Barbara Gunnell is a writer and editor. She has worked on the Financial Times, the Independent, the Independent on Sunday, the Observer, the New Statesman and openDemocracy. She is chair of the trustees of the IF Project, and a past-president of the National Union of Journalists.
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Published in: 50.50Education worth thinking aboutThe latest Green Paper in the UK on higher education puts ‘Student Choice’ as a top policy objective. But are there real choices for those who believe in “education for education’s sake”?
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Published in: 50.50Loans, university, and Britain's debt-laden teenagersCurrent funding of higher education in Britain places an unfair burden on the young. It cannot be right that teenagers celebrating their A-Level triumphs this week face a debt-burdened future and poorer health in order to protect the pensions of those who enjoyed a free education.
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Published in: 50.50Lower aspirations for higher education
The British university system was until recently seen as one of the best in the world. Now students pay dearly for the privilege of supporting big business, says Barbara Gunnell
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Published in: 50.50Degrees of privilege
We pretend that the university entry system is broadly meritocratic. But in Britain the privately educated child of a professional family is three times more likely to get into a top university than the child of poorer parents. It will take radical reforms to reverse that.
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Published in: 50.50Don’t blame the bankers or politicians. Blame your unemployed neighbours
Britain’s Coalition Government has announced further cuts to benefits and social services. But while it demonises those out of work, where is its strategy for jobs?
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Published in: 50.50Where have all the jobs gone?Jobs are disappearing in the UK, wages are dropping, and there is a shocking absence of political debate about the changing nature of work and the disappearance of full-time secure employment.