Making do

The chancellor managed to avoid any major pitfalls in his budget. But there will still be less money for everyone—including universities.

It’s strange to think that this week was only Philip Hammond’s second budget, after his shuffling around of autumn and now spring statements. It feels like he’s been chancellor for much longer. His first budget unravelled pretty quickly as his moves to “correct an anomaly” in income tax and national insurance for the self-employed were quickly overruled by the prime minister, Theresa May.