It is easy to forget that, under a quirk of the UK legal system, if you want to get the law changed it is often not enough simply to get legislation passed. Most Acts of Parliament state that their provisions come into force not immediately, or even on a given date, but when a ministerial order is issued. Supposedly aimed at flexibility and the ability to squish boring bureaucratic bugs before they bite, it also gives governments an effort-free way to annul legislation they don’t like. No need to repeal it: just don’t activate it. It will remain in limbo: law, yes, but still legal dead wood.

It’s now clear that Bridget Phillipson has actually decided to double down on preserving the comfortable university status quo

This technique has just been used against academics and students complaining at efforts to limit what they can say on campus. An embarrassing open letter from 350 senior academics pointing this out (full disclosure: I was one) has just landed on the desk of Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. 

For years, despite the existence of a few technical legal protections for academic freedom, there hasn’t in practice been much a student,........

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