Has Liberalism Failed Us: Professor AC Grayling at The Cambridge Union
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Liberalism is not an objective truth, asserts Professor AC Grayling, philosopher, author and Master of New College of the Humanities. ‘It’s about what we can share in the way of a common patch of ground where we can all meet and discuss the very fundamental questions that matter most to our society.’
It is difficult to find fault with this. It is difficult, I later find, to challenge much of what Professor Grayling has to say – despite my best efforts. I begin by asking how Grayling feels when opponents use his own words to argue against him, as Dr Jeanne Morefield did in the Cambridge Union debate, ‘This House believes liberalism has failed us’ (Grayling’s side, the opposition, won). ‘Well, what [Dr Morefield] quoted is true so one can’t complain. The fact of the matter is that if you get involved in the public domain you’re going to hear yourself quoted both
State school students are still underrepresented at nearly half of the country’s unis, we can reveal, as new stats show the extent of the class divide in education.
At 81 out of 189 unis – or 42 per cent – less than 93 per cent of students were from state schools, according to new data on those starting uni in 2019/20 released by HESA.
Nationally, just seven per cent of pupils attend private schools.
Oxbridge’s struggles with state school intake invariably attracts a lot of attention, but Edinburgh, Durham, St Andrews, and Exeter are all doing worse at admitting state school students than Cambridge is.