Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Author Archives: Simon Kaye

Opinion: in favour of the Browne report

By Simon Kaye | Sun 17th October 2010 - 10:43 am

Back in 2004, when New Labour reformed higher education funding, most Liberal Democrats opposed the changes. I favoured them. ‘Top-up fees’ were, and still are, a liberal solution to higher education funding. Lord Browne’s recommendations don’t change that. Liberal Democrats should think twice before opposing whatever package of reforms is presented to us in the coming weeks.

The central principle – retrospective fee-payment – is, to my mind, a small work of genius. Liberals are always poised between the principles of freedom (self-ownership and personal rights), and fairness (universal equality of opportunity as a very minimum). Higher education is thus a …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged higher education, tuition fees and universities | 38 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Observations of an Expat: The Mecca Agreement (Tom Arms)
Politics at School (Geoff Reid)
Zack Polanski on the Fringe (Caron Lindsay)
Enough is enough: Women and girls deserve better (Lib Dem Women)
To paraphrase Shakespeare’ ‘something is rotten in the state of Britain’ (Judy Abel)

Advert

Recent Comments

Tristan Ward
@David Raw If your accusation is that I am a good liberal - which includes economic liberalism - I plead guilty - as would the Lib Dem element of the coaliti...
Tristan Ward
@ Judy Abel (cont) Painful as they are for the consumer, right now I think high oil and gas prices are a good thing. They incentivise the transition to chea...
Tristan Ward
@Judy Abel I have looked at your links. I see no reason to rule profit out of any sector as a matter of principle with a few exceptions. For children's...
Tim Rogers
Another example of an increasingly multi polar world. Obviously Iran will be uppermost in people's minds but India Israel Cyprus and Greece have all had recent ...
Jana
Do you think these developments may cause India to move closer to Russia and China? If it does, an alliance of the country with the largest nuclear stockpile, ...