Christmas drinks

Crunching through the snow, Julie and I joined a few hardy souls at the home of the University Vice Chancellor last Sunday lunchtime for Christmas drinks. Numbers were down of course, but it was a great pleasure to have some conversations with some of the lovely people associated with the University - from a lecturer in women's economics to a mum telling me about her son who has just joined Thames Valley Police as a new police officer.

As I have said before, we are very fortunate to have the University as part of our town. Of course it comes with its challenges, not least the pressure on available housing and some of the differences in lifestyle between students and 'ordinary' residents. But the University also brings a great deal of employment, money being spent in the town and a cultural diversity which all adds to our town.

The challenge is to manage the pluses and minuses so that all benefit.