The increase of 2

The increase of 2.8 per cent in cash terms is roughly in line with inflation.However, university teaching unions and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals warned that there was still not enough money to go round.Professor Jack Simmons, the vice-chairman of the Association of University and College Lecturers, said the settlement in effect meant a continuation of last year's cuts, when funding was slashed by 2.3 per cent in cash terms.He added: "We are disappointed but not surprised by this. This means that university funding will still be 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent down on what it was two years ago. Universities will continue to shed staff."Professor Gareth Roberts, CVCP chairman, called the overall level of funding "grossly inadequate", although he praised HEFCE's decision to concentrate money "where excellence is highest".The universities are also having to weather a two-year freeze in the level of tuition fees paid by the Government for each student via the local education authorities.HEFCE's chief executive, Professor Brian Fender, denied that universities would suffer unduly under the latest funding round, claiming that the latest settlement by the Government, which was an improvement on the previous year, had allowed the funding council to maintain stability by phasing in change.The distribution revealed a mixed picture, with no clearly distinguished categories of winners and losers.Under a new initiative being introduced for 1997-98, former polytechnics whose research performance is just too low to attract funding will be encouraged to collaborate with other, more successful, universities to bid for a share of a pounds 16m funding pot.Oxford University's vice-chancellor, Dr Peter North, said that although Oxford welcomed its substantial grant, the need for a cap on high-achieving universities indicated that the policy of rewarding excellence in research was not working fully.He said: "It points to the need for better funding overall for higher education."The universities were pinning their hopes on Sir Ron Dearing's inquiry into higher education, which is due to report in the summer, to win extra money for the sector, he added.How the cake is cutWinners PercentageCranfield University 10.3University CollegeLondon 9.5York University 7.7Oxford University 7.5Imperial College London 7.4Royal Holloway,London University 7.4Goldsmiths 7.3Bath University 7.0London Schoolof Economics 6.9Sheffield University 6.7Losers PercentageExeter University minus 0.6Aston University minus 0.5Queen Mary andWestfield College minus 0.3Coventry University minus 0.1University ofEast Anglia minus 0.1University of Kent minus 0.1ManchesterUniversity minus 0.1University of Hull 0Liverpool University 0City University increase 0.1 The table shows the 10 English universities with the highest percentage increase in net grant in 1997-98 compared with 1996-97 and the 10 with the greatest percentage fall or smallest increase. The list excludes colleges and institutes of higher education, and specialist schools and institutions..

According to an official history of the site, Dolphin Square, a vast block of flats in Pimlico, central London, has been home to the "famous, infamous and the notorious". To that list can be added the tragic, after the death of the Conservative MP Iain Mills at his flat there and the inquest verdict this week that he died from acute alcohol poisoning. Outsiders may wonder at the revelation that the MP's death went unnoticed for two days in a block of 1,200 apartments, with around 3,000 tenants and residents, all within a short taxi ride of the House of Commons.But for those who live in the 1930s block, the largest of its kind in Europe, the lonely fate of the MP came as no surprise. One tenant told The Independent: "It comes as no shock, you can lead a very solitary, almost reclusive, life here. The corridors are very private." He added: "I only see one of my neighbours about once every four months."The former Liberal leader Sir David Steel, a long-time tenant, and one of 50 MPs who take advantage of the Square's proximity to Parliament, is also un- shocked "It's very much a place where you keep yourself to yourself. I can quite understand how it happens that no one noticed he was missing for a couple of days."The Square, which is run by a trust, has a rather faded air; with its dolphin statue fountain in the central gardens, Keep Quiet signs and park benches, it reminds visitors of a slightly run-down council park and buildings. One almost expects to hear a brass band striking up on summer afternoons.Part of its fame comes simply from its ability to attract the famous and influential. Apart from MPs - who include Labour's heritage spokesman, Jack Cunningham - there are numerous Lords, generals and senior civil servants who relish its location.

Among the more notorious former guests are Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies and the spy John Vassall. Charles de Gaulle stayed there during the last war as leader of the Free French, while many entertainers, most of the Crazy Gang, for example, have lived there.Another attraction for residents has been the relatively low rents, especially for those who have stayed long-term. One resident told The Independent he pays pounds 4,000 a year for a large one-bedroom flat, well below the normal market rates for Pimlico. However, he claims the old ethos of giving flats to those who worked in the Westminster area, had important jobs and were desperate for accommodation has been replaced by the a quest for higher income."If a new tenant had my flat now it would cost them pounds 9,500 a year.

It's all about who pays the most."But the biggest menace, said one male resident, is the prevalence of elderly female residents who monopolise the garden benches."If you say hello to them, that's it, you'll never get away, God bless them," he said.. Government cuts to medical support for the British armed forces could frustrate present plans for the military. Since 1990, the number of medical support employees has fallen from 9,461 to 6,946, and further cuts are planned. The all-party House of Commons Defence Select Committee said in a report published yesterday that lack of military medics could destroy the reasoning behind the Front-Line First Defence Costs Study, leaving defence forces paralysed by lack of back-up.Two weeks ago, the MoD published the first British Defence Doctrine, and last week announced plans to reinforce quick-reaction forces as part of the shift in military planning from a "continental" to an "expeditionary" strategy.But the committee report said unless the plans to reduce medical support were reversed, the number of British troops sent to any crisis situation would be limited by the number of medics available to tend the casualties.The report appeared the day after Nicholas Soames, the Armed Forces minister, and his permanent secretary, Richard Mottram, came under savage attack from the committee over the Ministry of Defence's suppression of information about the use of organophosphate pesticides in the Gulf War.The report was uncompromising. "We fear that the major reductions in the defence medical services will reduce the ability of the UK to generate military medical support for the front line in the event of serious hostilities short of all-out war," it said. And, in a bitter attack on the Government it goes on: "The committee can see no better example of the Defence Costs Study failing to enhance front-line capability."The report adds: "The Defence Medical Services are not sufficient to provide proper support to the front line in all realistic scenarios and show little prospect of being able to do so in the future." Therefore, "a choice would have to be made between sending troops without proper medical support or only sending the limited number of troops who could be supported".Bruce George, a Labour member of the committee, said: "This is one of the most devastating reports ever produced by the committee.