Universities
Sending more people to uni isn’t the answer
Imagine a world where employers judged applicants solely on their dress. Anyone in frayed clothes or scuffed shoes would never…
The neo-Marxist takeover of our universities
According to Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, America’s universities have succumbed to ‘safetyism’, whereby students are protected from anything that…
Our great universities are struggling – but not because of Brexit
British universities have serious problems. The recent strikes protesting against a sudden reduction in pension rights were unusually effective, and…
You can’t beat Corbyn with Miliband – but the Tories are trying to anyway
Tuition fees have all but killed the Liberal Democrats. The breach of their manifesto pledge to abolish the charges, compounded…
The curious star appeal of Jordan Peterson
Last Sunday night a capacity crowd of mainly young people packed into the Emmanuel Centre in London. Those who couldn’t…
Letters: the tyranny of ‘equality of outcome’ in education
Equality of outcome Sir: Rod Liddle exposes some deep flaws in the way children are prepared to play their part…
Letters
In defence of General Lee Sir: In your leader ‘America’s identity crisis’ (19 August) you state that ‘When General Lee…
Varsity blues
A vast cohort of bright young things have secured their university places with A-level success this week. But things are…
British universities are whipping up a mad boom that’s bound to go bust
British higher education is in a boom that’s bound to go bust
The tangled story of dreadlocks, from Milton to YouTube
‘Why are you filming this?’ ‘For everyone’s safety.’ Those are the last words in a 46-second video that was watched…
Stepford students’ new target: other Stepford students
Politically correct students are now falling victim to the censorious climate they helped create
In defence of discrimination
David Cameron has accused universities of being xenophobic, racist and prejudiced against the poor. He is too much of a…
Corbyn's purge of the Oxbridge set
Labour was once the clever party. Under Jeremy Corbyn, its front bench is purged of Oxbridge intellectuals
There’s too much bunkum talked about the arts and education
At the last minute, a friend invited me to a ‘Distinguished Speakers Dinner’ at the Oxford and Cambridge Club earlier…
What Scottish professors have to fear from Nicola Sturgeon’s power grab
What Scotland’s professors have to fear from the SNP’s latest bright idea
Edmund de Waal’s diary: Selling nothing, and why writers need ping-pong
On the top landing of the Royal Academy is the Sackler Sculpture Corridor, a long stony shelf of torsos of…
What I’ve learned helping to found a specialist free school
Lessons from the first year of our specialist maths school
Tony Hall’s diary: the Proms, my walking obsession, and why the BBC is like James Bond
There’s nothing quite like a First Night — and last Friday we launched the Proms, the most celebrated classical music…
How British universities spread misery around the world
From Greece to Kenya, the worst economic ideas come from alumni of British universities
What Aristotle would have made of Cambridge’s Lego-sponsored professor
So Cambridge University has accepted £4 million from the makers of Lego (snort) to fund a Lego chair (Argos sells…
The best way to end the ‘poshness test’
There’s a warning buried in the detail of the new report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission on…
How come our cash-strapped universities can afford so many administrators?
At Oxford and elsewhere, university administration is out of control
My part in a masterpiece of political correctness
Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry, James Delingpole: all winners of major art prizes. I was awarded mine last week by Anglia…