But Zoe, there's no need to be in debt. It should be possible to start adult life with a clean sheet. All governments resist hypothecated taxes- taxes earmarked for specific purposes - otherwise it chains them into how they can use tax revenues. But taxing graduates is reverse hypothecation. You are taxing people for using specific state facilities, so they cease to be free. I find that immoral. The only argument I've heard in favour of it has been "Why should I pay for somebody else's education", an argument beneath contempt. Kids should have a right to free education and be encouraged to take it as far as they can stretch. Society will get its investment back in higher tax receipts from those who benefit financially, and in in higher quality workers from those who don't. The Labour party dreamt this nonsense up for political expediency - it is frightened of being called the high tax party by tories. They are terrified of the Daily Mail. There is no moral underpinning to the policy whatsoever. They lack the courage to say they need more money to pay for services. So they come up with this hotch potch. And the result is that people start their lives in debt. And the moment you are in debt you lose some of your freedom of movement. You're trapped. Of course, my son won't be trapped. He's got a dad who will be able to pay for his education. So the better off kids start off with a head start, and the kids from less well off homes end up in debt. Zoe, if you really believe in Labour party principles, you must know that that is an utter perversion of them. When I was a student, we marched and fought against USA in Vietnam. I also had the singular privilege of throwing rocks at French Riot police in 1968 in Toulouse and being thrown out of France for looking subversive. And we won on both fronts. USA got out of vietnam, UK stayed clear of it, and De Gaulle was humiliated into capitulation. We were socialists. Most of us were the first generation from our families to get to University thanks to the welfare state, and eventually the Labour part seemed like our natural home. I never thought I would live to see the day when a LABOUR government would lie to its own people in order to send troops to support rightwing US colonialism, make it harder for ordinary people to study, and preside over tax systems designed to pander to the rich. But I have. And it disgusts me

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