Rent split

A clash of campaigns at Liverpool University has left student leaders with a tricky conundrum. The Student's Guild is backing a rent strike by nearly 200 students protesting at conditions in some parts of their halls. They are asking striking students to pay their rent into a special account, presumably to be paid to the university when it meets their demands.

Unfortunately, the Student's Guild is also boycotting Lloyds and the Midland, because of their policy on third-world debt and so scores of students with accounts at those banks are having problems paying into the account. Guild president Kevin Gould, who admits the situation is "ironic", has already advised students not to carry cash for fear of mugging and says that the guild is working on resolving the problem.