Alison Bennett's Monday Mail - Our plate glass university

Welcome to my Monday Mail for 18 March 2024, as I share a few of the things that I have been doing and thinking about in the last week, including my visit to the University of Sussex, addressing child poverty, and a business networking opportunity.

Our plate glass university

This week I was invited to meet the Public Affairs team at the University of Sussex. The university’s Falmer campus is right on our doorstep, and it provides opportunities not just for education, but is also a major employer and contributes £495 million each year to the UK economy. 

A couple of things stood out for me. 

1) That the university sector as a whole is a major exporter but that the financial viability of our universities rests on foreign students being able and wanting to come and study in the UK. For example, the economic downturn in Nigeria is having a negative impact on foreign student numbers, The Times reported on Friday, and this poses a threat to UK universities.

2) The vision that went into establishing the new ‘plate glass universities’ like Sussex in the 1950s and 1960s, and how as a country we seem to lack that equivalent vision in 2024 for education specifically and infrastructure more generally.

Poverty in our schools

Continuing with the theme of education, I wanted to tell you a short story about my mum Christine. My mum is a retired primary school teacher. Teaching was the job that she wanted to do from the age of four and that for her was more vocation than career. 

There are various tales she tells about the children she taught over the years, but this article about teachers washing clothes and finding beds for their pupils reminded me of the poverty she witnessed nearly sixty years ago.  

Christine trained in Liverpool, and was sent for teaching practice to a school in a particularly deprived area of Kirkby. One child’s family were so hard up that he was sewn into a brown paper vest that was waxed with fat at the start of the winter. Apparently he wore this vest until the spring. 

Whilst this sounds like it should be consigned to history, we know that childhood poverty is growing. It has huge consequences for the children themselves, but also for those who try to help them, other pupils, and ultimately costs society dearly.

If you are interested in the Liberal Democrats’ plan for education and young people, you can read more about our policies here. 

Business Networking Event with Lord Chris Fox - Tuesday 16th April

If you work in business, run your own business or are interested in our economic and business policies, we are holding a business networking event on Tuesday 16th April at 7.00pm in Haywards Heath. 

Our Business Spokesperson in the House of Lords, Chris Fox will be our guest speaker.

To reserve your ticket please email info@midsussexlibdems.org.uk.

Best wishes,

Cllr Alison Bennett
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
Mid Sussex Liberal Democrats

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