Ellee Seymour

I have written a will, being of sound mind, I hope, solely to ensure the future care of my two sons if the worst should happen to me.

There are not many noughts at the end of my bequests, unlike that of Branislav Kostic, who left £8.3m in his will to the Conservative Party.

It was successfully challenged by his only son Zoran, 50, at the High Court, who said his father was “deluded and insane” at the time of writing his will and he was entitled to the entire estate. He was naturally indignant at losing his inheritance.

I would have expected that Kostic senior’s solicitors would have been aware of the multi-millionaire’s delicate mental health; he was said to be suffering from paranoia. So why was it allowed to ever happen if he was mentally unstable? Doesn’t that make his solicitor negligent?

Is the mental stability of vulnerable people not checked in some way before they write a will leaving all their worldly goods to whoever they choose or whichever cause takes their fancy, anyone other than family? Should a doctor not be present or sign a form stating the person is of sound mind in exceptional cases like this?

Does the fact that a person has some form of mental instability mean he has lost all his faculties and is too unstable to make a decision about who he or she leave their money to? I would not necessarily have thought so.

It reminds me of the case of two Newmarket men who were left a £1 million stud by their former boss which was later challenged by his two daughters who claimed their father made his will after multiple sclerosis had left him paralysed and only able to communicate by nodding, winking and shaking his head. This made him unable to make a will, they claimed, and the judge agreed.

I know this stud and of the men involved as my son did work experience there just before this blew up. They were very genuine and highly regarded and nobody ever believed they had in any way coerced the will to be made in their favour.

How sane was it for billionaire Leona Helmsley to leave $12 million to her dog named Trouble? Although she also made bequests to family and charities, she excluded two grandsons for her own good reasons.

An inheritance is not a legal right. It’s cruel to cut out family from a will, but it’s usually done for a specific reason, it’s their catch-up time. Denied of their last wish, who knows if these people are now turning in their graves?

A guest post by Linda Hawkins, otherwise known as Zenfrog, on the government’s commitment to our future education by slashing £100 million from its funding. She describes how it turned her into an activist:

I’m blogging about an issue that is very close to my heart - the catastrophic Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) higher education cuts. I don’t pretend to understand the ins and outs of the whole financial package, but I can see how this is going to affect everyone who wants to achieve at higher-level education.

I strongly urge you to read this devastating letter from the Innovation, University and Skills Secretary, John Denham, describing how he plans to decimate higher education.

He has instructed them shave £100 million from the funding of ‘students studying for a second higher educational qualification at the same or a lower level’.

It has been promulgated as an increase in funding by the Labour Party, as they strive to explain how they are widening the access route to higher education for many more students from all walks of life, but this is serious political spin.

The result of these funding cuts will be disastrous for every single student hoping to achieve in the higher education sector. The knock on affects of pulling that amount of money from a specific sector will impact negatively on higher education, adult education, research, course development, employment prospects for all those involved in higher education, and eventually for first time degree hopefuls.

As universities lose those students taking a second bite at the educational cherry, they will have to close courses and increase the cost of those they keep open. It is a “disastrous decision” which university blogging lecturer fat man on a keyboard, Peter Ryley has considerable reservations about . His excellent blog warns about the impact these savage cuts will have on the future of educational institutions, and at the grass roots level, the individuals who will be left with nothing.

As for myself, I am a very late returner to education, enjoying every moment of it, and very grateful for its existence.

There are great swathes of people who are going to suffer because of these cuts, those who want to re-skill, change career paths, use it as a life line because of a disability or having caring responsibilities, or who just have some ‘me’ time and want to indulge themselves after years of either working and paying taxes, or looking after families.

What an awful thought that people will not have that option open to them in the future.

I feel so strongly that I have turned into a part time activist, and have set up a facebook group, as well as on twitter. I’m hoping as many people as possible will register their protest at these cuts. A colleague has set up the 10 Downing Street petition, which is steaming away as I write, so please sign it and join our networking groups.

I am a mature student with The Open University, returning to study after 40 years, gosh that makes me sound really old, but anyway, I have three wonderful grown up children, one gorgeous granddaughter, with another one due in around two weeks, so great excitement here. I am a reformed drinker and smoker, so very boring, but I love studying, learning and blogging.

I hope I have been able to show how passionate I feel about this, and strongly encourage you all to join me in fighting for our educational rights, for our generation and the ones which will follow.