Round Robbins

To devote resources to the training of young people may be, au fond, as much entitled to be considered a process of investment as devoting resources to directly productive capital goods. Judged solely by the test of future productivity, a community that neglects education is as imprudent as a community that neglects material accumulation.

The Robbins Report, or 'the Report of the Committee on Higher Education,' published 50 years this month. Robbins dismissed the idea of financing higher education through loans, and concluded that the opportunity for a university place "should be available to all who were qualified for them by ability and attainment."

The Wit and Wisdom of... Václav Havel

Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.

Letter to Alexander Dubček, the Czechoslovakian leader deposed in a 1968 Soviet invasion for attempting to introduce liberalising reforms. The author, playwright and leading dissident Václav Havel, later led the Velvet Revolution which overthrew the Communist regime. From August 1969.

Dangerous Yoofs

I'm trying not to take David Cameron's conference speech too personally. After all, I am currently committing the crime of Being Young. In the not too distant past, I was committing the double crime of Being Young and Not Having a Proper Job. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm clearly delighted with living with my parents, I'd be in for the triple whammy of Trying to Live Away from Home too.

But what I'm really finding hard to stomach is the idea that people 25 or under are hurting the public finances. Excuse me. Not many 25 year olds can proudly say that they helped their boss knock £4 billion pounds off the UK economy, or get their boss to spend £27 billion in propping up the pound. In a single day.

Oh wait Dave, who was Norman Lamont's special advisor on Black Wedesnday?

Oh yes, it was you.