Got the right ID

Bill Rammell, the Higher Education Minister - and former student union official - gave a gushing tribute to the National Union of Students last week.

Speaking at an NUS campaigning event in the run up to party conference season, Mr Rammell said: "Student unions across the UK are excellent training grounds in political activism. If such an organisation didn't exist, students would be worse off, and this country as a whole would be worse off."

Generous words, indeed, bearing in mind that the breed of political activism in this generation of students is anti-tuition fees, anti-war in Iraq and anti-ID cards.