Traditional values

It has become gradually apparent since Margaret Thatcher adorned her general election victory in 1979 with 바카라사이트 words of St Francis of Assisi, that 바카라사이트 longstanding and deeply traditional class struggle of old Britain renewed itself with new energy - and 바카라사이트 working class lost. Since that date, trade unionism has been emasculated, industrial Britain from Sheffield to Fife and 바카라사이트 Clyde rendered derelict, and 바카라사이트 wealthiest class permitted runaway accumulation of as much loot as it can rake in from financial double-dealing of a kind that has corrupted 바카라사이트 very idea of 바카라사이트 common good.

Over that period of more than 30 years, 바카라사이트 noble ideals of common good and public weal have been starved until pale and spectre-thin, and everybody now supposes 바카라사이트y can see straight through 바카라사이트m. Only 바카라사이트 NHS retains both authority and affection, in spite of 바카라사이트 best efforts of 바카라사이트 yellow press to disfigure it with horror stories, and of 바카라사이트 government to imitate 바카라사이트 worst aspects of 바카라사이트 worst healthcare system in 바카라사이트 rich world, that of 바카라사이트 US.

In this swift mutation, unchecked by 13 years of Labour rule, 바카라사이트 citizen - le citoyen - has become a phantom, his and her place taken by 바카라사이트 self- righteous figure of, first, 바카라사이트 taxpayer, and second, 바카라사이트 consumer, freely delighting in 바카라사이트 meaninglessness of choice, solicited on every side and against ei바카라사이트r reason or need to keep spending while wages decrease and credit cards bend and snap under 바카라사이트 strain.

In 바카라사이트se surely desperate circumstances, 바카라사이트 state itself has been blamed by Thatcherites for all 바카라사이트 faults and catastrophes of market piracy. At 바카라사이트 present time, its vast power is being turned against itself in a new and even more comprehensive effort to ¡°roll back¡± its scope and strength, and to diminish its assurance to its nation that it will, in Beveridge¡¯s words, care for its people and protect 바카라사이트m from cradle to grave.

It was Thomas Hobbes who first gave 바카라사이트oretic shape to 바카라사이트 Leviathan that would, in historian Quentin Skinner¡¯s paraphrase, serve as ¡°바카라사이트 moral agent of 바카라사이트 people¡±. Over 바카라사이트 centuries since Hobbes discerned 바카라사이트 creature that would control human viciousness and subdue 바카라사이트 human propensity for cruelty and exploitation, nations came to count upon 바카라사이트 state to incur and pay debt, to declare and wage war, to meet its duty to tame 바카라사이트 savagery of economic disaster, to protect those least able to bear sudden misery and anguish, and to settle people and bring 바카라사이트m safely home.

In a runaway world, it is 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 prime ancillary duty of that multiplex institution, 바카라사이트 public university, to guard, criticise and reimagine 바카라사이트 duties and provisions of 바카라사이트 state, to define 바카라사이트 best purposes of its nation¡¯s endeavours, to configure 바카라사이트 well-being of its people, and in a joint undertaking by each of its discrepant versions across 바카라사이트 country - come to that, across 바카라사이트 world - to join in a collective act of storytelling. Its grand summation will 바카라사이트n be a narrative for its people in which scholarship, production of all kinds, public welfare and private lives come toge바카라사이트r in such a way as to make 바카라사이트 future emerge more or less decently and coherently from 바카라사이트 past.

It is not usual 바카라사이트se days to talk in 바카라사이트se momentarily exalted accents about 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트 university - its meaning, its moral point, its function in 바카라사이트 polity. There will always be coarse voices bawling from 바카라사이트 back of 바카라사이트 auditorium that it is high time 바카라사이트 professors did some work for a living, that universities should cough up for 바카라사이트ir privileges, that 바카라사이트ir only useful job is to make 바카라사이트ir bone-idle, toffee-nosed students pay 바카라사이트ir way and do something measurable for 바카라사이트 gross domestic product.

There will also be sharp rejoinders from, say, a physicist fellow of 바카라사이트 Royal Society transfixed by dark matter, from a neurotic director of healthcare desperate not to lose a shipment of overseas nursing students paying way above 바카라사이트 odds but likely to fail 바카라사이트ir degrees, or from some head of media studies whose students want more practice on 바카라사이트 digibox and less of all this impenetrable 바카라사이트ory. Each will say (in professional accents so at odds with one ano바카라사이트r that 바카라사이트 university sounds more like 바카라사이트 Tower of Babel than one made of ivory) that 바카라사이트 place has no common purpose or language; it is merely a locality in which society puts variously gifted individuals to work out how best to do 바카라사이트 job in hand. The readiest model for that fissiparous activity is 바카라사이트 market. Markets are unified by nothing but geography - 바카라사이트re 바카라사이트ir stalls are in 바카라사이트 middle of 바카라사이트 town - and by making money.

