“Cynthia had understandable worries about his fixation on the other three. Hence the remarkable conversation in Hunter Davies’s book, between John and Cynthia: “What I would like is a holiday on our own, without the Beatles. Just John, Julian, and me.” “You what?” said John smiling. “Not even with our Beatle buddies?” “Yes, John. Don’t you remember we were talking about it last week?” She pressed the idea. He protested, “But it’s nice to have your mates around!” She shook her head. “They seem to need you less than you need them.” John didn’t dispute the point. He felt lost in Spain without them. “I was never so glad to see the others. Seeing them made me feel normal again.””
— Rob Sheffield, Dreaming the Beatles - The love story of a band and the whole
Top universities are giving privately educated children an unfair advantage by not differentiating between the rigorous GCSEs compulsory in the state system and less demanding exams taken in many fee-paying schools, MPs and educationists said last night.
Just days after GCSE results day last Thursday, Freedom of Information (FoI) requests by Labour MP Lucy Powell show that almost all Russell Group universities treat the two types of exam – the regulated GCSEs used in the state system, and IGCSEs, which the government admits do not meet the same high standards – as exact equivalents in admission processes.
moment of genuine kinship with the man who noticed me applying lip chap while bagging my groceries as he took out his lip chap and applied as he walked by