Northern light

Now that new Labour has chosen to transfer its annual conference from Blackpool to the cosier south coast will its NUS supporters be tagging along? Not if former national president Douglas Trainer has anything to do with it.

"The north of England, Wales and Scotland can host a conference or a party to compete with anything from the soft south," says Trainer, who hails from Glasgow.

And he pays tribute to Blackpool's forbearance so far, recognising that:

"Looking after 2,000 students cannot be easy."