One of the most annoying features of university life in Britain is the way student unions like to ban things to protect students from themselves, and the ability of student politicians to interpret every new service offered by a university as an assault on students’ precarious finances and the start of creeping privatisation.

If you can’t afford the £3 sandwiches and other crap your college’s new shops are trying to sell you, learn to act like an economically sensible adult and don’t friggin’ buy them!

As ever, the best part of this non-story regards the censorship of the student press:

However, in the case of Leeds University, which is located near private commercial facilities, the establishment took steps in the past that limited competition. The student newspaper, Leeds Student, was banned from advertising local services, such as the nearby Strawberry Fields bar, which directly competed with university-owned businesses.</p> I think I’m going to keep track of what gets banned on what campuses. It’s very amusing. The list includes The Sun, The Daily Mail, ads for lapdancing clubs, Eminem records, whaling …