Back to (business) school

It's not just the kids who are heading back to the classroom this year. Your humble correspondent is returning to university, and the contract stipulates that "students are responsible for providing their own stationery". Ah, it's a hard life. Here are a few ideas for the grown-up studious scribbler in your life, then, in case they need a few cool treats to take with them.

Now, back in the olden days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, campus provedores were full of A4 refills. If that's your vibe, Nero certainly sells it: the truly awesome paper in an A4 Life notebook will certainly do the job well. But it's worth noting that most of the furniture in the typical lecture theatre isn't really set up for something that big...

Which is where A5 comes in handy. Those little swing-out writing surfaces on university chairs can cope with this much more easily, and A5 is a lot more convenient to carry around too. Nero has some real corkers to offer, from which enormous range there's just space to mention a couple here; Blighty's very own Atoms to Astronauts and the indomitable French cool of Clairefontaine. Better still, if you're on a really tight student budget there's a cracking deal on some hand-made loveliness with birds on it (quiet at the back, Hitchcock!).

Of course, academic brainwaves can happen in the strangest places, so a pocket notebook is essential. Wilder's are so good that they've sold out at the time of writing (get 'em when they return!) but of course Clairefontaine have plenty to offer instead in the the meantime. 

All of the above are fountain-pen friendly, naturally - and if the student in your household doesn't have one of those, you'll be doing them a favour if you treat them to a classic Lamy Safari.

Have fun - and, take it from a dinosaur - go easy on those 'Freshers week' social gatherings.