"Sorry to be a miserable git, but I am still irritated by my experience. The UK PhD machine is not efficient and requires more patience from the student than one would expect from a first world system. I've seen a number of highly intelligent and ambitious people systematically demotivated and arguably forced to be subservient to a bunch of entrenched egos who are not quite as bright as they think they are. Welcome to a life in academia."

Patrick O's commentary above completely encapsulates my feelings about the PHD experience.....I initially engaged with this form of study as an escape from a work sector that I now subsequently view as ultra-professional and dynamic in light of my interface with the half-wit world of British academia ...sleepwalking its way to complete annihilation.