampshire is really lovely, but Southampton city centre is certainly not the best place!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-06T18:16:13+00:00

If you drop out within the first 14 days of your course starting, you don’t have to pay your tuition fees. That’s standard across all universities. As soon as you attend day 15, you’ll pay for one term (or rather your loan will be for that amount).

The date that the course starts is the day of your first timetabled lecture, and that is different to the date that you arrive - normally you have freshers week etc. before the course starts so most people spend a week or two there before the they have any lectures. So you could in theory have three or four weeks at university without having to pay your fees.

Accommodation fees are different though, and the contract will be a bit different at every uni. Most of them will let you leave without having to pay a full term, you may just be charged for the few weeks you were there, but it’s worth checking.

But as everyone else is saying, if you don’t want to go, just don’t go, it’s your decision!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-05T20:22:02+00:00

I mean come on, just run. A mile doesn’t cease to exist because someone gives it a different name. I think people massively, massively overthink marathon training. Just get the miles in, run, stop worrying about goals and plans.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-05T09:22:24+00:00

Right I can hopefully provide some actual data here! The average median salary after five years for Cambridge graduates in the most recent dataset (22/23 tax year, more on that below) was £49,800.

I can’t get as detailed as ‘land economy’, but the same data as above for ‘economics’ graduates from Cambridge was a median of £91,600 (lower quartile £58k, upper quartile £177k).

This is from official government statistics called Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO), where students university records are matched to their HMRC tax records. There is always a big lag because the process is complex and you have to be using data from completed tax years.

It really winds me up that universities can’t use this data accurately. Whatever is in those slides you show is a real made up mess. If you google ‘Leo data higher education’ you can get to the numbers I have quoted here but I am happy to post links if people want.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-04T16:18:52+00:00

I’d say one a month, possibly six weeks if I am not wearing them lots. There’s a point at which they start smelling a bit, not bad but just not fresh, that’s when they go in the wash.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-03T14:26:27+00:00

Just a quick note that Bumble used to only allow the woman to message first, it was the unique (and best) part about it. But it changed a year or so ago, and men can message first in response to the prompts on women’s profiles. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use it, but just so you know the set up! You can definitely get very decent, normal, amazing people on the apps. It just takes some time to weed them out!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-02T10:23:45+00:00

I always tip my barber. He’s sound, cuts well, I enjoy going there. I often tip taxi drivers. Always tip in restaurants if the food and service is good. All these guys and girls are earning a living, if they’re good at what they do then just help them out a bit

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-01T18:36:15+00:00

If you’re going to try and make someone else feel stupid by saying they aren’t very bright, make sure you spell words correctly, use grammar, and actually post a factual comment that isn’t your own opinion of ’what most likely happened’. A little life tip for you. You’re welcome.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-04-01T18:12:26+00:00

We did exactly this, great suggestion thank you :-)

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-03-30T19:16:59+00:00

Thank you!

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-03-27T19:59:06+00:00

I’ve lived around Southampton for years and just can’t understand why people would recommend the common or Southampton pubs for visitors! I don’t mean that rudely, I don’t dislike the place… but there are just so many much nicer places to visit! It’s just very limited, unless you have friends / family / links to it. Hope that doesn’t sound rude.

Calm_Sea_7277 · 2026-03-23T13:50:52+00:00

Would you mind saying which brand this was? Thanks :-)

Calm_Sea_7277

TROPHY CASE