No national voice, no national interest

University applications have fallen in England for the first time in six years. It’s no coincidence that this comes at the same time as higher fees are introduced across one country in the Union but not across the others:

Official figures from the University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) show all applications to English universities are down by 3.7%, while applications to Scottish universities are up by 1.6% and to Welsh universities by 0.5%.
The biggest fall - of 4.5% - is amongst English students applying to English universities. By contrast the figure for English students applying to Scotland is up by 1.9%.

Meanwhile drugs available in some Union countries are being denied to patients in others.