Quaequam Blog!

Tag: tuition fees

  • There was an alternative: three things the Lib Dems could have done differently

    There are two post-election Lib Dem narratives doing the rounds. One is that the Lib Dems were doomed as soon as they entered coalition; that from 12 May 2010 until 7 May 2015, the party was stuck on railway tracks which inexorably lead to them going from 57 MPs to jut 8. The other is…

    There was an alternative: three things the Lib Dems could have done differently

  • Clegg and coalition six months on

    The fact that Lib Dem conference is rapidly approaching means that I have a semi-anniversary of my own to mark. It’s now been just over six months since I left the Lib Dems. Life after party politics How do I feel? I’ve had a tough, and at times frustrating half year: negotiating the fineries of…

  • Has David Willetts really thought through his pro-tuition fees argument?

    I really am starting to wonder if the Tories get economics at all (on a related note, see my latest article on the Social Liberal Forum). In a fascinatingly revealing intemperate rant to the Guardian, David Willetts has described students as a “burden on the taxpayer” and that “the so-called debt [students] have is more…

  • EXCLUSIVE: Chamali Fernando quits the Lib Dems

    I was woken this morning by texts asking if I’d heard that Chamali Fernando – putative candidate for London mayor and sister of party president candidate Chandila Fernando – has resigned the party. It transpires that his is apparently true. No word as to why, but I understand it happened before the vote on tuition…

  • What are tuition fees spent on?

    Not sure I quite agree with the front page Guardian headline today: Tuition fees favour the rich – new study. When you read the detail, it turns out that the Sutton Trust report is somewhat more nuanced than that. It isn’t the tuition fees policy alone that has lead to the current situation of declining…