Jammed

摘要

Nutritious or not, when you are hungry the promise of a meal is welcome. England's impoverished universities are grateful that at least the principle of higher and variable tuition fees has squeaked through the first big parliamentary vote on the government's higher education bill. The forecast annual net￡1 billion ($1.83 billion) gain is less than they hoped for and will pay out fully only in 2009. "It is not jam today," admits Ivor Crewe, who heads the dons' main lobbying outfit, Universities UK. "It is some jam the day after tomorrow. But that is better than ten years of bread and water."