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So, is The Sinner not doing an elections board this year? A pity, if not; I had some questions I wanted to ask a few of the candidates, and it's a bit difficult commuting to the hustings from Manchester.

David, surely the details have emerged as much as they are likely to if the man wrote about the incident in his autobiography? Absolutely. As I said, his own words are the only source we have for the event, so whereas many might like corroboration or elaboration, they're unlikely to get it. I must ...

The details of that incident have not emerged, but yes, he is the one to whom it relates. I'm not aware, however, of any allegation that he did precisely what you say, and in fact I believe the only original source of information about the case was his own words, which were never officially investig...

Word has just reached me that Sir Kenneth Dover, lion of Greek classical study and Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1981 to 2005, passed away yesterday (7 March). He was a remarkable friend to the university who served it for many decades, both during his time as Chancellor and former...

Hell, here's the sequel. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61332 It was a hoax. It's funny, I was just saying on IMDB last night to someone who'd made some sweeping statements about Christians demanding artworks they regard as sinful be banned that the vast majority of us have no interest in suc...

Finally, RedCelt, an issue on which we agree. Prohibition, as a drugs control strategy, has tragically failed: on this basis alone, it's time to get a new one. I also struggle to understand what plausible theory of the 21st century state justifies politicians dictating to citizens what substances th...

It's going to be a Nisa Extra. Although if that's needed in St Andrews why didn't they just keep Alldays? http://www.nisa-extra.com/Contact/standrews.html I'd been hoping for an M&S Simply Food - you'd think that would do really well in St Andrews. You mean, The Co-operative? It bought Alldays ...

I'm pretty sure BESS is the best place to go for graduate gowns and hoods - I don't know of any less expensive manufacturers, but BESS undercuts Ede and Ravenscroft significantly for the same products. On the wider point of why we should care about the gown, I suppose it's an emotional response by a...

I apologise for my recent lengthy absence from this board; it is my intention to keep in touch with the St Andrews community as closely as possible, but sometimes life does get in the way! I'm writing today about a St Andrews tradition - possibly its single most identifiable tradition at that. The a...

I think you're right as to the possible advantages of setting up a Faculty of Law - St Andrews would be an excellent place to study the subject, for all the reasons why it's a great place to come to anywhere else. But I do think the cost issue would be an overriding objection. The University's funds...

Sad to hear GinSoc has lapsed! It was driven by Royce, Fearghas and Steve, of course, and I suppose its members did tend to be among the elder students. I went to a meeting of theirs once - legendary afterparty, but the trouble was it was the night before election day when I was supposed to be manag...

You can always approach the Athletic Union about setting up a club. Advertise around town, see if there's any interest - but take care to be clear that you're looking for people who want to train and compete, not fans. I don't know how much MMA competition there is among universities in Scotland or ...

Minutes Dickie handed me a fascinating book produced by Marcus Booth: it contains "The Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the Board of Ten" with all the relevant minutes and circulated papers of his presidency. How intriguing! Is this a recent publication? He certainly never mentione...

Sounds like a fun initiative! One debate I'd dearly love to see, which certainly ticks the 'controversial' box, is "This House Believes that 'Sharia Law' is an Oxymoron" . I'd also love to see "This House Would Legalise All Drugs" , although that one is rather more likely to make...

Remember: keep clean, don't like diseased pigs and take normal anti-disease-spreading precaution etc. Don't LIKE diseased pigs? How's that going to help? I should have thought at a time like this the poor fellows deserve all the sympathy they can get! Of course I appreciate there's little point pan...

This begins as another one of those 'I can't believe we don't already have a thread', er, threads. It is starting to look alarmingly possible that this swine flu outbreak might become a thing, and I just wanted to find out what people's thoughts and feelings about it might be. I'm trying to keep abr...

And there was me thinking I was starting to get a bit gimmicky when I ran the UDS! how the mighty are fallen - and I'm not talking about the nuclear feline, either...

Well then, Swiss Cottage. Duh.

Time for me to jump in with a slightly risky slide over to Bank.

Why do they have to have produce scientific research? Why not research into the humanities, for example? Keith Brown was a Scottish historian after all. I know, I was wondering about that too. I can only assume it's because scientific research tends to be more marketable than research in the humani...