One step forward then, apparently to be followed by one and a half steps back. About four in 10 English universities are currently judged to be in a financial deficit. But Labour continues to shy away from properly tackling a mess that has its roots in the marketising model initiated in the 2010s. Meanwhile, a toxic crisis of morale is pervading the nation’s increasingly dysfunctional campuses, to the detriment of both students and university staff.