Fee choice

Blair has made a mess of the top-up Bill, says Freddie Sayers. It’s now up to the Tories to revolutionise our universities on market principles

I think I once knew how Tony Blair felt on Tuesday night. It was Matriculation Day for the Fresher class of 2000 at New College, Oxford. With the obligatory white tie and gown as scruffy as I could make it, I strolled over to join the expanding group of nervous, black-and-white-clad new students, of which I was one. I was slouching against a buttress, trying to look reluctant and hungover as we lined up for the official photograph, when someone threw me a yellow ribbon.

‘Put it on! It’s a protest against top-up fees! We’re all wearing them!’

I instinctively threw it into the herbaceous border.

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Rupert Darwall

Labour has walked into a net-zero trap of its own making

But as I began to notice ribbons on almost every lapel, I started panicking.