The Periscope Post

The Times University Challenge

A higher education funding review to published next month, is expected to advocate raising tuition fees. This is a “deeply uncomfortable” proposition for the Liberal Democrats who have long-campaigned for the abolition of fees. The (Lib Dem) Bussiness Secretary Vince Cable has suggested alternatives, such as a graduate tax that rose with wages upon employment. The money generated would go straight back into universities, “But it would still penalise graduates for success,” said The Times. Another option would be to allow students to pay up-front or, over a life-time. But The Times was unimpressed by the solutions being touted: “This debate smacks of too many nerds carried away with their own brilliance. The truth is that any policy sufficiently progressive to satisfy the Lib Dems is likely to be an attack on talent.”

The Telegraph Theresa May faces a tough fight on extradition laws

Home Secretary Theresa May has announced a review to consider whether the extradition treaty that exists between the UK and the US should be amended. Some have noticed an “alleged imbalance” in the current agreement, demonstrated by the greater number of successful requests from American authorities than British. The review is a “welcome” move, said the Telegraph, but, seeing as the US do not think there is an imbalance, it is hard to see how the treaty could be rewritten. The paper noted that while May’s intentions were “commendable,” it’s going to be tough to get things changes: “she will need to fight hard to reassert Britain’s sovereignty in an area where the last Labour government compromised traditional liberties, often for reasons of short-term political expediency.”

The Guardian Russia: Power to the powerful

The Guardian took note of a recent, off-the-record briefing from a senior official of the Russian government who “spoke in tones verging on contempt” about the victims of the forest fires this summer. The Guardian found these comments “chilling” and yet representative of the attitudes of the Russian elite surrounding Vladimir Putin. “While paying lip service in public to the corruption of bureaucrats and the deindustrialisation of an economy dangerously dependent on the price of oil and gas, they themselves do little in practice to stop either. What interest would they have in changing a system on which they thrive?” The Guardian pointed out that the Russian economy contracted by 8% last year, its worst performance since 1994, and went on to say that the greatest threat facing the country is stagnation, “under the grip of an elite increasingly unwilling to share the spoils of power.”

Daily Mail Backing a loser

Wayne Rooney has been attacked for his infidelities from many different angles. But the Daily Mail went one step further by chastising those who pay him. The Mail noted that the footballer’s key sponsors have shown “no … desire to distance themselves from his tawdry behaviour.” The paper pointed out that when Tiger Woods played-away (“so spectacularly”) his sponsors were forced to drop him. “Is it really acceptable,” the Mail asked, “that the firms whose support has made Rooney a multimillionaire, including Nike, Coca Cola and computer games company EA Sports, continue to use the tarnished player to promote their image?” “The fact is,” said the paper, “that they all target the youth market and he’s hardly a role model for children.”