Today’s lesson for David Willetts

What a knotty problem David Willetts has created for himself today. Speaking to the Guardian this morning, he floated an idea to help the universities make a bit of cash: they could, he suggested, sell extra places to students who were prepared to pay exaggerated fees up front. This isn’t yet government policy, and the students needn’t do the paying themselves (they could be sponsored by charities or employers, for instance), but the Guardian pounced nevertheless. “Extra places at university for rich students,” blared its front page headline. Not a good look for the coalition, at a time when access to university is such a general concern. Not a good look for David Willetts, who might have avoided the pitfall before him.

The coalition has since attempted an Alexandrian solution: cut the knot straight down the middle, by pointing out that this isn’t government policy — and isn’t likely ever to be.