http://www.vitae.ac.uk/3909/GRADBritain-online-magazine.html

Read a few copies of this and there is quite a lot of good stuff for PhD students and it answers several worries. Also from the sound of things attending a GRAD school may be a good idea, if your funding incorporates it.

thanks for sharing

Thanks for pointing this out. I receive almost annual letters from GRAD (or Vitae or whatever it is now called!) about GRAD schools, but none of them have mentioned this magazine which looks like an excellent read.