Society

One of the great myths of Scottish higher education is that it’s free. Outside observers can be forgiven for making this error because Nicola Sturgeon asserts it so very often. She has boasted that ‘one of this government’s proudest achievements is the restoration of free higher education’, claimed to ‘stand for universal services, such as… free education’, and argued, naturally, that independence is ‘the only way to protect the advances that Scotland has made with devolution through the social contract, which has delivered vital universal benefits such as free university education’. Now Audit Scotland, the public spending watchdog, reports a 185 per cent increase in loans authorised by the Student

There’s conceit, there’s pomposity, and then there’s the New York Times editorial board. Yesterday, the Grey Lady wiggled her well-connected bottom, cocked a leg authoritatively, and let her hotly anticipated Democratic primary endorsement rip through cyberspace. ‘In a break with convention,’ declared the board, breaking wind with tradition, ‘the editorial board has chosen to endorse two separate Democratic candidates’. What? Hold the front page! No wait, they already have! This is big news — at least it is in the la-la land of elite legacy media. Nobody in the real world will take much notice, of course, beyond those of us who feel disgusted by the nauseating arrogance and weak-mindedness

The ‘third way’ of being a senior royal – representing the Queen one day, earning serious money the next, was always untenable. When Harry and Meghan first made public their desire to change the status quo they described it as a ‘progressive new role’. Critics, better versed in the workings of an ancient institution than some of those advising the couple, dismissed it as a ‘having your cake and eat it’ approach. Given that the idea was never a runner, it’s striking that it has taken those who are still active royals more than a week to accept the inevitable. They clearly didn’t want this outcome but now they have