My last book was published in January 2011. Getting A Job After School is for young people who are thinking about starting an apprenticeship, other traineeships, or entering the world of work. It contains advice about all your major post-16 options, including ways to track down the right work and training, how to apply for jobs and how to succeed at interview. The book also contains a comprehensive directory of different types of jobs and careers with summaries of working conditions, future prospects, and the qualifications and personal qualities needed to enter all these professions. It's also full of advice about contracts, your employment rights and settling in to a new workplace.

Which Uni? Find the Best University For You, was published by Trotman on the 15th of October, 2009. It shows prospective students how to make sense of the official academic statistics that are used to make up the various commercial university league tables, and it also contains original research about local environments and university facilities. The result is a mixture of academic and non-academic rankings that you can pick and choose from to make your own individual league table, tailored to your aspirations, personality and interests.

Available now : The Insider's Guide to Applying to University, published by Trotman. Useful for anyone who wants to get on to the right course at the right university, and packed with interviews, hints and tips from the people in the know - that's the university and college staff, and the students themselves. It's bursting with practical pointers to help readers decipher university league tables, understand what a course really entails, fill in tricky application forms, write personal statements and succeed in interviews. Second edition due out July 2011.

Also out: The Virgin University Survival Guide. The second edition of this book is in a handy pocket-sized format, and it still contains all the essential information that students need to get the best out of university life. Since its original publication, this book has consistently been the best-selling university handbook in the UK.

5th May 2011

• High points: Best. Birthday. Evah.
  
• Irritants: Unreliable software in all its many forms
  
• Simple pleasures: Champagne breakfasts.
• Theme tunes: Liking The Vaccines.
• Motto: Germinate, dammit! Should have gone to Poundland...