How hard can it be for the government to stop its Brexit dithering for a moment and remove the planning blight surrounding EU research funding (‘We haven’t got a plan B’: Academics race to safeguard research amid Brexit fears, 16 October)? Archaeology may deal in timescales of many thousands of years but the crisis looming in two years’ time threatens to sweep away our status as a world leader in deep history. More...

Michael Young was an inconvenient child. His father, an Australian, was a musician and music critic, and his mother, who grew up in Ireland, was a painter of a bohemian bent. They were hard-up, distractible and frequently on the outs with each other. Michael, born in 1915 in Manchester, soon found that neither had much time for him. Once when his parents had seemingly forgotten his birthday, he imagined that he was in for a big end-of-day surprise. But no, they really had forgotten his birthday, which was no surprise at all. He overheard his parents talk about putting him up for adoption and, by his own account, never fully shed his fear of abandonment. More...

OK, so helping students plagiarise work was unethical – but it was also intellectually challenging and stimulating. More...

Cambridge University has launched a £500m fundraising campaign to pay for a new “transition programme” to encourage and support applications from talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds who might otherwise not get a place. More...

Large student populations can cause problems for local people. The answer is negotiation, not nimbyism. More...

Students at university with long ties to US power unsurprised by allegations in culture that ‘normalises’ sexual misconduct. More...

The University of Brighton is launching an investigation after a sex workers’ support group ran a stall offering help for students at its freshers’ fairs. More...