University

I feel very sorry for the aspirant undergraduates who can't find a place at university. It is increasingly difficult to find a decent job that doesn't require a degree and their hopes had been raised by Tony Blair's idiot idea that 50% should go to unversity: even if he had achieved it, the result would have been that the degree would have been devalued. Calling Cowley Technology College 'Cowley University' is not going to get us one step forward.

Amidst all the lip chewing and evasiveness, however, I must say that I am more worried about the people at the bottom. Some 20% of our children leave the education system with inadequate literacy and numeracy skills. Since the minimum wage is around twenty times what an unskilled Chinese gets, they are unemployable and condemned to a life of handouts.

I know universities are important but this, in my view, is more important.