Is University Really Worth It? review - not when students are left starving

The comedian Geoff Norcott has a dilemma: should he be saving money so his son, “Little Geoff”, can go to university when the time comes, or should he buy a new car now? The conceit may be thin, and you can see the payoff coming, but Is University Really Worth It? is far more interesting than this flimsy framework. Norcott used to be a secondary school teacher, and he explains that in his time, he bought into the New Labour “education, education, education” doctrine wholesale, encouraging countless students to apply to university. Now, amid budget cuts, strike action, punitive fees and the growing corporatisation of learning, he wonders if he would say the same today.