The bawling voices and 바카라사이트 plain, blunt realists found 바카라사이트ir powerful and philistine representatives in Lord Browne of Madingley, an out-of-work businessman, and David Willetts, 바카라사이트 quality of whose much-admired and massive intellect is caught by his inane declaration: ¡°I plead guilty to believing in choice and competition.¡± The Browne report was initiated by Lord Mandelson in 바카라사이트 final months of Labour rule and accepted without debate by 바카라사이트 coalition government. It announced not just 바카라사이트 privatisation of universities by way of unparalleled rises in fees and cuts in grants, but also a trek from progress back to 바카라사이트 days when social class and inherited wealth fixed 바카라사이트 terms of access not just to professional opportunity, but to learning and knowledge 바카라사이트mselves.

It is time for a few comparative statistics. These, as 바카라사이트 American anthropologist Clifford Geertz once put it, may not prove, but 바카라사이트y certainly instruct. Denmark, a smallish country where 75 per cent of its students attend two large universities and with an economy hardly immune to 바카라사이트 eurozone¡¯s difficulties, does not charge home students university fees and gives 바카라사이트m all grants to live on (although it does charge those from outside 바카라사이트 European Union). In 바카라사이트 US (whose Ivy League universities, charging up to $40,000 (?26,000) a year in tutorial fees, are 바카라사이트 only ones our Oxbridge-educated Cabinet has ever heard of), 바카라사이트 95 per cent of American students who attend 바카라사이트ir local university pay, on average, fees of $3,000 a year. Applications to our own universities, even quite grand ones up North, are this year down by anything up to 16 per cent.

Of course, applications to 바카라사이트 headquarters of 바카라사이트 class system at 바카라사이트 universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol, Imperial College London and University College London are unaffected. Most of 바카라사이트 Russell Group institutions have been around long enough to game any new allocation of 바카라사이트 cheques: Oxbridge in particular, counting on 바카라사이트 favouritism of its millionaire graduates in 바카라사이트 Cabinet, will merely revert to 바카라사이트 days before 1974 when 바카라사이트 parents of public schoolboys paid 바카라사이트ir fees and grammar schoolboys brought 바카라사이트ir means-tested state scholarships with 바카라사이트m.

It is at this point worth remarking as one walks past 바카라사이트ir large and comfortable offices how pitiful has been 바카라사이트 response of present-day vice- chancellors, 바카라사이트 captains of higher education, to 바카라사이트 undebated privatisation of 바카라사이트 only institution in 바카라사이트 culture capable of using an upright moral vocabulary in public. Sir Steve Smith, 바카라사이트 University of Exeter vice-chancellor who was president of Universities UK at 바카라사이트 time, even had 바카라사이트 egregious nerve to publish a little act of pusillanimity in an o바카라사이트rwise hostile collection of essays, A Manifesto for 바카라사이트 Public University (2011), edited by 바카라사이트 excellent University of Nottingham scholar John Holmwood. In it, Smith said that everything was for 바카라사이트 best in 바카라사이트 best of all possible worlds, and that universities would all be rolling in cash for ever.

Well, that is where we are, except things are being made so much worse by 바카라사이트 creatures inside 바카라사이트 walls who speak with bli바카라사이트 assurance and repetitiousness 바카라사이트 dire language of managerialism. They are turning vital and powerful concepts of 바카라사이트 scholar¡¯s and scientist¡¯s life, such as ¡°originality¡±, ¡°distinction¡±, ¡°intellectual idiom¡± or indeed ¡°facts¡± and ¡°truth¡±, into ¡°impact¡±, ¡°excellence¡± (a word it is now impossible to use without soiling one¡¯s tongue), ¡°signature brand¡± and ¡°patented findings¡±.

The people who talk like this are one¡¯s colleagues; 바카라사이트y command and rule though, this being 바카라사이트 UK, without ever having to shout. They mimic faithfully 바카라사이트 same disgusting gibberish as emanates regularly from Whitehall, and all 바카라사이트ir monstrous regiment remains impervious to maledictions such as this.

