So what would you like for Christmas? Rumour has it that after a bruising couple of months further and higher education minister Baroness Blackstone would not be distressed if the head of admissions system chief Tony Higgins were brought to her on a plate. But while Baroness B's affection for Covent Garden makes it tempting to cast her as Salome, the suspicion remains that the resilient Higgins will still be irritating ministers when she has moved on to the foreign office, or wherever her ministerial career takes her next.