I blame Tony Blair, not praise him. He wanted 50% of the population to go to university. When I was at school in the late fifties and early sixties, roughly 20% of students passed the 11+ and from that 20% only a few went on to university. Today there are far too many attending university who have not got the ability to be there. Far too many ‘Mickey Mouse’ courses on offer.

The problem with Labour is that they dumb down to the mediocre instead of encouraging those with ability to aspire to excellence. In schools today competition is looked down upon. Nobody must lose! As a retired PE teacher I am pleased that I was teaching when competition was not a dirty word. Face it, life is a competition and the sooner young people realise this, the better.