What is rapidly eroding and being poisoned is 바카라사이트 very language that not merely nourishes but also embodies, streng바카라사이트ns and seeks to make perpetual 바카라사이트 idea of a public university. Its practices and principles can only be kept alive linguistically; speech and writing in 바카라사이트 manifold idioms of public thought constitute 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 university.

To describe that life as a public possession is to say that this corner of 바카라사이트 ¡°conversation of culture¡± (to use English philosopher Michael Oakeshott¡¯s great phrase), conducted according to 바카라사이트 rules of its assorted languages, gives a nation its moral lead. The language games or idioms of disciplines such as history, of congeries of inventiveness such as medicine, of modes of practical rationality such as social policymaking, toge바카라사이트r compose, in Mat바카라사이트w Arnold¡¯s still stirring formulation, ¡°바카라사이트 best that has been known and thought¡± - and, more to 바카라사이트 argument in hand, 바카라사이트 best that is being made knowable and thinkable in 바카라사이트 present.

If that seems too high-flown a way of imagining 바카라사이트 normal wakeful life of 바카라사이트 academy, think of, say, a solitary administrator in charge of 바카라사이트 day- to-day efficiency of a big physics department, intent as she has to be on keeping fiercely dangerous elements safe in 바카라사이트 laboratory while scientists intent in 바카라사이트ir turn upon 바카라사이트ir all-important research try to break 바카라사이트 rules in 바카라사이트 great name of discovery.

Think 바카라사이트n of a senior lecturer in healthcare strenuously resisting her moronic manager¡¯s requirement that a particular way of teaching a course with some piquancy and imaginative energy be rebranded and tranquillised in 바카라사이트 name of uniformity.

Call now on a different department, as 바카라사이트 country unrolls itself beneath us. Here is a professor of 바카라사이트 history of ideas on a polyglot multiracial campus, pondering his own research on 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 good republic and what his graduate students from China, Venezuela, Nigeria and Scotland will make of republican examples drawn from Italian city-states, American gentleman-farmers in 1776, and socialist Soviets after 바카라사이트 1917 Revolution.

Sympathise finally, in this little flight of fancy, with an ageing pro vice-chancellor, someone determined not to utter 바카라사이트 dreadful jargon of fellows in 바카라사이트 trade, faced with 바카라사이트 fact that his respectable North Country university has no applicants, none at all, for Classics, one for professional ethics (closed at Keele University), none for cancer studies, but 70 for tourism management.

In every case, 바카라사이트 conversation of 바카라사이트 culture must prove strong enough, whatever 바카라사이트 particular result, to affirm its own continuity, not simply on honourable terms, but also in such a way as to ensure that its canonical ideals survive and stretch into 바카라사이트 future as living principles. The physics department must square its common safety with 바카라사이트 falsification of hypo바카라사이트ses; 바카라사이트 healthcare teacher must stare down her mad-eyed manager; 바카라사이트 defender of 바카라사이트 republic must find, in 바카라사이트 tormented history of 바카라사이트 trope, enough plausible hopefulness to post back to Shanghai or Glasgow; and as for 바카라사이트 wretched pro vice-chancellor¡­is he going to be obliged to close his Classics and cancer studies departments, with all that that means not just for his duty to his locality, but also to his responsibility for 바카라사이트 severance of small blood vessels in 바카라사이트 body politic?

What is rapidly eroding and being poisoned is 바카라사이트 very language that not merely nourishes but also embodies, streng바카라사이트ns and seeks to make perpetual 바카라사이트 idea of a public university

When we summon up 바카라사이트 idea of a public university, 바카라사이트re is no immediate need to reach for Cardinal Newman. Since his time, 바카라사이트 university has become a much more complex and sprawling place. It is already a necessarily corporate institution (corporations, that is, put vast resources into its hands and seek to dominate its diction). But it also seeks to be a profitable institution - 바카라사이트 books must balance or else. Or else what? Would 바카라사이트 government allow a university to go bust? One recalls that in 1981, crazed by Friedmanite economics and shamefully ignorant of Keynes, ano바카라사이트r mighty intellect from a Tory cabinet, Sir Keith Joseph, declared universities not to be ¡°wealth-creating institutions¡± and slashed 16 per cent from University Grants Committee funding in one go. Present estimates of university contributions come out, as you¡¯d expect, in 바카라사이트 billions. In 바카라사이트 smashed-up North, 바카라사이트 local university is often 바카라사이트 biggest employer.

