Hearing politicians pontificate at their national conferences, it’s clear that they all want us to believe they are ‘right’, and if we will only change what we are doing to their way of doing things, everything will then be ‘all right’.

They can’t say we are doing it ‘wrong’, because that would be being critical, which isn’t allowed these days, and some of them are even beginning to admit that it will take longer than they would like for things to become ‘right’.

There are big changes and small changes in all our lives all the time. Children are expected to embrace change with glee: “Now you’re four, you can spend all day away from mummy with a strange grown-up and lots of people you don’t know very well and may not like. If some of those politicians have their way, at lunchtime you’ll get a lovely hot meal, too.”

Accepting change is harder when you’re older. Should people have to move from the rented home they’ve always lived in? As in, “I’ve always lived here and I’ll die here. I know the house has more rooms than I use, but it’s my home.” Some of our politicians would like people to pay for making that choice.

And what about students? Legally adults in all respects but one: university finance. Is it really ‘right’ to charge them huge fees for higher education, with no real proof they or the country will reap the benefit, and judge the amount of money they can borrow to afford to live away from home on what their parents earn?

Wouldn’t it have been fairer to say to the universities that, if they’re going to charge so much, they should prove their graduates will earn enough to pay that back to us, the taxpayer?

Why not look at the percentage of graduates from each uni who earn the £21,000 plus, at which you repay a student loan, within a year of graduating. If it’s under 50 per cent, keep the fees at £3K a year. Under 75 per cent, charge up to £6K. So only the unis whose graduates have a strong chance of getting well paid jobs can collect as much as £9K a year for at least three years. That might be a change worth making.