It would be foolish to start out with any optimism that a new government (or opposition for that matter) policy announcement would be especially sensible. However, the latest efforts regarding tuition fees have managed to fall below already low expectations. Specifically, the idea that universities might be forced to charge lower tuition fees for courses with lower earnings potential is absolutely barking, for the simple reason that making them cheaper will have the effect of making them more attractive. It’s a basic rule that if you want to discourage undesirable behaviour you have to make it more expensive. That’s far more effective, incidentally, than trying to subsidise the behaviour you wish to encourage.
The other big (geddit?) news is that we Britons are eating 50% more calories than we say we are. Apparently 34% of respondents to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey claimed to be eating so little that they wouldn’t survive. In one sense this might surprise nobody much but in another it matters: the idea that we consume fewer calories now than in the 1970s but are far more overweight has been used to support the argument that the problem is lack of activity, not food intake. This in turn has been used to support food industry propaganda that what we eat doesn’t matter; we simply need to move more. The one thing the industry really doesn’t want people hearing is that they should eat not only less, but also better.