Kickstart

After bailouts and roadmaps, is the rug about to be pulled from under universities?

Some readers will remember the 1980s motorcycle challenge show Kick Start, as well as Junior Kick Start, its spinoff for younger riders. Every week, under the critical gaze of Peter Purves, contestants would race against the clock while dodging a series of improbable obstacles.

Staff in universities may feel a bit like participants on the show as they rush to overcome impediments to teaching and research created by the coronavirus pandemic. Having received additional financial support from the government and promises of research spending largesse in recent days, universities may now be about to experience a kick of another kind.