Union action man

Alumnus to be proud of no 169 also faces a rest from his favourite adrenaline inducer. Lembit Opik MP, Liberal Democrat spokesman on young people, spent an unpleasant time over Easter weekend stranded on a mid-Wales mountain after a para-gliding accident, and may be out of action for a while.

Mr Opik's taste for dangerous sports clearly goes back some time - while reading for his philosophy degree at Bristol University he was president of the student union and progressed onto the National Union of Students' executive.