Access all areas
About 20 universities and higher education colleges that are struggling to recruit enough students could merge with further education colleges to become "access universities". (Guardian)
Higher vision
Where will the higher education sector be in ten years? Exploring the myriad ideas... (Guardian)
UK's price index catches up with the times
If household shopping habits are anything to go by, Ally McBeal has replaced the Oxo family as the model for how modern Britons live. Low-calorie, ready-cooked meals for one are in and the stock cubes needed to make traditional family dinners are out. With the change in eating habits has come a switch in leisure pursuits. The Walkman is history. The new must-have item is the DVD player. (Independent, Times, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph)
Study of British race hatred up for award
A provocative and as yet unpublished novel that examines racial hatred at the centre of suburban life was included in a distinctively British list of contenders for the £30,000 Orange prize for women's fiction yesterday. The White Family , by Maggie Gee, looks at the state of the nation through the eyes of an ordinary British family riven by racial hatred. (Independent)
Dean lied about his Cambridge theology PhD
A clergyman who served as personal adviser to the former Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned after admitting lying about his Cambridge qualifications. The Very Rev William Taylor stepped down as Dean of Portsmouth after being confronted by his bishop over false claims, published in Who's Who and Crockford's , that he has a PhD from Cambridge University. (Times)
British Library to archive nation's websites
The British Library, the legal home for a copy of every British publication, has begun archiving the nation's websites. The success of a six-month pilot covering 100 UK websites could spell the end of the "here today, gone tomorrow" culture of web publishing. Although print publishers are required by law to deposit copies at the British Library and other so-called "legal deposit libraries", websites are exempt. (Financial Times)
Nobel winner hits back over Oscar smear
John Nash, the schizophrenic mathematician portrayed in A Beautiful Mind , was interviewed yesterday on American television in an attempt to salvage his reputation following a series of smears intended to stop the film winning an Oscar on Sunday. The 73-year-old Nobel prize-winner appeared on the respected news programme 60 Minutes to reject accusations that he was homosexual, an adulterer, a bad father and a rabid anti-Semite. (Daily Telegraph)
Last stronghold of the Inca discovered
Explorers sponsored by the National Geographic Society have uncovered an extensive settlement in the Peruvian mountains, where the Inca once took refuge from the conquering Spanish. Thought to be a ceremonial site, it is the largest and most significant Inca settlement discovered in the region for more than 30 years. (Daily Telegraph)
Scientists home in on roaming pike
The summer wanderings of a fish called Isaac have produced the first hard evidence that pike have a finely tuned homing instinct. Isaac spent eight months exploring his river before returning to within ten yards of his original home according to researchers from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Dorchester. (Daily Telegraph)