in terms of LSE, UCL AND KCL breaking away from UoL they were seriously consdering it and i think were going to when Imperial became independant, however, all 3 decided against the idea and now the degree u gain from all 3 is from LSE, UCL AND KCL respectively rather than the UoL. UoL has a great repuatation which is not going down the drain however, i must admit the reputation of the individual colleges speaks louder than the rep for UoL i.e LSE some people think its it's own uni. I would also go so far as to say that the rep of the UoL is held up by its now 'Big 3'. regarding this post i would personally say QM its a better uni simple as, neither are spectacular but if you are limited to these two then QM. As for QM being better than imperial, you are joking right, that is an absurd comment imperial is consistently in the top 5 one of the prestigious unis, part of the russell group etc. don't bother comparing really you can't!!