Why I’m not complaining (much) about Vice Chancellors’ pay
The annual story about university Vice Chancellors’ pay rises is in the papers again today. I have to admit that some of the stats are a little eye watering. The average VC now earns £194,000. There is, quite naturally, outcry about this from, well, nearly everywhere. At a time when Governments are threatening to cut [...]
Are working class people just nicer?
Much bemused wryness in lefty workplaces across the land as an article in The Guardian goes slightly viral by reporting that people who buy ethical products are more likely to cheat or steal. The authors of the study construct a highly speculative model of “moral balancing,” postulating that having made one ethical decision we feel [...]
UKIP and the Culture War
I was surprised to find that Godfrey Bloom, the UKIP MEP for Yorks and Humber had been running his re-election campaign on the basis of climate change denial. This seemed odd to me. I thought that UKIP were a party promoting withdrawal from the EU. But then you should never judge a party by its [...]
Why should the biggest party govern us?
All this hung Westminster chat recently allows us Scots to suddenly feel experienced. The idea of confidence and supply was, I think, first discussed at Holyrood by pre-2007 Greens. It is now beginning to enter the Westminster lexicon – busting the idea that only a coalition government can be stable if an election doesn’t deliver [...]
Students preparing to bite back
This time last year, I wrote a comment piece for “the Herald”, arguing that today’s students are the most politicised for a generation. The main (though not only) piece of evidence I cited was a massive increase in turnout in student elections up and down the country. Politicians should take note – the conventional wisdom [...]
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