Universities are supposed to be packed with clever people, but it takes a special genius to generate a financial crisis of the sort now engulfing higher education. These institutions have huge streams of revenue from tuition fees, especially those paid by foreign students, as well as government and business support. Yet through a mix of complacency, greed, mismanagement, and ideological posturing too many universities have run up significant debts.
With three-quarters of them now sliding into the red, cuts to courses and jobs are on the way. Predictably, the University and College Union this week launched a campaign to “stop the cuts.” Bleating that the sector “is on its knees,” UCU General Secretary Jo Grady, called on the Government to set up a special “emergency fund” to bail it out.
It is impossible to imagine a worse use of public money. Universities have led the way on the adoption of woke dogma, have allowed free speech to be undermined by the cancel culture and, above all, have failed to provide the skills our workforce needs. They need change, not more cash.
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With spring in the air, my wife and I had a blissful walk yesterday afternoon along the seafront of Westgate, our home village in Thanet. Under a pale blue sky the tranquil sea had a shimmering, silvery quality.
The magical scene was a reminder of the reason why several great painters including J.M.W.Turner, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Wallter Sickert and even Vincent Van Gogh have been drawn to this part of Kent.
But habitually overlooked is another superb 19th century artist, Sir William Orchardson, who made his home in Westgate. In his late Victorian heyday, he won fame for epic works such as Napoleon aboard the Bellerophon, which captures the brooding grandeur of the Emperor going into exile.
Orchardson was far more able than Thanet’s most famous living artist, Tracey Emin, whose rise to the top has been the triumph of self-regard over talent.
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When Liz Kendall, the tough-minded Work and Pensions Secretary, ran for the Labour Leadership in 2015, she received just 4% of the votes. But she is about to sink even further in internal unpopularity as she starts to make cuts in benefits. But she must not buckle; the current bloated welfare system is immoral and unaffordable. Britain’s focus should be on real security, not social security.
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As Christianity dies, Britain is becoming, not a more secular society but a more Islamic one. Last Sunday, FA Cup fixtures were paused to allow Muslim players to break their Ramadan fasts, while the Islamic Call to Prayer echoed through Windsor Castle for another Ramadan event.
Muslim dress codes, mega mosques and sharia courts are part of our urban landscape, just as Muhammad is the most popular boys’ name in Britain. Now the Government is planning to bring back the blasphemy laws just for the Muslim faith by making Islamophobia a criminal offence. Colonel Gaddafi of Libya once predicted that Islam would take over Europe “without swords, without guns and without military conquest.”
Few could deny his prophecy is heading towards fulfilment.
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The Sky so-called comedy team have produced yet another dud. I tried to watch Small Town Big Story, starring Christina Hendricks and written by Chris O’Dowd, who was so brilliant in Get Shorty. It was desperate stuff which did not even raise a smile. The Meghan Markle show on Netflix was much funnier.
