The Spectator

SET OXBRIDGE FREE

Set Oxbridge free: the universities should no longer stand for government control

issue 23 November 2002

If the Institute of Economic Affairs has a branch in the heavens, the surrounding clouds must be disturbed by a loud wailing sound emanating from the soul of Sir Keith Joseph. If any man had a reason to cry out about the unfairness of life, it is he. Pilloried in the early 1980s for daring to suggest that students ought to pay their own way at university, his earthly reputation now has to suffer the indignity of witnessing a Labour government proposing the same; and of seeing the policy delivered by one of the National Union of Students’ bearded tendency.

Imagine the snorts of ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. Out! Out! Out!’ which would have risen from the junior combination rooms, the speeches of red-blooded indignation which would have been delivered by Neil Kinnock had Sir Keith Joseph uttered these words circa 1984: ‘Many young people do not think about taking out a loan or credit to buy a holiday or a car.

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