The unfortunate consequences of the myth perpetuated by the governments of Tony Blair – that almost any school leaver, regardless of intellectual capability, ought to be able to go to university – are still being felt in the further education sector.

Far too many young people are finding themselves paying through the nose to attend second-rate former polytechnics where they are attempting to obtain degrees in a weird and wonderful variety of subjects.

They may, arguably, benefit from the social experience of attending university, but any pride felt on that score must surely be replaced by bitter resentment as many thousands of undergraduates discover their degrees are of no use when looking for a job.

Further down the education system, state secondary schools are shamelessly exploiting pupils by promoting unusual GCSE subjects which, while they may be fun to study, will be worthless when applying to go to university.

A glance at the list of available GCSE subjects uncovers numerous possibilities including leisure, travel and tourism, hospitality, animation, film studies, dance, PE and games, preparing for working life, media studies, and even journalism.

Not only are these subjects likely to be useless when filling in university application forms, they do not appear to deliver the type of basic standards in literacy, numeracy and science demanded by employers.

There is a more sinister explanation behind this, according to the Conservative MP for Stourbridge, Margot James, who alleges that many schools are cynically diverting children into bizarre GCSE subjects in an effort to push up pass rates.

This is not a new accusation. Even Mr Blair’s government had to grapple with grade inflation, since it is clearly far easier to obtain A*s in, say, tourism and media studies, than it would be in English, maths and physics.