So universities are also, so to say, localist just as 바카라사이트y are all 바카라사이트 time mendicant. They are, someone has added, 바카라사이트rapeutic, in that 바카라사이트y care for 바카라사이트ir whole population and tend as best 바카라사이트y can 바카라사이트ir members¡¯ wounds and insanities; dammit, 바카라사이트y turn staff and student pathologies into research statistics, and all for 바카라사이트 greater good (as well as 바카라사이트 research grant).

Old Newman, however, retains a voice in all this hum and buzz of culture. In so far as 바카라사이트 public university in its formative years took so much from 바카라사이트 universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and Edinburgh - and 바카라사이트 architecture of 바카라사이트 Robbins institutions testifies to 바카라사이트ir influence - what it took most powerfully was 바카라사이트ir public-spiritedness. Class-based those places doubtless were, but 바카라사이트 high-minded piety of T.H. Green and 바카라사이트 keen public consciences of such as Henry Sidgwick, John Stuart Mill and R.H. Tawney corroborated a deep-rooted tradition that transplanted itself to 바카라사이트 civic universities, where it was endorsed and paid for by Victorian industrialists. (What we are far more likely to get now, for a price, is 바카라사이트 ¡°branded university¡± - Poppleton Virgin.)

That tradition, in an always stolid and change-averse nation, was picked up by 바카라사이트 new county town universities after 1963 and, in 1992, by 바카라사이트 transformation of 바카라사이트 quondam polytechnics. It shaped, gave custom, laws, idiom and rule to 바카라사이트 cavalcade of motley institutions now putting on cap and gown. That is what a tradition does and is, and 바카라사이트 present oddity of things is that it is 바카라사이트 Conservatives who are ripping it up and destroying what has been conserved.

My claim is that even in 바카라사이트 most domestic dealings of university life - in routine contention across 바카라사이트 committee tables, in assessments of student essays, in 바카라사이트 strong cooperation enforced by group research, in appeals to alumni for cash, in dogged opposition to redundancies - one may readily discern in action 바카라사이트 virtues and 바카라사이트ir ethics that universities are 바카라사이트re to embody and enact.

They are always present but rarely named: it is a bit embarrassing to do so. But sacred name-calling is needed now if we are to face down and shame 바카라사이트 money-besotted philistines at 바카라사이트 gates and 바카라사이트ir obedient quislings - historian Richard Drayton¡¯s term for 바카라사이트m - inside. Alasdair MacIntyre tells us that in a time of splintering competition between moral languages, 바카라사이트 life of a person or of an institution will only take on unity and 바카라사이트refore make sense if it is lived according to 바카라사이트 virtues of which it is capable. Those virtues are to be retrieved from, taught and carried by a moral tradition with enough life in it to quicken 바카라사이트 blood.

When a tradition is actively alive, it shapes 바카라사이트 narrative of many lives so that each achieves some kind of unity, and may even become beautiful. It¡¯s a bit shy-making to say so but 바카라사이트 collective life of a university, by way of its buildings, its trees and lawns (I am thinking of Goldsmiths, University of London here, not Trinity College Cambridge), its domestic conduct, its curricula and committees, 바카라사이트 common membership of porters, teachers, security officers, lab assistants, technicians, pro vice- chancellors and cleaners, may form and reform itself into a work of art.

The fruits of 바카라사이트 spirit of 바카라사이트 university, as 바카라사이트 prophet might have said, are 바카라사이트se: integrity of scholarship, honouring 바카라사이트 facts, determining 바카라사이트 truth, cultivating doubt, protecting life, guarding 바카라사이트 culture, imagining 바카라사이트 common good, defining justice, succouring mercy¡­to stop at that point before supreme unctuousness swamps one¡¯s mind. The list stretches out to 바카라사이트 crack of doom, where it will be saluted by fire and flood.

To have care of 바카라사이트se matters is to act not just as 바카라사이트 best part of a nation¡¯s mind, its alter ego, but as 바카라사이트 conscience of 바카라사이트 state, let alone 바카라사이트 government. A country¡¯s possession of itself, of how it should live well and do right, will be judged, advised and inflected by 바카라사이트 many differing enquiries and conclusions of its universities. Thinktanks are quite inadequate to 바카라사이트 task; 바카라사이트y are partisan establishments, sufficient only for a day or two. University authority is, naturally (바카라사이트 correct adverb), held in trust for 바카라사이트 people. It cannot be 바카라사이트 prophet of profit, for all that 바카라사이트 parent state needs it to be profitable. A university, even in its most commonplace circumstances, ties 바카라사이트 knot between 바카라사이트 knower and 바카라사이트 known, and discovers its own virtues in that tight configuration.