There are surprising parallels between the once substantial coal export trade of the United Kingdom and present-day international student recruitment to its higher education sector. This article uses the history of the coal trade to highlight two points. The first is that onshore international education has a particularly favourable impact on the U.K. balance of payments. The second is that the global education market is characterised by a number of features that could ultimately prove highly detrimental to the growth in U.K. inward student migration. Recent attempts to reinforce Britain’s market position by means of a more coordinated trade strategy are thus timely. Even so, the article concludes that long-run forecasts of foreign demand for U.K. university places should be treated with caution.

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The authors draw on historical evidence, recent public inquiry documentation and maritime port-capacity forecasts to examine the logic and consistency of British seaport infrastructure development. In light of the rejection of the Dibden Bay (Southampton) container-port proposal, the authors counterpoint the UK government position with the views and evidence presented by key players in the port and shipping industry. The respective standpoints are shown to be markedly divergent in a number of key respects. The principal conclusion is that market forces are of critical importance in determining the nature and location of port developments. Consequently, unless shippers are provided with sufficiently flexible facilities in the locations they prefer, Britain could, as in the 1980s, find itself in danger of becoming little more than an appendage to the major North European continental ports. The delicate balance between interventionist and market-led port development is an issue that will inevitably be encountered in other geographical contexts.

This paper provides a methodology for estimating the economic impact of defence spending at a sub-regional level. It does so by calculating the income and employment generated by Britain's Royal Navy and associated defence activities in the City of Portsmouth and its surrounding area, during the financial year 2003-2004. In an era of military consolidation, the paper offers an insight into the multifaceted impact of defence-related expenditure. Hence, it presents a generic framework that could prove useful to other researchers when seeking to measure the sub-regional impact of naval, airforce and army facilities in other national contexts.

The Government's blueprint for rail privatisation offers scope for more competition and experimentation, and a progressive movement towards a freeing of the system, thereby minimising the likely disruption. It constitutes the art of the possible.