Matthew Reeve

I wanted to put down some of my comments and views about the Browne Review, particularly in light of some of the slating it has been receiving. Here are some of my key views, not mentioning the issue of Value I mentioned previously.

Public Funding is being cut, it but the financial aid required to support students is being increased.
The Review has recommended a cut of c. £2.5bn from the current teaching grant and £0.4bn from maintenance grants, but this is offset by a £1.9bn increase in funding in fee loans (section 5.7, page 44). The outcome of this is … Continue Reading

Reading many comments in response to the Browne Review, about which I am writing a more complex blog, I started to wonder where the balance lies between us paying for goods and services, having them provided for us through voluntary donations and having them provided through compulsory taxation.

This is quite a critical argument for Higher Education – after all, not everyone goes to University, yet to those people who want to they believe it should be free. But what about everyone who didn’t go? Are they happy that a proportion of the population should pay for it?

I think the Browne … Continue Reading

I thought that as a way to work out what I really want from the upcoming General Election I would list them. Just so happens I have done so here.

• Reform the Houses of Parliament, particularly to introduce proportional representation. At the moment, a constituent’s vote can get lost if they are in another party’s stronghold, and PR would mean that we are voting in the context of the country and not just a small part of it. Obviously this increases the position of smaller parties however this is not such a bad thing – no … Continue Reading
  

I have spent my spare time over the last few weeks crimping cables and this morning soldered some 7-segment cables for the next stage of my cockpit plan. I had aquired a 737 comm panel with the components for a display, but not wired up. This morning’s effort completed this. I also had to do some work on the buttons as they had been glued to the supporting frame using wood, so I took that out to hold the panel together with M3 bolts instead. The standby digits … Continue Reading

There has been a lot of comment over the last couple of weeks from different groups about who should be paying for Higher Education. These comments have generally indicated that there are three beneficiaries of education: the state, the individual, and the employer; however employers are not taking a direct responsibility to pay for it. With the Higher Education funding review underway and due to report back in the Autumn, I have been thinking how this might be addressed and how it might possibly affect the work that I do.

I think the idea of a £10,000 a year tuition fee … Continue Reading

Sat in the Oratory on Ash Wednesday (where as a treat there is no Allegri Miserere mei!), I have been deliberating as to how to mark Lent. Previously I have given up alcohol, not shaven, or some other sundry sacrifice. The fact is, I can’t see this being a huge sacrifice. This year I have been looking at my charitable donations, so it seems fit that I should support some charities as my “sacrifice”. Currently I am supporting the new Music Building at the University of Birmingham, and the Midlands Air Ambulance. So I will find something else to add … Continue Reading

I said on Twitter that I would explain more about my NFL allegiances. It’s an area I’ve been considering ever since I went to NFL UK 2008 when the Chargers lost “at” the Saints. At that stage I didn’t really have a team, in fact I didn’t really follow NFL that much, I went that year because I am interested in the game as I am with baseball and ice hockey following numerous trips to Canada and the USA. Having MLB and NHL teams and having followed the NFL closely in 2009 made me think that I should pick an … Continue Reading

I have spent much of today playing around with my home theatre equipment, mainly my new HTPC which is to replace my old Sony PVR. It’s not complete yet: I want to add a blu-ray drive and a DVB-S2 card (to be able to view and record Freesat in HD), but as of today I now have digital audio output so have proper surround sound and so it has reached the stage where the Sony has no benefits.

One thing I am finding is that the interface for MythTV (which it uses) is much better than in my old Sony PVR, … Continue Reading

As many of you will know, I’ve been quite busy over the last few months. Christmas is always busy for me, as with the sheer amount of singing which goes on around then the first day I usually get to rest in December is Christmas Day. I spent the whole of Christmas with a bad cold and so it wasn’t quite as relaxing as I had hoped or needed. January wasn’t that much quieter either – Ex Cathedra’s 40-part concert on Sunday was very hard work and quite stressful, but performing is rewarding and enjoyable and the evening was rounded … Continue Reading

After a bit of work I have decided to revert back to a blog-style site, and to make a resolution to contribute a bit more regularly to it. For a short while, though, I need to migrate two previous sites into it so please bear with me.